Chapter Four: The Bridge That Devours Virgins

LUCY'S POV

"Her?"

Lady Evelisse Thornwood's voice carried across the throne room. She looked at me as though the prince had just announced his intention to marry a rat.

"Your Highness, surely you cannot be serious."

I wished she would stop talking. I wished everyone would stop looking at me. Most of all, I wished the prince would take back his decision and choose someone else.

He appeared to have no intention of doing so. He stood before me with his golden eyes fixed on my face, and he hadn't spoken since choosing me. Somehow his silence was more terrifying than every insult in the room.

The queen rose from her throne. "As tradition requires, three additional women must accompany my son's first choice into the final trial. Lady Evelisse Thornwood,Lady Crystal Faynn. And Lady Celestine Ashbourne."

Evelisse straightened, victory curling across her mouth. Celestine stepped forward in a gown of shimmering silver, and her eyes travelled from the prince to me with open displeasure. I understood. Both women had arrived expecting to leave as future queens, with their families' land and influence behind them.

And then there was Lucy Hartwell. The daughter of a woman people whispered about in taverns and a father who could barely go a day without drinking.

When the queen dismissed the others, Evelisse drifted toward me, smiling so sweetly I almost doubted her earlier cruelty.

"Tell me, rabbit," she murmured, leaning close. "Did you beg the prince to choose you? Or did you offer him something you shouldn't have?"

My cheeks burned. "I didn't ask him to choose me."

"Of course not. A girl like you would simply offer what her mother taught her."

Celestine pressed her fingers to her lips, pretending to hide a laugh.

I had spent my whole life hearing my mother's name used as a weapon against me. But I couldn't fight them. Not here, not with Molly's reward hanging on every word I said.

"Are you going to answer me?" Evelisse demanded.

"No. I have nothing to say to you."

Her smile vanished. "Enjoy your little victory while it lasts."

Celestine lingered after she'd gone. "You should have stayed home," she whispered. "At least there, you could pretend people weren't laughing."

---

A priest entered, carrying a staff crowned with a silver crescent, his white robes stitched with symbols I didn't recognise. The hall fell silent.

"Before the Moon Goddess grants her blessing, each of you must cross the Bridge of the Moon."

A murmur rippled through the room. Everyone had heard of that bridge. It hung over the Blackwater, a lake so dark that sunlight vanished beneath its surface, and the things that lived there had never once been filled. They left nothing behind. Not even bones.

"Those the Goddess accepts will see stars rise beneath their feet," the priest continued. "Those she rejects will find the glass turning black, and they will be delivered to the water. No maiden may refuse the trial."

My fingers curled into my palms.

I wasn't a virgin. I knew that. And for days, I had been ignoring something else, because I couldn't afford to look at it: a bleeding that hadn't come when it should, mornings that left me sick, and the way I had nearly fainted at work. I had told myself it was exhaustion.

If the bridge could read the truth about my body, what would it read in mine?

"Is there a problem, Lady Hartwell?"

I hadn't realised I was staring at the floor. "No."

"Then you have nothing to fear." The priest said as he turned to continue.

I wished I could believe him.

---

The bridge was made entirely of glass, stretching over a drop so deep the water and the shadows were one. Iron pillars flanked the entrance, and silver chains swayed from their tops though no wind stirred. The air smelled of wet stone, and beneath it something rotten.

A small black bird fell from the sky and struck the water.

For a heartbeat, nothing. Then the surface erupted. A pale, many-jointed creature rose, its mouth opening wider than any mouth should, and took the bird down with it. The water closed like a door.

Behind us, the guards shut the gates.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Evelisse said at my shoulder. "A shame someone will probably die today. Perhaps a certain little rabbit who thinks she can sit among dragons."

"Why do you hate me so much?" The question escaped before I could stop it.

"Hate you? Don't flatter yourself." Her voice dropped. "I would only hate for you to embarrass the prince by surviving long enough to become his bride."

She didn't sound like she was joking. She sounded like a woman who had already decided how this ended.

