Page 13 of The Shadow Heir

The library had been polished to a high shine, and the midmorning light pouring in from the tall windows reflected off the reading tables and brass book holders. Talia had alwaysloved this place. I admired my friend, who’d gone with that mysterious fae so willingly, just to help her family, but now that I was faced with the same possibility, I would do anythingnotto. Perhaps the two strange men I’d met earlier would know what had happened to her.

By the time Raquel, my personal maid, collected me from the library in the early afternoon to begin prepping me for the party, my eyes were numb from scanning old texts, none of which included any useful information. A dusty tome calledMysteries of Avencia: Unsolved Historydescribed enough accounts of disappearing humans—both men and women—to indicate that I would simply become another statistic on a time-yellowed page. Of the sixteen accounts listed in the book, two included quotes from family members that mentioned the fae were responsible for stealing their loved ones. Both were considered accounts from confused or aggrieved subjects. All my hours of study had simply shown me that this had happened before.

“I need to speak with Papá,” I told Raquel, suddenly panicked that my time to do so was running thin. He’d been in Leor by the time I came down the stairs from my room this morning, apparently called to town early to finalize the wedding negotiations with my bridegroom.

My maid informed me that he was still meeting with the delegation from Cavaria, but that she would relay the message.

With a reluctant huff, I followed Raquel up to my bathing chamber, determined to have a word with Papá before the ball—which would double as my wedding.

Two hours later, I stood before a tall mirror as my stepmother and three servants bustled about, fussing over my hair and clothes and cosmetics. I could barely hear their chatter over the buzz of blood in my ears.

Night had fallen again. My final day had come and gone like a held breath, rushing out faster than I could hold on to it.The hours had slipped by, and I’d arrived here at my birthday celebration, unable to recall what I’d done of note since that shadowy man had left my room.

But now that I waited in my bedroom above the noisy ballroom, preparing to perform for my guests—a request my father had reluctantly granted, perhaps because he knew he owed me—I had run out of time to talk to him. It felt like he was avoiding me on what might be the last day I would ever speak to him.

If today turned out to be my final day in the mortal world, I’d regret having spent so much of it on my hair, but my curls were unruly, according to my stepmother, and had to be tugged and smeared back into a tight knot, as was only proper for young ladies.

Despite all the fears creeping in, I had one last hope: this marriage. At this point, I didn’t care who my father had chosen. Love wasn’t what I’d believed, and if being married was enough to break the curse on my life, then I’d take it. I’d find a way to survive a loveless marriage more easily than I would a trip to the Shadow Court. A place that, to my knowledge, no one had ever returned from. There were no stories about the shadow fae. Not one. As if they didn’t even exist.

The chatter of a hundred voices filtered up from the ballroom’s open windows and into my bedroom, through the same window the Shadow prince had departed. I could picture the light of the chandeliers reflected on the smooth wood floor downstairs and the massive stacks of sugar-dustedmantecadosdisplayed at the back of the large room. My mouth watered just thinking of them, but per tradition, the birthday dessert wasn’t to be eaten until the hour of birth—the same hour I was apparently going to be whisked away by two handsome mythical creatures. If that sly prince thought he could keep me from my pastries, he’d get another dagger in his gut.

“Breathe out,” my stepmother barked, poking me in the ribs as Raquel tightened the knots at the back of my dress.

Instead, I pulled in a deep breath, expanding my ribcage.

A frustrated sigh issued from Nina’s painted lips. “Be reasonable,” my stepmother spat under her breath so no one standing outside on the terrace could hear. “Don’t you want to perform tonight?”

Raquel pursed her lips and squeezed the dress into place over my ample bosom until it hurt. Nina nodded her approval.

Three weeks ago, when I’d won the dance competition held during the midsummerFestival de los Cuentos, my stepmother had realized that my dancing held a possible benefit for her. She saw the way men looked at me, and she’d salivated at the notion that I’d finally find a husband and free her from having to bother with me, leaving her to be the woman of the estate once and for all. I was to perform tonight, finally, in my own home, and woo the man my father had chosen as my spouse—Baron Montrose, a gentleman from the distant country of Cavaria, where they spoke no Avencian and wore fur coats in the winter. I wasn’t sure which would be worse, the Shadow Court or deeply cold winters.

I lifted my chin—still dramatically lower than Nina’s—and fixed her with a hard stare. She assumed I desired the gaze of men. Everyone assumed things about me. Jorge had assumed I wanted…well, something I only wanted when I was married and in love. My father assumed I wanted to be married, if it would free me of this curse. Nina assumed I wanted to marry Montrose simply because he was wealthy.

“There, now, remember what’s at stake.” My stepmother tapped the side of my face waiting for my answer.

She knew of the curse, but the look in her eyes said she wasn’t worried about where I went after tonight, be it a fae court or an estate far to the north, as long as it was away from here. Shealmost ruined this for me. Almost. But I wouldn’t let her spoil what might be my final dance ever.

“I must speak with Papá.”

Nina pinched her lips and a look of true disappointment crossed her brow. “He wishes to speak with you as well, but it must be after you dance. There is no time!”

Raquel finished securing my dress and stepped back.

“No time for what?” My father’s deep voice came from the antechamber outside my bedroom.

My heart leapt, and I rushed to him.

“Papá!” I sailed into his open arms.

We didn’t usually embrace like this, but we both felt the weight of what was at stake tonight. Nina cleared her throat behind us.

“I apologize,Zarita, for being absent much of today. I heard that you wished to speak with me.” He held me at arm’s length, his eyes already filling with tears. In my entire life, I’d seen the man cry twice. The first time when he told me of my curse, and the second when my mother died. “Your wedding arrangements have been made. Montrose is ready to marry you tonight.”

I didn’t want to ask what Papá had done to enable a wedding to take place so quickly. It didn’t matter. With a deep inhale that made my tight dress creak, I lifted my chin and nodded.

“Do you really think it will work?” I asked.

Nina dismissed the maids, leaving us to speak of this disaster alone. My father’s hands tightened on my shoulders, but he said nothing. For a man of many words, seeing him speechless sent a wave of tingling panic down my arms and legs. My breaths shortened, and my body heated as my stomach twisted inside me.

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