Page 63 of When Wishes Bleed

“It was nice.”

Rose gave the girl a pout. “Oh, that’s too bad,” she said pitifully.

The girl’s brows kissed. “What do you mean?”

“At this point, the date must be stellar. I bet you’ll be sent home soon.”

“Mind your own business and I’ll mind mine.” The girl made a crude gesture toward Rose and stormed out the door. The girl was certainly no sheep. She had teeth, too. I decided I liked her.

“Sable,” Tauren said. When I blinked again, I was back at the bottom of the steps.

“What?”

“Thank goodness,” he breathed.

Brecan snorted. “I told you she was fine. It may happen periodically, so you should get used to it. Just make sure you stay with her if it happens when we aren’t here.”

“What did you just experience? What was that?” the Prince asked.

“It was nothing.”

He shook his head. “That wasn’t nothing.”

“It’s the residue. That’s all.”

“Residue?”

“That’s why she usually wears gloves in crowds,” Brecan explained. “When she reads people through touch, sometimes the effect lingers for Sable.”

“Until the residue wears off,” I added quietly.

“Which will be when?”

“I’m never sure,” I answered.

He paled. “I’ve asked you to read so many.”

“It’s nothing,” I brushed it off.

“I’ve asked too much of you,” Tauren realized, concern creasing his forehead.

A servant rushed down the hall. “Prince Tauren, your parents are waiting for you.” The man waved the Prince forward, and we followed him down the hall and into a dining room I’d never seen. The walls were silver, trimmed in white, and each shimmered beneath the chandeliers that were positioned in a spiral that expanded across the ceiling.

A cluster of round tables was arranged around the space in a curling pattern. The royal family would sit at the center table, where the Kingdom’s palace was located. From there, each girl and her escorts were positioned at the table representing the location of her sector. We made our way to the farthest table, representing Sector Thirteen.

Brecan pulled my chair out and then Mira’s. She sat to my left and he sat to my right. “Why such large tables?” he grumped.

Mira evaluated each girl’s gown, hairstyle, and accessories, as if each one was my competition. Each wore a different color, some still clinging to the pastels they’d been wearing, while some donned bolder hues. She ultimately dismissed each one as inferior, and when she’d finished her perusal, gave me a satisfied smirk.

The room went quiet as the royal family was announced.

Tauren entered the room behind his father and mother, Knox walking a step behind him. Tauren’s eyes found mine, holding them for a beat too long before looking around at the swirl of tables and the women they held.

My cheeks stung as if reality had backhanded me. He was the Prince and I was a witch from The Gallows. Not even Fate could change that.

The women would be culled, just as I suggested, but now I hated myself for doing so because it brought him closer to choosing one of them; one step closer to marriage and binding himself to one of these women until death parted them.

Like his father, he would love the one he married. He would give her his heart, his life, and his energy. I didn’t know who she would be, but couldn’t help but hate her for it. Tauren had claimed to be jealous, but he hadn’t seen the bold shade of green my envy bore.

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