Page 113 of The Rose in the Shadows

“I need to see her.”

“For what purpose? Do you know how many of my people died trying to save you in that field? Now, you want to throw yourself directly into her pathagain? Just how unintelligent are you?”

I grit my teeth, ignoring the urge to let loose some magic in my frustration. I knew I was more powerful than the Dragon. He likely knew that too at this point. But magic wasn’t the only form of power in this world. And if I wanted to stay in this castle with the friends I’d come to love, I needed to play his game.

Well, I needed to continue playing his game.

I had been playing it since the moment I stepped onto that bridge so many months ago.

I chose my words carefully, knowing this sentence would make or break his decision. “She put my life and the lives of my fellow Athenians at risk. The people she murdered weren’t just yours, but mine, too. She needs to see that I am alive, that I am powerful, and that I will ascend to the Athenian Council despite her. She needs to sit with that knowledge.”

His eyes widened as a slow grin spread across his face. I had chosen the right words. He nodded slightly before turning and leaving, but that was all I needed. I would visit Camilla this afternoon, and no one would get in my way.

The palace dungeons weren’t a place I’d ever wanted to see again. And yet, I walked through these halls under a verydifferent circumstance than my last visit. Today, I walked them with my head held high.

I’d allowed Nessira and Rei, my new lady-in-waiting, to dress me in a sparkling rust-orange ballgown with a shimmering golden belt. Since all of my gowns were specifically designed to display the Mark of Hyrax on my collarbone, they now all painfully revealed my bare skin, but that was no matter. I had them twist my hair into an elaborate allotment of braids and curls with golden jewels entwined throughout. They adorned my fingers and wrists with stunning diamond and pearl jewels.

Nessira had watched me warily throughout the process. She knew I hated the typical grandeur of court fashions and that I’d only wear them willingly if I was doing it for a calculated reason.

Which I was.

I insisted the Guards wait for me at the entrance of the dungeon. Dimitri protested vehemently, but I added such authority to my voice that they finally submitted and let me go alone.

I didn’t want anyone else to hear this conversation.

Camilla’s retching echoed through the chambers long before I set my eyes on her. And what a sight she was. Her usually shining black hair was stuck to her face in sweat. Every vein in her body was visibly black through her skin. She hovered over a wastebasket, body heaving but unable to spew anything else.

“Oh, good.” She groaned as pushed herself onto her elbows to look up at me. “You’re here.”

“You look like shit.”

She chuckled softly. “I feel worse.”

“It’s not as if you don’t deserve it.”

Camilla flinched. With effort, she pulled herself up to slump against the wall of the cell. She wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her tunic.

“I know that. It’s not an excuse, but the shadows cloud your judgment. When I came off of it, I realized all the things I’d done… the people I’d hurt.”

“Like Lorelai?” I spit.

Tears welled in her eyes. “That was an accident.”

“Murder is never an accident, Camilla.”

She nodded, and for a second, I wondered if this was the first time I was actually speaking to the real Camilla? Was this the girl that Iris and my friends had grown up knowing and loving?

“Is that what you came here to say?”

“No.” I sighed and folded my arms in front of me. “I actually came here to ask you something.”

“What in all of creation could you have to ask me?”

“Do you-” I stuttered, partially unwilling to ask the question. “Do you know what I am?”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Camilla laughed darkly, and the sound of it echoed around us. Ice prickled across my skin as I looked down at her and for a second I wavered in my resolve to ask this of her. Camilla had spent a year trying to kill me, and now I was asking for her help - her insight? She was the last person I should be trusting with this.

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