Page 11 of The Starlit Ring (The Chronicles of Liridin #1)

“They’re just going to leave us here to die?

” I demanded. I spoke too loudly, too shrilly.

Around me, voices rose in panic. Panicked guests charged the doors.

The guards fought them off, but sooner or later, they’d lose momentum.

The crowd was out of control, pushing forward, shoving and scratching at the doors, the walls.

I noted a hole in one of our back windows.

It looked like someone had shoved their fist through.

The enchanted glass had performed entirely too well—no one would escape through the windows tonight.

“Damn it,” said Rowan, nostrils flaring, lips pulling back into a snarl. “We’ve just gotten them to calm down, Talina! You can’t upset them like this!”

“It’s true ,” I insisted. “Barricaded like this, what do you think will happen?”

“We’ve plenty of protection,” said Rowan. “Please, let’s just go sit?—”

A great boom! echoed through the banquet hall, followed by shrieks as Ria shoved her way through the bodies at the door. She held my sword in her hand, knuckles white.

I gasped. Rowan and I clutched each other. He clapped a hand to his mouth. His white gloves glittered in the light of the candelabra, still shining above us.

“Stand down!” Ria screeched, voice high and furious over the cacophony of screams, the mad stampede of feet.

But she was lost in the rush. The soldiers had no hope of containing the mob.

While a few nobles remained in the ballroom, holding chunks of disassembled benches, candlesticks, broken wine bottles and other makeshift weapons, most fled.

Ria wailed as she fell. In the madness, I caught sight of a lavender slipper, separated from its wearer.

My sword flew from her hand and clattered to the floor.

“Go inside!” commanded the guards. “Inside! Back into the banquet hall! Princess Valeria has an announcement!”

Some returned, their noses bloodied, faces white as sheets, clutching bruised limbs. Among those who had remained were Duke Callum, and regrettably, Alger, though a dark stain across his pants suggested he might’ve pissed himself. I felt a grim satisfaction at the sight.

Others were presumably loose among the halls of our castle, ready to flee or fight.

Nobles , I thought in disgust, watching as someone helped Ria to her feet.

My sword had landed several feet away, but no one made to grab it.

Someone rushed to bring Ria her shoe. Instead of accepting it, she kicked off her remaining slipper.

“Do not fight!” she shouted, voice already hoarse.

“Do not fight! I have an announcement! Please, you are no longer in danger!”

My stomach churned. She’s done it. She’s really done it.

“I will return to Tocchia with Prince Marius as his betrothed. We will honor the treaty,” said Ria. Blood dripped from a cut on her forehead. “Tocchia has called off the invasion.”

She raised her hand, revealing a raw, red slice across her palm. “I swore it.”

I clutched Rowan. “She used my sword,” I whispered. “She used my sword!”

“Fuck,” said Rowan, struggling to detach me. “Let go, I need to speak to Ria!”

I dropped his arm like it had bitten me, and he fled as if I’d bitten him in return.

“What were you thinking?!” shouted Rowan, arms waving in a way that Timin would criticize as most undignified.

My heart clenched. I imagined her hiding with the servants in their quarters, lip quivering in terror.

I hoped she’d survived the slaughter. Annoying or not, she didn’t deserve to die this way.

“It is done,” said Ria with a terrible calm. “I am departing with Prince Marius to fulfill Olmstead’s original treaty.”

There was an outcry, voices gathering together in a flurry of protests and shocked exclamations. Everyone wanted to know if we were at war.

I took advantage of the mayhem to retrieve my sword from where Valeria had dropped it, and wiped it clean with the hem of my dress.

A strangled gasp came from behind me. I whirled around to find Callum staring at me, as if he’d just now realized that I’d stumbled into the ballroom ready to fight or flee.

With blood spattered down my front, a bruise on my jaw, the hem of my dress streaked crimson, I was far from the demure little thing he’d danced with the last two nights.

Part of me felt guilty for disappointing him. Another part of me thought it was better he found out sooner rather than later. I could play the part of a good little princess, but I was so much more than that, and ready to prove it.

Swarmed with adrenaline and terror and rage, I felt like a spider, clumsily weaving my very first web. I hadn’t meant to trap anyone in it, but I couldn’t deny my instincts, the urge to create and experiment and defend. If anyone felt betrayed by that, so be it.

But even as I was the spider, I was also the fly, navigating through an entire castle full of others’ webs, far more likely to be trapped and destroyed than to escape unscathed.

All my life, I’d dodged and fought, but soon enough, I’d be caught, only to wither away, sustenance for another day’s gossip among courtiers, forgotten unless my end was spectacular enough to become a cautionary tale .

A legacy as nightmare fodder for children. How dreary .

The doors flew open with a bang! King Amonrew stomped through them, hair mussed, crown askew, blood splashed across his face, furred boots soaked like he’d fallen into a barrel of wine. “Princess Valeria,” he snarled, voice carrying through the room like a gale. “What have you done?”

Silence fell. With it, my stomach dropped.

The King spared me no attention. All his ire was focused on Valeria, who stood before him, pale-faced and defiant.

“I did what needed to be done to stop the slaughter.”

Rage thundered across his face. “Come with me,” he said.

“You and I and Prince Marius have much to discuss.” He scowled across the crowd, as if they were intruding on a deeply personal moment.

“And the rest of you!” he shouted. “What are you waiting for? Make merry and drink deeply! It’s the least you can do for me! ”

Laughter and cheers exploded through the room.

A few looked on, as if worried they might be ambushed, that this was a trap.

But more still drank deeply of abandoned cups.

After exchanging worried glances, the band started up again, a fast little jig that had the drunkest of the lot leaping onto tables and swarming the dance floor.

The ballroom dissolved into madness. The doors slammed behind Princess Valeria and King Amonrew. Rowan and I were left to the revelry.