Page 28

Clarissa

I stormed through the winding maze and back up the path to Silenus Manor. Thorne’s heavy footsteps sounded behind me, but he didn’t make any effort to stop me.

My mind reeled with everything I’d learned. The fact that Mysthelm had magic in any form was something I hadn’t expected in my wildest dreams, much less this vengeful curse the Fates had placed on the Grimaldis.

It made sense, though. The way Galen was so careful not to touch me with his bare skin, how his hands and arms were covered at all times. That one moment in the garden when I reached out to touch him and he got so angry.

What would happen if I did touch him?

How many people had discovered the hard way?

And what Thorne said about it becoming uncontrollable and spreading to the rest of the kingdom…

If nobody could figure out a way to stop his curse, how much longer would his people withstand it?

How much longer until his subjects began to fall prey to this deadly rot too?

Till their crops and livestock died off, and they were left with nothing?

This was more than I’d been prepared to handle. And they’d played me for a fool.

I gritted my teeth. I should have been told . I shouldn’t be having to force secrets from the king’s advisor and charge into Galen’s bedchamber like a raging lion.

But here I was.

I stopped at the intersection of two corridors, glancing down each one. Thorne chose that moment to finally speak. “Clarissa, think about?—”

“Where is he?” I hissed.

Pursing his lips, the muscles at his jaw clenched as he pointed a resigned finger to the left. I marched down the hall until I came across a pair of wide double doors with two guards stationed in front.

“Let me in,” I ordered.

The guards exchanged a wary glance with each other. “Your Majesty, it’s the middle of the night.”

“I’m aware, thank you. I need to see King Grimaldi.”

One of them eyed Thorne, who simply looked at me as if to say, you got yourself into this.

I sighed. “I just need to speak with him for a moment. If you could please tell him that?—”

The door opened, and Galen’s head peeked out, his brown hair mussed from sleep. “What’s going on?” His eyes sharpened when he spotted Thorne and me. “Clarissa? What’s the matter?”

I leveled him with a stare. “We need to talk.”

His face paled. He searched Thorne’s features for a moment before his shoulders fell and he opened the door wider. “Come in.”

The door shut behind us, and Galen moved to light a lamp at his bedside table, casting the space in a soft golden glow.

Dark red curtains were drawn back from the window.

Moonlight illuminated the wide bed with its oak headboard and a myriad of white and gray throw pillows.

A gray rug sat on the floor in the center of the room beneath a small table and two burgundy wingback chairs.

Galen’s trunks rested in a corner, with several cloaks and tunics hanging inside an open armoire.

He turned to face me, weariness heavy in his eyes. “Clarissa, could this have waited until?—”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I snapped. “This power. This curse. Did you not think I had the right to know?”

Instead of answering me, he glared at Thorne. “You told her?”

“Don’t blame him. You’re the one who asked to ally with my empire, Galen. You asked to marry me. Don’t you think this was information I should’ve had before I agreed to any of it?”

“Would it have changed your mind?” he countered.

I threw my hands in the air. “I don’t know!

But I wanted the choice . It’s become more than just about me, though.

This land is suffering, and your people don’t even know why.

” I let out a disbelieving breath as something occurred to me.

“Was that your plan? Get me to come here and agree to be your queen so I could help you solve your problems? So you could exploit me and use Veridia’s magic? ”

“No—no, Clarissa, that wasn’t it. I swear,” Galen said, taking a step toward me.

I backed up. My hand accidentally brushed against Thorne’s and sent a flare up my arm before I pulled away.

“I wasn’t trying to trick you,” Galen continued. “I just…this was the only thing I knew to do. There’s more to the story—please, let me explain.”

My anger turned to hesitancy, and I glanced up at Thorne. His gaze was fixed on Galen, the crease at his forehead deepening. “What are you talking about, Galen?”

So Thorne didn’t know everything, either.

More secrets.

“What else is there?” I asked.

