Page 13 of Secrets & Curses of Crimson

“Hmm. It’s not what I pictured for myself.” I shrugged and looked in the drawers to see the blue uniform the guards wore. The color seemed wrong. My mind raced with thoughts of confusion. This didn’t feel right, but why would they lie to me?

“Should I wear a dress to dinner?” I asked just to break the awkward silence.

“That would be good.” The king smiled softly. “We will give you an hour to bathe and get ready.”

I nodded and watched them leave. As soon as they left the room, I locked the door. When I turned back to theroom, I saw a flash of dark green decor again. This was not my room. I would not like something so sterile and ugly. I slipped off the dark green cloak I wore and tossed it on the white bed.

I pulled out the darkest dress I could find in the closet. A dark blue that looked like sapphires. The bath was a welcome relief, and I didn’t want to leave it, but I settled on getting out and getting dressed. I was eager to talk with my family and figure out some answers. When I went back to my room, I walked to the one window. I had pictured a vast garden with black fountains when I looked out, but I was greeted with a view of men training in a large field below me. I shook off the feeling of uneasiness as I finished getting ready.

I didn’t bother getting too fancy before heading out of my room. A guard waited for me at the bottom of the stairs to lead me to the dining room. I paused at the doorway when I heard them whispering. I couldn’t hear what was being said, so I walked in, and the whispering stopped. My eyes immediately went to the good-looking guy with dark blonde hair and pretty blue eyes. He wore gray instead of this kingdom’s colors.

“You look wonderful, Thea,” my father said. The younger man stared at me, specifically the tattoos that covered my arms. I ignored the stares and sat down awayfrom them all, so my back was protected by the wall, and I could see the doorway and them. My darkness hissed at the younger man who watched me, then seemed to chuckle when I saw the large scar gashed into his cheek.

“What is everyone’s name, and who am I related to?” I looked around when they continued to stare at me.

“Of course.” The king stood up. “I’m King Luren of the Cerithian Kingdom; I’m your father. This is the queen, Gwyn, your stepmother, and our younger daughters, Tally and Mae. The man next to Tally is King Jesper of Kizar. He and Tally are to wed soon.”

Brim had mentioned my mother.

“My real mother is where?”

The look of disgust on Gwyn’s face couldn’t be covered quickly enough. This was obviously a touchy subject. My eyes narrowed on her, and she swallowed hard when she noticed I was watching her. The darkness inside of me hummed at the fear I could feel from all of them. They were scared of me.

“Dead, for many years,” my father snipped as if the topic was done being discussed. I nodded slightly as the first course was placed before us: a large steak and vegetables. My eyes drifted around the room, and I almost gasped when I saw the green flame floating behind my father. It wisped around the room and flashed between black andred. It was the same floating orb that had been by the man with shadows. Was this his pet or something? At my thought, it flashed gray, making it seem like it knew I called it a pet.

“What are you staring at?” One of my half-sisters spoke, but I didn’t know which one it was.

“Nothing.” I don’t know why I didn’t mention the floating orb, but it was clear that no one else saw it. Gods, it was a persistent thing, flashing like crazy as if it wanted my attention. Shit, I might have lost my mind. All of a sudden it rammed me, making me and my chair slide back slightly. The noise of the chair on the floor was awful. I wanted to glare at it and strangle the thing, but it moved far enough away that I couldn’t reach it. Everyone stared at me oddly as I glared at an invisible being that seemed pissed off at me.

“So, what do you remember exactly?” Jesper was the one to ask.

“Nothing really. I remember being in Exile with others, but nothing before that. Even Exile is fuzzy. I knew my name, and that was it.”

“And you escaped Exile, how?” the queen questioned.

“I jumped through the border.” I shrugged. “It hurt, but didn’t kill me. Then I just walked in a direction thatfelt right.” That was a small lie because the black castle still haunted my mind.

It was silent for a long moment. Everyone stared at me like they were trying to see if I was lying. The tension in the room was awkward, but I did my best to ignore it.

“No one from the Crimson Kingdom saw you?”

“No one saw me.” Crimson Kingdom. The black castle must have been Crimson. A castle that was far prettier than this gray one. “How did I end up in Exile?”

Everyone turned their eyes to the king.

They didn’t even ask me what or where Exile was. My senses were on high alert. I didn’t need memories to know that this was not my home. My eyes focused on the floating orb. She moved closer to me, and I could see the silhouette of a woman within the colorful flames. I glanced around the room when I felt that feeling of being watched again.

“We don’t know. You were leading the army against Crimson, and we assumed you and the other elite magic holders had been killed. We didn’t know you were being held prisoner by Crimson all this time.”

Sybil’s words rang in my head. The Crimson Kingdom was not responsible for our entrapment. She had been so adamant that it wasn’t Crimson, and I trusted her far more than anyone in this room. Besides the fact that theirreaction to seeing me did not look like a family who was devastated that I had died and miraculously survived.

“Was I cursed?”

The queen dropped her silverware on her plate, causing us to jump at the loud noise. They all glanced around at each other as they spoke without a word. The orb was flashing purple and green. What the hell was its problem?

“Yes, by Crimson. That is why you were fighting the war against them. You needed to break the curse, and to do that, you needed to win the war. You needed to kill their bloodline off.”

Sybil still defended Crimson, and she knew of my curse. My eyes drifted around each fae as they stared at me oddly. I really didn’t seem to like anyone here. The orb flashed red and black, and for some unknown reason, I knew it was angry at my father’s words. But that wasn’t what had me freezing to my spot. The man from the woods was standing next to the angry ball of light. He stared at me before glancing at the orb.

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