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My mouth twitched before I could control it.

“What?” she asked. “You think that’s funny?”

“No,” I said. “It’s just nice to hear you calling yourself queen.”

Jade’s cheeks flushed red, and she snapped her attention back to the hallway ahead of us. “I don’t see myself getting out of it easily.”

“So you’ve decided to accept it?”

“I suppose I have,” she said. “Because I’m being thrown into this world either way, right?”

Part of me wanted to open these doors and let her run far, far away from everything. The prophecy, my mother, her own family. She deserved better. She deserved a fresh start.

But that wasn’t possible.

The other part of me knew that, and didn’t want her out of my sight for a single second. Selfishly, I was glad she was here. I was glad she was in this castle. Every time I pictured this life without her, the vast void of loneliness staring me directly in the face became too much. Too heavy.

But with Jade, everything was…better.

“It will be over before you know it. I’ll formally announce my new reign, we’ll eat until we’re sick, and then we’ll be waltzing out of there like it never even happened.”

Jade sighed as we turned a corner, the massive dining hall doors coming into view. I felt her tense up on my arm. “We’re never that lucky, and you know it.”

I wanted to tell her she was wrong, but I knew she wasn’t. Luck didn’t have a way of finding us.

But we made our own.

A guard near the door stepped forward and announced our arrival. I heard the scratching of chairs on the wooden floor as everyone stood from their seats, anticipating our arrival.

“Showtime, my queen,” I whispered.

And we entered the dining hall.

Jade tried to pull away from my arm, but I quickly caught her hand and tugged lightly, letting her know she wasn’t going anywhere. We were one unit now.

The truth was, we always had been.

“Thank you for coming,” I said to the room. “Please, be seated.”

I walked to the head of the table, taking Jade along with me, and we sat in the two open chairs. After Serefin and Adeline sat on either side of us, the table was filled.

The faces around me were mostly friendly. My brothers sat nearby, along with court members. Many were the same court members that watched as Jade was tormented under my father’s reign. A few I didn’t recognize sat near the end of the table.

And their faces weren’t welcoming.

It was going to be a long night, indeed.

Jade sat in her seat, but I could practically feel the tension rising off her.

“Let me start this celebratory evening off by announcing that the deadlings who attacked us the other night were killed. Every single one. Not one of those beasts left alive.”

A few nods of approval, but that was it.

I continued. “I also want to say that it was not a random attack. Based on what we know, we believe it was a warning.”

Cue the muttering and whispering around the table.

“A warning?” Adonis spoke up. “A warning from who? For what?”