Galen ran his gloved fingers through his hair. A dark brown lock fell over his eyebrow. “It’s the real reason I reached out to your council. The reason I asked you to come here. It—it wasn’t just for an alliance.” A pause. “ You’re the only way to break this curse, Clarissa.”

A ringing formed low in my ears. “I—I don’t understand. ”

“Thorne told you about my ancestor Nyses, yes?” Galen asked, and I nodded.

“His son gained an audience with the Fates several decades after Nyses died. He was penitent and tried to get them to grant him and his descendants mercy, saying they shouldn’t inherit the sins of one man.

The Fates made a deal with him: since the curse was born out of greed and envy toward the Veridian Empire, the only way to end it would be to join the two lands.

Unite Mysthelm and Veridia under a bond of marriage, and the curse would break. ”

“ What ?” Thorne snapped.

Chills spread across my skin. I started pacing the floor, unable to look at either of them as I processed this.

A bond of marriage . That was why he was so urgent. Why he reached out to us so quickly after his father’s death, why he pushed for this engagement as opposed to a simple alliance. If he wanted to break this curse, he had to marry me .

“How has nobody tried to do this before now?” I asked.

“Some of my ancestors have tried to contact your empire, but nobody ever responded. Either they never received our attempts, or they ignored us. But not all Grimaldis have wanted to bridge the gap—their pride was strong, their hatred for the Veridian Empire too consuming to ask for their help. You’re the first one who’s shown any interest in peace. ”

I scoffed at that. “And look how that turned out for me.”

Galen pressed on. “I know it was under somewhat false pretenses, but do you honestly think you’d be here if I had led with the entire truth?”

I chewed on my bottom lip. “I don’t know.” Crossing to one of the chairs, I sank into the cushion, resting my elbow on the armrest.

There were so many conflicting emotions warring inside me.

Anger, of course, although that was swiftly morphing to hurt.

Betrayal, even. Which was ridiculous, considering I barely knew these people.

Why should I feel betrayed by two men who’d been complete strangers—bordering on my enemies , if you took into account the feud over the last three centuries—until three days ago?

Part of me felt used. Disposable, like I was some pawn they could move around and twist into doing their bidding to get what they wanted. The vulnerable, volatile woman Lord Stryker always painted me as.

My thoughts screamed, begging for an outlet.

Even without my Shifter half, I was still just as emotional, just as easily riled.

But it had nowhere to go. No magic to consume my emotions and turn them into power.

It was like when I was a child and couldn’t let my feelings out, couldn’t control the rage and hurt and confusion that swirled in me like a storm.

I took a deep breath and did what my mother taught me to do as a young Shifter.

Focus on three things I could see.

The silver moonlight coming in from the window, casting the floor in shadows. The broad leaves of a potted plant by the armoire. The dwindling embers in the fireplace a few feet from my chair. I let my breaths even out to their yellow and orange glow.

Two things I could feel.

The velvet of the armrest coated in burgundy fabric, soft and fuzzy beneath my fingers. The weight of my hair resting against my chest and lightly brushing my exposed arm when I turned my head.

One thing I could smell.

Leather and sweet grass.

My eyes locked with Thorne’s. His gaze bore into mine, and the tidal wave subsided.

“I understand if you want to leave, Clarissa,” Galen said, causing both Thorne and me to turn back to him.

“I would never try to hold you here against your will. The choice is yours, as it should’ve been all along.

” He chewed on his bottom lip before adding, “But…I hope you’ll consider it.

What this would mean, not just for me, but my entire kingdom. ”

I nodded and rose to my feet, my normal composure washing over me. “I need to think. It’s not a no, Galen,” I said when his face fell. “Give me a little bit of time. You owe me that much.”

A muscle in his neck twitched, but he gave a curt nod. When I opened and shut the door to his chambers behind me, I leaned my head against the hard wood for a moment before heading in the direction I’d come from, desperate to feel the night’s wind on my skin before I suffocated.