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Galen cleared his throat and stood. “She’s not your hostage. She is an honored guest, under my protection. I’ll not sit by idly while you fling insults at her. Perhaps, it’s not too late to find your manners and introduce yourselves.”

Silence answered him. “No? Then I shall do it for you.” He continued, “Marigold, you’ve been introduced to Radley and Arnold. The gentleman to their left is Samael. The ladies… My grandmother, Anica, followed by Harkin, and Greta.”

The redhead was Harkin. She hid behind no mask as the rest did. They at least appeared civilized. She looked half-wild, ready to shift into a she-wolf and tear me apart.

“Pleasure to meet you,” I said with a scowl.

“Marigold is mastering her magic with impressive speed. However, world walking is a different beast and she needs our help. How well were you acquainted with the last world walker? Did you see her open a doorway?” Galen’s jaw was ticked, his body tight, as he tried to facilitate the meeting, directing his question towards no one in particular.

His mother sat back, coiled and ready to strike.

“You truly believe her lies? That she doesn’t know how ? You’re as foolish as your father.” Harkin gave an insidious laugh and turned to me. “Remind me, how did you arrive in Nymera?”

Galen’s flames exploded. “Disrespect the late King again and I’ll rip your black heart from your chest and burn it to ash.”

Sylvia raised a brow, but it was Radley who stepped in. He lifted his hands towards Galen in a gesture of peace, before snarling at Harkin. “Speaking ill of the dead?” He clicked his tongue at her. “Do we need to muzzle you… again?”

Harkin shot him a glare, shook her head, and then all eyes fell on me. “Well, girl, answer the question,” Radley pressed. I felt their unified hatred bore into me .

I answered slowly, trying to hide how rattled I felt. “I fell asleep in Erador and woke up here. I traveled while sleeping.” My hands fidgeted in my lap, aching to throw up a shield and protect myself.

“The Mongrel Prince took her to the portal without my consent, but she failed to open a doorway,” Sylvia explained. “She would’ve tried to escape by now… if she was able to.”

My eyes shot to her. And then to Galen. He’d told her that I went to the garden with Raf.

It felt as if the dagger tucked against my thigh had somehow found itself impaled in my gut.

He’d chosen his mother over me . I tried to still the power surging through me.

I needed to stay in control. My breath was frosty as I inhaled in and out.

He had used my secrets for his own gain. After he’d promised .

In and out.

He’d told me I could trust him.

Sadness and rage were begging to be released in the form of a blizzard. I could barely focus with the roaring in my ears—the fire and ice in my blood.

“It’s a difficult story to swallow… you must understand,” Anica said, tapping her red fingernails along the marble table.

“As for the walker… We don’t know much about the woman who led us here.

She had golden hair… quite similar to yours.

We never saw her wield magic. The portal was waiting for us, then promptly shut when the last of us were through.

King Randall made the mistake of trusting her, but my daughter will not repeat his mistakes. ”

Was I somehow related to the last walker? Why had Ophelia kept me in the dark? I wanted to scream.

“Anything else you can recall?” I asked, acid pooling on the tip of my tongue. I was shivering, while my icy breath spilled across the table like smoke. Galen’s eyes were on me, begging me to keep it together.

Anica looked down her nose at me as she replied, “No. We barely interacted with her. She made a proposition to King Randall to send us to a new world, with the promise that it would lift our curse. His entire family had just been slaughtered by humans. He was in hiding—we all were. We had few options; she used our desperation to her advantage.”

Arnold cut in—red-faced, eyes bulging. “The bitch knowingly sealed us out of our home world, never bothering to break the curse.”

“A treasonous whore ,” spat Greta .

Their wrath pelted me from all directions, suffocating me, burying me. And like a branch, bearing too much weight…

I snapped.

Arctic wind whipped around me as my voice rang out clear and strong.

“ENOUGH.” I stood up, effectively silencing them all.

“I’m sorry about what happened to your people, long before I was alive.

However, your obvious disdain towards my kind poses a conflict of interest. Are you capable of working with humans?

Or is spilling blood across Erador your only objective?

Protect the remaining humans. Find the abducted people.

Stop killing hybrids, if you want my cooperation.

You do yourself a disservice, not allowing humans and faeries to interbreed.

