Chapter two

Constance

I smoothed down my skirt with shaking hands, my palms slick with sweat. Stand up. Keep moving. That was all I kept telling myself as the guards pushed us down a stone corridor toward a set of heavy wooden doors.

My legs still ached from standing on that cold table an hour before. I did not know if I had passed whatever test the doctors ran on me. Nobody told us anything. They just herded us from one room to the next like cattle, and I was too afraid to ask questions.

"Single file, ladies," a guard barked. "You are about to enter the Royal Chamber. Keep your mouths shut, pay your respects to Lord William Blackwood, and move along."

The girl beside me was shaking so hard her teeth chattered. "What happens if he doesn't wake up for anyone?" she whispered.

"Then we go through it all over again tomorrow," another girl muttered from behind us. "Or worse."

Nobody explained what worse meant. Nobody wanted to find out.

My chest went tight.

The doors opened, and thick incense rolled into the hall. In the middle of the room sat a raised bed. William lay on it, still and pale, his chest rising and falling in a slow, heavy rhythm.

"Step up, lay a hand on his arm, and move," the guard ordered.

A girl with heavy makeup rushed forward, tripping over her own heels. She laid her hand on his chest and fluttered her eyelashes. "Wake up for me, handsome. I know you can hear me."

"Move it," the guard growled, shoving her forward.

Next came a girl with bleached hair. She strutted up the steps, dragged her fingers along his arm, and gave a little shudder. "I can feel his power. We have a connection, I just know it."

I rolled my eyes. Give me a break.

One by one, the girls filed past, touching his skin, preening like they were on a stage. Nothing happened. William stayed motionless, lost to the world.

I was last in line. My stomach turned as I stepped up to the bed. I did not want to touch him, but a guard jabbed a pike toward my shoulder. I swallowed hard and reached out.

My fingers barely brushed his wrist.

A sharp spark of static electricity snapped between us.

My eyes shot to his face. His eyelashes twitched. Then, for a fraction of a second, his eyelids flicked open. Gold eyes. Conscious, staring straight at me, before snapping shut again.

My heart slammed against my ribs like a trapped bird.

No. That’s impossible.

I froze, staring at his motionless face. Did his eyes just open?

Was he conscious, or was my mind playing tricks on me? 

Was grief and terror making me hallucinate movement in the shadows? 

He was still now.

Unmoving. Exactly as the guards and doctors had said.

Before I could process it, the guard's rough hand landed on my shoulder, jerking me backward. I stumbled, my gaze glued to William’s face, waiting to see if his chest would stop moving or if those golden eyes would open again to prove I hadn't gone completely mad.

The girl with heavy makeup turned back toward the bed, frowning. "Did his hand just move?" she asked no one in particular.

My whole body went cold. I forced my face flat and shrugged, my voice barely a whisper. "I... I didn't see anything."

She stared at William for one more second, then shrugged too and turned away. My heart did not slow down for a long time.

"Hey! Move it!" a guard shoved me toward a waiting room that smelled stale. I backed into a corner, my knees shaking, while the other candidates buzzed around me.

"I'm honestly shocked you're still a virgin," the girl with bleached hair said, twirling a lock of hair around her finger, looking at the girl with heavy makeup. "Didn't you get laid? I was worried you'd drop dead during the exam."

"Do you want your teeth knocked out?" another girl snapped back.

"Relax, Ayesha, I'm playing!" Bleached-hair laughed, nudging her hard. Then her eyes landed on me. "Hey, what's your name?"

Before I could answer, Ayesha pulled her back. "Don't talk to her. Look at her, she looks like she escaped a psych ward."

I said nothing. I pressed my lips together and stared at the floor. Their trash talk meant nothing next to the surreal image still burned into the back of my mind. Did I really see those eyes? Or am I losing my mind?

I counted the cracks in the stone floor to keep from shaking. Somewhere down the hall, a girl was crying. Nobody comforted her. Out here, kindness was a weakness you could not afford.

The door creaked open. Two guards walked in with an administrator and a pale woman with skin veined violet.

A shiver ran through the room. A witch.

Without a word, the witch set a leather bag on the table and lined up ten glass vials of murky liquid.

"Girls, listen closely," the administrator said. "Drink from these vials. If you are pure of blood and fit for the Selection, you pass. If you are not..."

He let the threat hang in the air.

"Can it just be one?" A girl with an arrogant strut stepped up and grabbed the first vial.

"Careful. The spirits don't reward attitude," the witch warned.

"I'm pure as ever," the girl bragged, and downed the whole vial in one gulp.

For two seconds, nothing. Then her smile broke apart. She grabbed her throat, gasping, then clutched her stomach. Blood came from her mouth, and she dropped face-down on the floor.

Two guards dragged her body out by the ankles, leaving a red trail behind.

Screams echoed off the walls. I stumbled back until my spine hit stone. My mind screamed at me to run, but there was nowhere to go. Guards blocked every door. I pressed my palm flat against the cold stone behind me and forced myself to breathe.

The witch tapped the second vial. "Next."

No one moved.

"Shall I choose at random?" the witch asked.

One girl dropped to her knees, begging the administrator to let her go home instead. He did not even look at her. Guards pulled her back into line.

A second girl, sobbing, forced herself forward and drank the second potion. She did not make it three steps before her knees buckled with a sickening snap, her shoulders twisting the wrong way. She went still.

Chaos broke out. Girls clawed at the walls. A third girl ran for the doors, but two guards slammed her against the frame and dragged her out.

Then it was just me.

The witch turned her cloudy eyes on me. "Drink the vial, girl."

My legs felt like lead, but I made myself walk to the table. I closed my eyes and whispered, "Please, let me live."

I grabbed the bottle and drank the whole thing in one go.

The moment it hit my stomach, fire tore through my gut. My chest seized, and my legs gave out. I hit the cold floor hard.

Through the ringing in my ears, I heard the witch's dry voice above me. "Well. Look at that. You think you're pure."

Then everything went black.

*****

My eyes opened to soft, golden light. I was lying on a huge bed with silk sheets. I tried to lift my arm, but my whole body felt like concrete, and the taste of the potion was still on my tongue.

"Oh, Luna Princess, you're awake!" a high, excited voice said.

I turned my head to see a slim man in a silk vest hurrying to my bed, wringing his hands.

"Thank the Moon Goddess," he said, fanning himself. "Shall I have the kitchens bring you something to eat, Constance?

I am Julian by the way. The Alpha King regent will be down shortly, and we cannot have his nephew's surrogate looking like a ghost."