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They wanted her gone, but yet they wouldn’t give her the full control she was rightfully entitled to by birth. Her parents would spend the rest of their lives dangling a carrot in front of her, reminding her that they were the ones who were really in control.

“Mar.”

She spun around, eyes wide, as Vega came through the open door.

“What is going on?” Vega’s eyebrows scrunched together as she cataloged the empty room.

There was no reason to be worried—this was the start of what she was born to do.

“I’m moving to Amora.” Her voice sounded so far away. “I get Amora. Mother’s stepping down.”

The silence of the room was no longer the sound ringing in Marlena’s ears. It was now the sound of Vega’s squeal and her feet against the floor as she jumped up and down with excitement.

Her reaction broke Marlena out of her daze. Vega snatched her hands, and before Marlena knew it, they were jumping in circles like they were little girls again, playing games in the garden.

A laugh bubbled in the pit of her stomach as she stopped them before one, or both of them, got too dizzy and puked all over the nice, clean floor. “It’s not happening until the beginning of the year, but apparently I have to move to Amora to help babysit our cousin.”

“Ivelle?” Vega asked, confused.

Marlena shrugged. “She can’t behave, and apparently I’m the person they think can change that.”

Vega hummed, looking around the room again. “I don’t know about that, but gods, did they clean your room out fast enough?” There was a bout of silence after Vega asked the question. Vega chuckled, trying to ease the tension tightening in the empty bedroom. “We should celebrate.”

Marlena started to shake her head. “I?—”

“Oh no, no, no. This is the moment you’ve been waiting your entire life for.

You’re not pulling that ‘I have work to do’ excuse tonight.

” Vega reached for her hand again, tugging her out into the hall and leading her down the stairs to where Khort and Arlet were laid out on the couches in the sitting area.

“Yeah, but do you think they’re ever going to stop rebelling? They don’t love the idea of anything the Curia says they should do.” Khort had his feet kicked up on the arm of a two-seater couch while he lay flat, throwing a palm-sized ball up in the air and waiting for it to fall back down to him.

Arlet was curled up, her feet tucked up underneath her butt in a puffy chair. A blanket sat wrapped around her shoulders, covering the lounge clothes she somehow made look seamlessly flawless.

“Rebellions will happen until the people in charge squander them.” Marlena joined in, coming up behind the couch Khort was on. She leaned over, sticking her hand out at the right moment to snatch the ball from midair.

She could feel Arlet’s eyes on her, and as much as she wanted to act cool, to lie to herself that she didn’t care if Arlet was staring, Marlena caved.

Her eyes dragged from the ball in her hand to Arlet.

Khort snatched for the ball, but Marlena made it disappear and chuckled when he grumbled about that “not being fair.” She tossed the ball back, releasing her power and letting the ball appear out of thin air seconds before it would have hit Khort in the head if he didn’t have quick reflexes.

Marlena watched the way Arlet’s eyes seemed to get heavy at the sight of her dress. When Marlena had gotten dressed this morning, she hadn’t fully intended to pick something that would inherently drive Arlet wild… but she was glad she lucked out.

It seemed Arlet had always had a thing for boobs, but now Marlena was more apt to feel thankful for that nugget of information. She could tell it was true by the way Arlet bit her lip and turned her head to look out the window—like it was a job to force herself from ogling.

“We are not talking politics tonight,” Vega declared, standing in the middle of the room with her hand on her hip. “We’re celebrating.”

“Celebrating what?” Arlet asked, her eyes jumping between Marlena and her sister.

“Mom is stepping down. Marlena is getting Amora,” Vega spewed, her excitement radiating warmth through the room.

Both Arlet and Khort shot up from their seats.

“No way!”

“Mar!”

And then everyone was screaming again. This time, Marlena controlled her emotions, masking a serious calmness. “Okay, okay, that’s enough. It won’t be happening for months, and I have to get to Amora tonight.”

“Fine.” Arlet raced to the stairs and stopped on the first step. “Then we celebrate in Amora. Let me pack a bag.”

Vega followed Arlet, her short legs taking the stairs two at a time, leaving Khort and Marlena alone for under five minutes before they came bounding back down the stairs with their overnight bags in tow.

They were welcomed with a late spring snowstorm upon their arrival to Amora. Not that it mattered if it was spring or not here—there would always be snow. Always. Marlena grumbled as they trudged up the unshoveled walkway, but luckily, inside the home was warm.

