Page 15 of The Princess's Chosen

The air in the room was stale and pungent, and there was a kind of friction that must've been magic, although the edges felt comparatively frayed to the sparkling and fluid sensation I was familiar with.

Sam's head rolled, empty eyes finding me by the door, and I nearly screamed in my surprise, my own hand rising to stifle the sound that never rose. He blinked at me and then turned back to staring out the window. He was naked head to toe, and I could see the prominence of his bones in his body, the way his ribs caught shadows and moonlight, a cage across his chest. He was wasting away, just as Daniel's friend had done, and no one would stop Camellia from running him ragged for her own…

It could not be pleasure. There was no resemblance.

I expected to find Camellia piled in with her new collection of men, but in fact she was alone in the bed. There was only one man, the guard she'd grabbed from outside my door, lying on a bench at the foot of her bed, entirely naked with his arm over his face. He looked almost like a dog resting at his owner's feet, waiting for the first stirrings of morning and the rise of his mistress.

Camellia lay curled around a large pillow, her own strength stark by comparison to Sam's growing fragility. The Hunger must've sustained us in some way it couldn't share with our Chosen because I'd never seen Camellia feasting on anything but men. Her hair was kept shorter than mine, trimmed to her shoulders, and it fanned sweetly over her cheek.

We'd always been sisters, but perhaps never friends. We had the same lessons, but I'd loved learning and Camellia had been frustrated to always be behind me in accomplishments. Had I made attempts to reassure her? To lift her up? I thought so, but at some point my sister's bitterness had become wearying and I'd withdrawn. I sat down on the edge of the bed at her side, watching her steady breath stall, her muscles tensing.

"Fuck off," she muttered without opening her eyes.

"No."

I braced myself, watching the way her body seemed to coil, a predator ready to strike, but then it only loosened languidly, Camellia's lips curling as she stretched and rolled to her back. I felt the stirring, the first fresh taste of magic, and I shook my head.

"Stop. This is our conversation, not theirs. You won't starve for lacking a cock for a few minutes," I said, not making a great effort to keep quiet. By the state of the men in the rooms, I didn't think any would wake until Camellia forced them to.

"But—"

"Camellia, I am going to take the crown one day. I will be queen, and my word will be law in Kimmery."

Camellia's eyes narrowed to slits, lips pressing into a flat line, arms tensing. I saw the moment the discomfort hit her, the urge to cover herself as she lay bare on the bed, glaring up at me.

"Mother is lenient. I willnotbe, and you will have to adapt and become something other than the grasping, selfish creature you are now because I won't let you abuse men, the Hunger, or Kimmery in any way. But if youeverattempt to force one of my Chosen again, I won't wait for the crown, Camellia. I don't care what it costs me, I will cut you off from the Hunger—"

"You can't—"

"You don't know what I can do," I said coldly, watching her brow twitch in confusion. "You aretransparentnow, and I will never underestimate you again. I will never trust you. I will always be prepared to pin you down and steal back from you everything you've stolen for yourself."

"Sister," Camellia hissed, sitting up and flicking the sheet over her lap. She forced her eyes to widen in possibly the worst attempt at innocence. "We arebothof us a long way from a crown. Anything could happen."

A threat for a threat. That was fair.

"Sister," I echoed sweetly. "I know you think that because you mount men like a cat in heat, and that you can suck them dry until they are husks, that you are very powerful. Perhaps you are. But we come from the same line, Camellia," I said, rising. "And we both know I am smarter than you."

Camellia snarled at last, her calm snapping. "You think your Chosen are so special? They're just cock, Bryony, and everyone knows they prefer fucking each other to coddling you in your prudish bed."

I snorted, and Camellia frowned. So someone was keeping track of Thao and Wendell and reporting back to Camellia? Or there were rumors loose about my Chosen in general. That was fine, I was happy to be underestimated. It would make Camellia easier to manage later.

The man at the foot of the bed was staring up at me now, although I couldn't read his expression upside down. It wasn't hollow like Sam's at least, more wide-eyed probably from hearing the two princesses slashing at one another.

"Men are meant to be used by us," Camellia said, chin lifted. "If they're too weak to serve us, then they can be tossed out like useless trash. You're not noble for treating them like favored pets, you're weak. Your Hunger is weak, just like Grandmother always said it would be. We'll see who wears the crown in the end."

That stung a little, even if it was further proof that Camellia wasn't paying attention this week.

"We will," I said nodding, ready to retreat.

"Speaking of trash, Sam's useless. I'm not bringing him back to the south with me. Perhaps he might be of some use instructing your Chosen," Camellia said, voice steely and bright at the same time.

My back was to her, but I could see her false smile in the mirror and I kept my expression flat. Leave Sam here? The last thing I needed was another man left about the castle in some poor attempt to spy on me, and yet…

I shrugged. "Do what you like with him, he's yours. But don't think I'll take up your cast-offs," I said glancing over my shoulder.

Sam might be left behind to serve Camellia in a new way, but that seemed like a mercy he ought to be granted. I wouldn't touch him, and maybe he'd find some peace away from my sister.

She grinned at me, and I was struck by a sudden pang of sadness as I turned away from her and left the room. I'd read stories of sisterly love, seen maids growing up together in court, seen mothers doting on daughters in visiting dignitaries and nobles. Camellia and I were enemies now, my mother was kind but in an absent fashion, and I'd spent my life till now intimidated by my grandmother.

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