Aren’t Rafael and I proof enough, that hybrids don’t weaken magic, but make it stronger? ”

It was asinine to speak so boldly, to order them about, like I was their Queen. They were well past reason and had shown themselves to be incapable of empathy, and yet I couldn’t allow them to say what they had, unchallenged. To do what they were doing, unchecked. I braced myself for an explosion.

Several of them stood up in anger. Harkin readied her hands for an attack.

Radley released flames along the length of the table, creating a barrier.

“You seem to be under the impression that you hold sway here,” he said with detached amusement, as if I were a zebra that had just challenged a pride of lions.

“Let me set you straight; we might need a world walker, but we don’t need her with all of her limbs…

In fact, we could inflict quite a bit of damage to a healer. Some of us might even enjoy it.”

Galen’s fire roared, as he faced Radley.

They both had flame the same fiery shade as their hair.

“I gave my mother information in exchange for her word that Marigold remains unharmed. You don’t want to push me any farther than you already have, unless you’d like to start a war.

Or have you forgotten who commands the Royal Fae Army?

” he seethed, baring his fangs, while they stared each other down.

Sylvia’s voice echoed through the hall as she spoke with absolute authority.

“Sit down, both of you. NOW!” She threw out vines that forced the men back into their seats.

“Galen, you do not control the soldiers; I do.

They bow to me— they bleed for me . You and your brothers oversee the army under my supervision. A monkey could do your job .

“As for the rest of you… have you forgotten who you bow down to? Do you need a reminder with a show of strength ? Shall I have my guards remove your limbs for threatening my world walker?”

She looked disgusted with everyone in the room, turning on me next. “As for you, Princess, you’re in no position to make ultimatums. If you mouth off again, I’ll chain you and leave you to rot in a cell. I don’t care if you’re temporarily sleeping with my idiot son—no one is above my law.”

I stayed silent, lowering my head. This hadn’t been the time or place to challenge them.

But I didn’t regret standing up for myself, for my people.

My heart thumped erratically as the full weight of my predicament hit me.

Sleeping in a feather bed, with the heir to the throne beside me, had given me a false sense of security.

“I apologize, Your Grace,” I said softly.

“I requested this meeting for a specific purpose—to seek permission to visit the Oracle. I believe she’ll tell me how to open a doorway to Erador.

” I shrank within myself to get the words out.

Raf wouldn’t have pandered to these people… but I didn’t have his strength.

Radley and Galen’s flames had been put away. Everyone was sitting down. The Elders continued to glare at me with centuries worth of malice.

“You may visit the Oracle. We’ll send guards to ensure that you stick to the mission.” Sylvia turned to the Elders. “Does anyone have reason to deny this request?”

Everyone shook their heads. “We defer to your wisdom, Your Highness. However, if she returns and has made no progress, we’ll be requesting permission to take her, to see if our methods prove effective. You’ve seen her insolence. We can’t risk her escaping,” Arnold replied.

Galen’s flames sent heat across the table as he let his temper slip again. “By royal decree, you will not touch her.”

Sylvia sighed. “Galen, put your matchsticks away. Arnold, I’ve heard your concerns.

We’ll give Marigold until the Hyacinth Festival to open a portal for us.

If she hasn’t, I’ll leave her in your care.

I believe that will be motivation enough.

This meeting is dismissed.” She clapped and everyone stood.

Fear latched onto me and shook any remaining fortitude from my soul. The festival was less than two months from now. It wasn’t enough time . I stumbled as guards hauled me out of my seat and marched me back to the carriage .

Arnold stayed back with the Elders. Only Galen appeared at the carriage door. A flash of trepidation crossed his face, followed by a carefully blank expression. “They haven’t won, love. We have time. I won’t let them hurt you.”

The nerve he had. This was his doing .

I was so broken that I didn’t stop him when he sat beside me and pulled me onto his lap. He kissed my forehead as he tried to comfort me. One last surge of anger rose up and I jerked away from him, sitting as far from him as possible. And then I let myself fall apart.

“Y-you told your mother that I tried to open the portal. You told them that I’m the heir to the Aurelian throne,” I rasped as tears threatened to choke me. I held onto my necklace, twirling it in my fingers. It was as cold as the ice in my chest.