Page 80 of When Wishes Bleed

“I’d like to wear mine down.” Not only would it set me apart, it might conceal the stain if it spread farther up my neck.

She nodded. “Straight or curled?”

“You decide.” I didn’t care, but knew she did. Mira reveled in the details.

She’d made me a pair of dark trousers and a turtleneck to match. I held the shirt up. “It should hide the stain,” she suggested.

“Thank you,” I said, clutching the shirt to my chest and wondering how long anything would conceal it.

“You still don’t know what it is or why it’s spreading?”

I shook my head. “I wish I did.”

“There must be a reason,” she reassured. “I’ll get the hair iron ready while you dress.”

In the end, she ironed my hair and applied my makeup lightly; slight, dusky brown shimmering eyelids and peach cheeks with kohl-rimmed eyes. She motioned to a pair of sleek black witch boots near the door, complete with pointed toes and a broad heel. I grinned as I went to tie them on. “They’re perfect.”

I finished the look with a short pair of matching gloves.

Brecan brooded in the hallway. “I want you to see if Tauren will make an exception and allow me to go.”

“I’m not asking him for that.”

“Why not?” he asked, his pale brow rising.

“I’m not sure if you noticed how angry he was, but I’m probably the last person he wants to speak to today.”

“The cameras will be rolling. He’ll have to speak to you,” Brecan argued, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re leaving the palace, traveling into a sector you’ve never visited. There are a thousand places for a would-be assassin witch or witches to hide. His guards cannot keep him safe if you have to go after them. But I can.”

“I know you can, but I need you and Mira to do something for me while I’m gone.”

He stood up straighter. “What?”

Mira’s brows furrowed. “Name it.”

“Protect the King and Queen.”

Mira’s eyes grew wide. “Are they in danger?”

“If someone wants Tauren dead, if they want the crown, they’ll have to remove his parents first.”

Brecan shifted his weight on his feet. “Then I want you to promise me something in return.”

“What?”

“If an attack occurs, protect Tauren, but do not leave his side. Don’t go after the witches. They’ll eventually plan an ambush for you if they know you’ll run after them. And if you leave Tauren unprotected, they’ll strike. We know there are at least two, but many more were cast out of the House of Fate when Cyril was buried. Who knows how many are involved in this scheme?”

I nodded. He was right. “I promise.”

Seeming satisfied, he and Mira vowed to keep a close eye on Lucius and Annalina.

20

Four carriages waited outside the Palace’s entrance. A small camera crew hovered outside one of them, stuffing their equipment into a large trunk compartment. The weather was gloomy, the wind as turbulent as I felt. Rose, in a pastel pink day dress, climbed onto the step of the lead carriage, glancing over her shoulder and pinning me with a glare. “Come on, Leah.”

Leah followed Rose’s look and found me walking down the palace steps. Her mocha skin looked lovely, accentuated by a mint green, tea-length dress that swayed when she walked. She climbed into the white carriage and sat across from Rose. “Tauren will want to ride with us,” Rose assured her loudly. “He’d never travel with the artists. The sculptor has the most disgusting hands. They’re calloused and rough like a man’s. And the painter? Has she ever scrubbed her cuticles a day in her life? There’s dried paint all over her, I bet.”

The artists, Estelle the painter and Tessa the sculptor, wilted as they waited outside the second carriage. “Don’t listen to her,” I told them.

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