Page 1 of Shattered Magic

Chapter One

Hari watched herself in the mirror as Serel zipped the designer gown. “Are you sure you want me to wear this? To do this?”

Serel smiled. “We have to make up the numbers. Besides, this dress doesn’t fit me. It was designed for a more... exaggerated figure.”

Hari looked at her body in the strapless dress. The structure showed off her narrow waist, supported her full bust, and encased her hips.

She moved in the gown and watched the glittering gems catch the light. It cost more than her parents made in half a year. “Why do you have it if it doesn’t suit you?”

Serel picked out a set of shoes that matched the dress. “You know me. I love shopping.”

Hari looked at herself in the mirror. Her makeup was dramatic, her hair was swept up to cascade down over a shoulder, and the dress was exceptionally flattering. The midnight blue suited her.

She got her shoes on and put the wrap on. Hari was nervous. The other ladies were all debutants out to catch a man at the governor’s court. He was rising tonight, as he did every five years. From what she had heard in high school, he was looking for a proper consort. The city’s elite sent their daughters there to tempt him. Ten was the required number, and they had been one woman down.

Since high school, Hari had been Serel’s friend of last resort. Hari was quiet, studious, and did not come from money. Scholarships paved the way, and she was in her fourth year of university but hadn’t been out much. Library sciences students had a very niche social circle.

Serel was a sociology major.

“Right, Hari, let’s get going. This is going to be quite the party.”

Hari smiled and filed out with her friend in the glowing white gown. How bad could the evening possibly be?

“I found her!” The voice rang in the marbled hall and echoed back to Hari.

She heard the call and stopped her stunned shuffle.

Hari stood with the blood staining the front of the dress, splashed up over her neck.

“Miss. Where are you... oh fuck.” A man with a security coil in his ear walked around her to stand in front of her.

He reached for her, and she stared into his eyes. “No. No one touches me.”

He paused and nodded. “Please. We need to get you back to the ballroom. There have to be ten.”

She looked at him and laughed harshly. “Fine. Can I get a ride home after that?”

“Yes, miss. Where do you need to go? Hospital?”

Hari turned. “No. This isn’t my blood.” Her body had healed. That was what it did. Speed healing. Well, it did other things, as the golden jackass had found.

She walked slowly to the ballroom. The blood covering the gown made it stiff, and she had lost her shoes somewhere. The laughing and flirting came to a halt. Everyone stared at her. She walked to one of the inlaid marks on the floor and stood there.

The other women raced around and got into position.

Serel was looking at her with a vicious sneer. Hari’s tentative hope that she had a friend was over. Serel just wanted her here as a body. Fun was never on the agenda.

The man with the gong striker paused. “Mr. Eberhart isn’t here.”

One of the men who had found her in the hall went up to him and whispered in his ear. He jolted in surprise and struck the gong.

Hari stood still while a few of the other girls tried to ask what had happened.

Serel had been talking to the man and had introduced them. One moment, Hari was shaking his hand, and the next, she had been picking chunks of his skull out of her hair while her body healed from the assault.

She had been wandering down the hall with her mind blank when they had found her.

The floor didn’t rise as she had expected, but a door opened behind the throne, and the governor walked out. Hari did not expect the ram-style horns on the side of his head. She hoped that his selection process was quick. She was pretty sure there was a chunk of ear in her cleavage.

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