Page 40 of Where Shadows Bloom

“I’ve—It’s been so long. I’ve faced so much to find her,” I admitted softly. “Lope and I. New places and strangers and long walks andmonsters. For so long I wanted an adventure and now I... I only want torest.”

“My poor child,” the king murmured. I saw in his eyes a deep sympathy for me. “Of course. Whatever bedchamber you’ve been given here, it isn’t good enough. I’ll have you settled in the finest suites I have to offer. Tell me what you like, what foods, what books, what colors—I’ll give you all that you wish and make for you a home that you’ve always dreamed of.”

It was too much—too wonderful. Like someone had taken a seed from my mind and planted it, letting all my dreams bloom around me.

Lope would hear all of this and say,It’s too good to be true.

But if the king was really blessed by the gods, if he had become holy...couldn’tit all be true?

“Your Majesty,” I said, shame making my cheeks flood with warmth, “might I—might I ask you a rude question?”

His eyebrows lifted and his cheek dimpled as he laughed. “We have many years of rude questions to catch up on, don’t we?”

How easily he spoke of a future together. How seamlessly I seemed to fit into his life. He didn’t know me. But he seemed towantto.

“The stories that say you were blessed by the gods,” I saidsoftly. “I—I do not know which parts are stories and which parts are... are...” I bowed my head and picked my fingernails, even though Mother would have scolded me for doing so. “It seems impossible.”

He tipped up my chin, making our eyes meet. Even with my doubts, he was so kind. “When I was not much older than you, I asked the gods to make me a great king. And they saw in me a great ruler for this land, so they blessed me with eternal life. They gave me this palace, and in my life, they’ve blessed me more and more. Withyou, for example.” His eyes crinkled with a smile. “I always wanted a child, and all this time... you were out there.”

The reminder was an unpleasant one. “WhydidMother keep me from you?”

The king sighed mournfully. “We were very young when we fell in love. Marisol found the pressures of courtly life to be too much. She wanted to live in the countryside. I agreed to let her be, to give her the peace that she wanted...” He trailed off before whispering, “If I’d only known she was with child.”

Mother and I had our fair share of quarrels. And yes, I had tried to run away from her, tried to run to this very palace. But it unsettled me, the way she sounded like some villain, absconding with me. All these years, I’d had a father. A father who wanted me.The king.All these years, shecouldhave taken us to Le Château. She could have taken us away from the Shadows. She could have called upon the king’s aidthe very day we were first attacked in the manor’s garden. It didn’t make sense.

The story my mother had given me had been so small, so sparse. I had been born fatherless and grew up in the countryside with a mother who preferred paintings to people.

In the king’s story...

There was once a girl with royal blood, born of love, born loved by a king and an artist. A child raised in solitude, while her gods-blessed father waited in his golden palace for her to return home....

I liked that story so much more.

What happened next?

“If it’s all true,” I murmured. “If—if you’re my father... what does that make me?”

“You are my daughter. A princess by birthright. And when Marisol is home with us again, I will give you the crown you are due.”

My eyes widened. Every last scrap of reality was fading away, leaving behind only a fairy tale. The one I had always wanted. “A princess? A crown?”

His Majesty squared his shoulders and leaned back, observing me with a proud smile on his lips. “It will suit you so well. Now, come. We have a party waiting for us, and I want to introduce you to everyone.”

The ballroom was a golden blur. Courtiers pushed each other aside to greet me, to curtsy before me and kiss my hand. They marveled to each other that the king had found me. He hadintroduced me to everyone asa miracle.

For the first time in many days, I allowed myself to feel joy, unbridled and heady and thrilling. Music spun through the air. Decadent sweets were pressed into my hands. Young nobles tugged me onto the dance floor. We hopped and twirled our way through a gavotte, and my heart was flying... but my happiness wasn’t quite complete. There was someone missing.

Across the dance floor, Lope waited, tall and pale like a column of moonlight. She stood at attention, her dark plait draped over one of her broad shoulders. Even from afar, her gaze was like an arrow, direct and arresting. And as if there were a cord tied to that arrow, I felt myself pulled toward her until I was in her arms again, my ear against her drumming heartbeat.

“Are you well?” she asked, drawing back, her hands firm and strong against my shoulders. Her finger carefully swept a curl out of my eyes, and my mind went blank as she did so. So many of my dreams had come true this night. What was one more? An imaginary world unfurled in my head, where her fingers would delicately stroke the length of my jaw—

“My lady?”

“Yes!” I burst out, though I could no longer remember the question.

A small notch formed in her brow. “The king, he—What is he like? Where did he take you?”

“He’s kind and generous, and he really does know Mother!He says she came here a few days ago and that she was ill and he sent her to the seaside to get better and I was upset that I’d have to wait so long but then he said—”

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