For hours, the four of them sat around a fire, drinking spiked tea and laughing like old times.

If Marlena focused hard enough, she could almost imagine what her life could have been like if it weren’t for her parents’ abuse…

a life where she could simply laugh with her friends and truly celebrate her achievements.

Ivelle locked herself inside the room that was now hers, meaning Marlena didn’t have to worry about her tonight.

A win.

One more night. She could have one more night before dealing with what her life was about to become .

The front door opened, and a draft of cold air followed Bridger in. He’d promised to meet with them tonight, but the hours turned late, and none of them expected him to make it with the shitty weather.

But it was becoming obvious that there wasn’t much that would keep Bridger from Vega—not even a nasty snowstorm.

Vega smiled across the room as Bridger shook the fat white flakes of snow out of his dark hair.

“Good-fucking-luck with this snow all day, every day. Gods.” He shivered, closing the distance between the door and where everyone sat around the sputtering fire.

Khort was the furthest away, using whatever piece of his fire manifested outside of his dragon form to keep warm.

Bridger mussed Marlena’s hair as he walked by, and she swatted at his leg. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

“Then just say them,” Marlena grumbled, trying to fix her hair without a mirror.

Bridger plopped down next to Vega on the floor, where she’d been cuddled close to the fire all night like a lounging house cat.

For someone who had never been allowed around the other Curia children, Bridger had integrated nicely into their small circle. It was like he’d always been there.

Even Khort was starting to warm up to the idea of Bridger being around for the long haul.

Their conversation dragged on for a few more hours. Long enough for Vega to drift off to sleep, her head lying in Bridger’s lap as he stroked her hair gently.

The snowstorm outside hadn’t slowed, making it inconvenient for Khort to fly home tonight. So Khort and Arlet were going to share a room, while Bridger promised he would be fine on the plush rug by the fire.

Vega obviously had no issues sleeping, already snoring lightly in his lap.

Marlena was last to head to bed. She’d sat in the kitchen to finish the rest of her drink, watching the snow come down outside the massive picture window before hauling herself down the hall and to her new bedroom with its creaky door.

She made a mental note to get that fixed tomorrow, but as soon as she turned around from shutting her door with a light click , that mental note flew out of her brain and straight into the crackling fireplace in the middle of the bedroom.

Arlet sat at the end of her bed in her pajamas, anxiously bouncing her leg. Her thigh jiggled, stealing some of Marlena’s attention.

A slow smile spread across Marlena’s lips. “This isn’t the room you and Khort are staying in.”

“I know, I…” Arlet stammered when meeting Marlena’s piercing gaze. She licked her lips, eyes falling to Marlena’s chest for a split second. “I don’t want to stay with Khort.”

She’d said it so quietly, Marlena almost thought she’d imagined the words. “Oh?” She hadn’t moved from her spot by the door, taking a free moment to sip the cup of water she’d brought for her bedside.

“I wanted to—I don’t know. I think I…” Arlet trailed off.

Marlena sensed the nerves radiating off her, and that was when she moved from the doorway. She sat her drink down on the nightstand, now standing within an arm's distance of Arlet, who gazed up at Marlena with a look she couldn’t place.

“I wanted to congratulate you,” Arlet said, letting out a breath.

The hairs on Marlena’s neck stood, and she suppressed a chill at her words. “You already have.” Her voice matched Arlet’s lightness.

“Not the way I want to.”

Marlena couldn’t move an inch, afraid if she did, it would spook Arlet. “And how do you want to congratulate me?”

Arlet’s mouth opened, and then it closed…

and then it opened again. And then it closed.

It made the corner of Marlena’s mouth stretch into a smile, which made Arlet groan.

“Gods, I’m so lame. I came in here to take charge, to be spontaneous, to finally act on what I’m feeling.

On what you’re feeling. Er…” She paused.

“What I think you’re feeling, and then the longer it took for you to get here, the more I started to think maybe I’m crazy and last night we just got lost in the moment.

But then I thought about the way you said goodbye to me this morning, and then I convinced myself that it was a dream…

but then the way you were looking at me tonight, it was like, you knew . Ya know?”

Marlena wasn’t sure Arlet had taken a single breath while saying any of that. She didn’t give her a moment to respond before she started again.