Page 109 of A Liar's Twisted Tongue

I see myself at nine years old swearing to Sulva that I would do everything in my power to protect Lilac, after the first time Lusia threatened her on my behalf. It’s all I can think about as I run through the hallways of the school while my sister’s blood falls to the floor.

To protect someone at all costs is a sacrifice, and it has not come cheap thus far.

What was Lilac doing in the mastick? She was supposed to be getting ready. How long had she been there bleeding out? If only I could’ve seen that accursed vision sooner.

The healers rush an unconscious Lilac into a room and rub wargners balm into her gashes and put ground euryice in her nose. They prick her finger and let three drops of blood fall on a round crystal plate.

There are only a handful of healers in the school at any given time, for the injuries most of us acquire in training. They’re trained to save people. I repeat that to myself as three Eunoia stand over Lilac with green energy wisping from their fingers and open palms into my sister.

They are trained to save people.

I sit with my sister’s unconscious body until I have no more time to spare. I make a weak attempt at scrubbing the blood from the clothes, then I portal to Lorucille.

“You’re late” is the first thing I hear when I step into Lorucille’s foramen room—where all portal travel takes you when entering important places such as a kingdom. It’s Piphany, the advisor to Lusia and Labyrinth.

I’d like to say that a forced betrothal is not the kind of thing I’d like to be on time for. I look at her and say, “My inadequacy.”

“What is on your attire?” she asks, though it comes out as more of a demand.

“Blood,” I say with no effort to diminish my scowl.

Piphany takes a deep breath, and it sounds like she is stifling a scream. “We will have to get a seamstress to fit you a new suit.”

“There will be no need.” I begin to walk forward.

“Excuse me?” she asks in a tone that should not be used toward royalty. But she is Lusia’s pet.

“I will not be changing,” I say.

Piphany laughs. It’s a loud and deranged sort of noise. Then she asks, “Where is Lilac?” I can hear she is on her last string.

“She will not be attending,” I say.

“And why is that?” she almost squeaks.

“None of your damn business.”

We make it to the back staircase of the throne room, and she all but pushes me while telling me to, “Get in there.”

Calista and Kai are waiting before the main stairs that will lead into their throne room. Neither bother to look at me. Calista wears a pastel-purple dress with wings made of mesh sewn into the back, showing her skin. Kai’s in a deep-purple coat that goes down to his knees with the same wings sewn into the back in an iridescent white. It’s odd the way they still pay homage to their creators—the ones who made them into killers and only cared about control.

If Lilac wasn’t unconscious in the infirmary, she would be wearing her pastel-blue dress with crescent moons embroidered in silver around her torso.

I step up to Calista, and she links her arm around mine without so much as glancing at me.

“Where is Lilac?” she whispers.

“Lilac isn’t coming.”

Calista looks at me, and a small noise comes from her mouth as King Easton’s voice fills our box. She looks away quickly.

“Welcome,” his voice booms through the room above and the one below. “We are gathered here today to watch and honor the union between the future King and Queen of Lorucille and Soma as they make their vows of promise.”

That’s our cue. We begin to make our way up the sprawling staircase, made of unfinished wood—much more elegant than the staircase I entered the back of the room from.

Their throne room is different from Soma’s. There isn’t nearly as much light—the walls are made of gray stone, not bright marble, and accentuated with dark wood. There are windows, but not the ceiling-to-floor ones that cover wide expanses of wall, only a few arched windows near the back.

We make it to the top of the staircase, enclosed between two larger-than-life statues of the faeries that created them and no longer exist. The dark wood carvings are covered in iridescent glass.

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