Chapter 30

(Elouera’s POV)

“The heavy silver tunic pressed down on my shoulders, but the real burden was the anger burning inside me.I stood in front of the large mirror in my bedroom, staring at my reflection. I looked so different that I barely recognized myself. My hands were shaking so badly that the buttons on my velvet coat clicked together. I quickly reached for the tight lace collar around my neck and pulled at it, trying to hide the dark veins spreading across my skin.They weren't fading. They were darkening, throbbing beneath my skin with a thick, terrifying rhythm.

Just get through tonight, I told myself, closing my eyes and forcing a ragged, shuddering breath into my tight chest. One more night. Just play the weak, quiet Beta prince for six more hours.

I thought of Uncle Holden. I remembered the warmth of his hand on my shoulder, the quiet promise he had made in the dark of my room after Pip’s death, swearing he would protect me from the wolves in the court. He was the only person left in this sprawling, blood soaked palace who looked at me and saw a human being instead of a weapon or an inconvenience. Knowing he was standing near the high dais tonight even crippled, even powerless against the Empress was the only anchor keeping my sanity from snapping in two.

He was my family. The last piece of my mother I had left. If I could just survive the Empress’s speeches at the Royal Equinox Gala, Holden would help me find a way out of the capital before my body completely collapsed.

A sharp, sudden spike of heat shot straight down my spine, so intense and agonizing that my vision flashed pure, blinding white.

I gasped, gripping the edge of the mahogany vanity so hard the wood groaned. Sweat instantly broke out across my forehead, cold and slick, but beneath my skin, my blood felt like it was literally boiling. It wasn't the dull, hollow ache of Holden’s poison, nor was it the slow creep of the Night-bloom.

This was something feral. Something deep, ancient, and utterly unnatural.

My lungs seized. The air in the room suddenly tasted suffocatingly thick, heavy with the scent of melted beeswax and crushed lilies. I pulled at the heavy linen bindings wrapped around my chest, desperate to release the pressure, but my fingers were losing their strength. My skin felt hyper-sensitive, every thread of my tunic scraping against my flesh like hot iron.

No. No, please, not now.

I stumbled backward, away from the mirror, my heels catching on the heavy fringe of the Persian rug. The room tilted dangerously. The high, vaulted stone ceiling seemed to press down on me, trapping me in a shrinking cage.

Down in the Grand Conservatory, the distant, muffled sound of fanfares echoed through the stone walls. Horns blared. The high nobility were gathering. The Empress was about to take her throne, and as the Second Prince, my absence would be treated as treason. I had to walk down those marble stairs. I had to stand beside Crown Prince Callan and Lord Stirling under the glare of two hundred glass chandeliers.

I grabbed the small glass bottle of cold water from the table and poured it over my hands. Then I pressed my wet hands against my cheeks. The cold water shocked me and helped me think clearly for a moment, but the strange heat inside my body kept getting stronger. It felt like a fire was burning inside me, and I couldn't make it stop.

My scent, the sweet, sharp fragrance of wild honey and fresh rain, was bleeding through the heavy suppression salves I had slathered across my throat less than an hour ago. I could smell it filling the small alcove, rich and thick, impossible to hide.

A heavy, deliberate knock echoed against the grand outer doors of my bedchamber.

Commander Jace called through the door and told Prince Elian that the Empress was already in her seat. He was telling him that he needed to come out because it was time for the ceremony or meeting to begin.I froze in the center of the room, my hand pressed hard against my racing heart, my teeth digging so deep into my lower lip that I tasted copper.

I couldn't open that door. If Jace stepped into this room right now, if he caught even a single breath of the thick, intoxicating air surrounding me, the lie would end before I ever reached the stairs. Jace called Prince Elian, but his voice suddenly became serious because he sensed something was wrong. Then, the door handle slowly started turning, showing that someone was about to enter.