The first maiden crossed with trembling legs, and stars bloomed beneath her feet. She reached the far side sobbing with relief. The second took one step, and the glass cracked. "Continue," the priest ordered, over her screams. The fracture raced out from under her foot, the panel collapsed, and the water took her before the guards reached the edge.

Others passed. Others watched the glass go black and were dragged away. Each scream drained my legs a little more.

Then Celestine stepped onto the bridge with her chin high. Silver light spread beneath her shoes. For one moment I thought she would make it.

The glass cracked. Her eyes widened. The bridge gave way, and she was gone.

Evelisse screamed. I stood frozen. Celestine had been wealthy, beautiful, powerful, and now there was only a ring of ripples.

"Lady Evelisse Thornwood."

Pale but composed, Evelisse smoothed her gown and walked out. The glass stayed clear. Stars glittered under every step. At the far side she turned to me, her smile triumphant.

"Lady Lucy Hartwell."

My knees nearly gave way. "I can't."

"You were summoned by the crown," the queen said, rising. "You will obey."

"I don't want to die!"

The words burst out of me, louder than I'd meant, and I couldn't take them back.

"Refuse the trial," the queen said, descending one step, "and you will be executed for defying the royal command."

I thought of Molly in her narrow bed, her small hand in mine. *We're going to be okay.* I had promised her a future I might never live to give.

"Please," I whispered. "I don't want to be here."

"Take her to the bridge."

Two guards seized my arms and dragged me forward while I begged. Nobody answered. The glass was cold beneath my shoes, and far below, something pale shifted in the dark. I pressed one trembling hand against my stomach, just once, and closed my eyes.

"Moon Goddess, I don't know why you brought me this far. But please don't let me die today." My voice broke. "My sister needs me."

The guards let go. I took a single step.

A crack split beneath my foot, and blackness poured through the glass like ink through water. Someone screamed that I had been rejected. Something began to rise beneath me. I turned to run, but the guards blocked the way, and the queen's voice cut across the courtyard. "Take another step, Lady Hartwell, or lose your head where you stand."

I had never felt so alone. Weeping, I stepped again.

The glass cracked.

And the blackness stopped.

For one strange second, the world went silent. Then a silver light flickered under my feet. Another step, and the glass began to mend itself. A star appeared. Then another. The darkness retreated, and when I reached the centre of the bridge, silver light erupted across the Blackwater, the broken panels sealed, and a brilliant glow swept over me. My torn cream dress became a gown of ivory and silver.

The priest dropped to his knees. "The Moon Goddess..."

"Impossible!" Evelisse shrieked. Then her voice turned vicious. "She's lying! She's not a virgin!"

The words struck harder than a slap.

"She deceived the Goddess!" "Throw her into the water!"

"I didn't lie to anyone," I begged, backing away. Evelisse raised her hand, and a violent force slammed into my chest. I fell to the glass, pain exploding through me.

"You think the Goddess would choose a filthy little rabbit over me?" She lifted her hand again.

Then warmth spread across the back of my neck.

The shouting faded. The priest had gone white. And from beyond the queen's platform came a roar that shook the courtyard to its foundations. Not human. Not like anything I had ever heard.

A massive black dragon dropped out of the sky, golden eyes blazing, and landed so hard the glass trembled beneath me. Scales like polished obsidian. Flames burning between his teeth.

I knew those eyes.

He lowered his head toward the mark glowing on my neck, and for one heartbeat he did not move. Then he roared, and the words rolled through the whole kingdom:

"WHO DARES TO TOUCH MY MATE?"

Before I could understand, he swept me into his claws, holding me as carefully as if I were made of glass. I wanted to tell him I wasn't his mate. I wanted to tell him to take me home. But my strength was gone.

The last thing I heard before the dark took me was his voice, cold enough to freeze the kingdom.

"If a single hair on her head is harmed again, I will burn every house belonging to the person responsible."

And somewhere behind it, I heard the queen whisper a name.

Not mine but his.

For the first time since I had arrived at the palace, she sounded afraid.