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But that’s just it—they did.

I hated it so, so much, but her words did matter. They did mean something to me and I hated her a little more for it.Well done,she said, as if she had any right.

A wave of tears hit me from somewhere deep inside, but my face was composed. I would not cry in front of her, this time not becauseshehated it, but simply because I was too proud.

This was the woman who’d planned to kill me because I was Mud, after all. She was a monster no matter what she looked like to the outside world.

And the people behind these doors were even worse.

“Thank you,” I said in the end, just because I was proud. Just because I’d beaten her. Just because she didn’t get to win—not this time.

“Don’t thank me yet. If your magic isn’t back…” Madeline raised a grey brow to the middle of her forehead and looked down at my hands.

Ice-cold shivers ran down my back.What?my mouth opened to ask.If my magic isn’t back,what?!

Except the words stuck in my throat because I knew what. She’d go back to her original plan to kill me.

Goddess, I hated her with every fiber of my being, but I was still a coward. I still didn’t dare let myself say anything at all for fear of my voice breaking, for fear of what I would say. She still had so much power over me; she dictated my life. She could make it easy or miserable—or end it altogether. Shecould.

So, I clamped my mouth shut, but luckily, I didn’t need to for long.

The lock on the other side of the polished doors turned, and the sound echoed in the tall ceiling of the hallway we were in. Come to think of it,thesewere the only doors I could see, but maybe more would be behind the corner to our left? Not that I had any hope of running and escaping this place—I didn’t. But I’d have maybe felt better to see an exit sign somewhere.

As it was, Madeline drew in a deep breath, straightened the jacket of her suit, and raised her chin.

The door opened before I could fill my lungs all the way. In those moments, I had no idea what it meant to be brought in front of the actual Council. I still hadn’t had time to come to terms with the fact that I’d survived the Iris Roe, and I still felt like I was half dreaming, especially since I had no idea where Taland was and if he was okay.

However, things were about to become very real for me in the next hour, and who knew if I’d ever make it out of those doors alive again?

Chapter 4

Rosabel La Rouge

Madeline walked in first, head high, shoulders straight, as confident in her every step as ever while her heels tried to dig holes on the black and white marble floor. My body was frozen right there by the door, and I kept my attention on her, on her grey hair, the red of her suit, the shape of her that I knew in my sleep.

The guard, the same one who’d taken me to the City of Games, didn’t touch me now. He simply leaned closer and whispered in my ear, “Move.”

I didn’t want to. My every instinct was alive and screaming, and I knew that I wasn’t going to like whatever I found in that room. But even so, I forced my legs to carry me forward because I also knew there was no escaping this. There was no way I could disappear or run away or do anything at all exceptget this over with.The sooner I did that, the sooner I’d be free.

Or…you know,dead.

Not going to lie, I was a bit curious. The Council was quite the mystery to the world. They were very secretive, so it didmake sense that nobody was allowed to know where they held their meetings. Whatever building we were in right now, I had no doubt in my mind that Madeline was going to knock me out cold again to take me back to the mansion becauseshe has no patience for blindfolds.

But as soon as I stepped into the chambers of the Council, all my other thoughts faded away.

It was a big room, bigger than I expected, the ceiling possibly twice as tall as in the hallway, with intricate designs on every little inch in all the main colors, as well as golden pieces around the dome-like shape that gave it an even richer feel. There were no chairs, no seats, no tables other than the ones across from us, in front of the tallest, biggest windows I’d ever seen in my life, which showed nothing but darkness beyond them. A darkness that had the hair on my forearms standing at attention because it lookedexactlylike the darkness of the sky while I’d been in the Iris Roe.

Breathe, Rora,I reminded myself when my eyes landed on the faces of the people sitting behind those large tables, in throne-like chairs that were three heads taller than them, perfectly carved wood decorated with colors and silver and gold. The men and women looking down at us gave no expression whatsoever.

Their tables and chairs stood on a fifty-inch platform that began somewhere close to the middle of the room. Three large chandeliers hung on the ceiling, bright enough that I saw everything in detail. The floor was made out of swirling patters of black and white, and the echo of my boots against it the closer to Madeline I got sounded so strange to my ears.

I wasn’t quite feeling like myself.

She’d stopped in the middle of the room, facing the platform on which sat the Council, and when I stopped just a step behind her, the door closed with a light click.

A long breath escaped me, as if my body knew that it was a done deal now. There was nowhere to go, and unless these people deemed me worthy oflife,I was never walking out of this place again. Not on my own feet, at least.

“Thank you for having us, Council,” Madeline said, her voice strong, unwavering. The echo of it filled my ears, and I urged myself to focus, toseethe faces of the people who had my life in their hands.

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