Page 41 of Blooms of Darkness

Kalliah held her hands up and backed away. It seemed as if she wanted to say more but refrained.

I picked up a light lip balm and rubbed it on. “All I envision is a life doomed for misery. These marriage trials are proving to be as horrible as I imagined, and they have only just begun.”

With my mind made up, the trials were proving to be a waste. There would be no contender good enough for Brookmere. Not one.

You’re a disgrace. The kingdom deserves better.

A tightening sensation gripped my chest as my cheeks flushed. The air grew hotter and stickier, weighing me down as I struggled to get a real breath in.

I pressed a hand to my cheek. Those weren’t my words, they were his. The last thing I needed right now was to succumb to this belief clawing at me. A belief that I would never be good enough for Brookmere.

I am better than this.

I am Illiana Dresden. I am stronger than the darkness within me.

The first trial began in an hour, but I needed time to compose myself.

“I’m going outside for a few moments. I will meet you at the stadium.”

I knew Kalliah noticed the panicked look in my eye, but she knew me well enough to give me space for a moment while I gathered myself.

The small balcony just past the window sitting area beckoned me, providing the perfect escape, if only for a moment. I let the cool crisp air fill my lungs. While freedom didn’t exist for me,even outside the walls of the palace, at least I could view the natural beauty surrounding me.

I closed my eyes and basked in the blazing warmth of the sun on this spring day. A whisper of a breeze played in the soft tendrils of my hair. The roses in my garden were in full bloom and their sweet scent filled the air, mixing with all the other light floral notes blossoming around me.

Soon, soaring in the cloudless sky, a familiar hawk circled above, gliding through the air in an effortless beauty. How I wished I could be free from the confines of gravity and soar through the sky like Ian.

He materialized next to me on the balcony, landing and shifting smoothly. “I just wanted to check on you before the beginning of the trials.”

“You know me too well. Anxious. Nervous. Enraged.” I choked, holding onto the edge of the balcony for strength.

“Everything will be okay, Lan. You know I will not let you down.”

We stared at each other in silence for a moment, an uncertain feeling passing between us.

A small smile graced Ian’s face. “I’ll see you soon,” he said and moved to shift.

“Ian, wait!” I fidgeted with layers of my dress, covering my dagger, before looking him in the eyes. “Please be careful today. You’re not Brookmere’s Captain of the Royal Guard right now, you are one of my best friends… one of my only friends. Even if we are fighting.” A tear threatened to escape.

“I’ll be fine. Careful as ever.” Ian offered me a quick hug, kissing the top of my head before he backed up, running toward the edge of the balcony and shifting once more to prepare for his role in the marriage trials.

A contender.

In a competition with only the Fates knowing what’s in store.

The garden was quiet, no strange sounds or stirrings. I was alone, a rarity. Not followed by guards, Ian, Kalliah, or anyone. I breathed in deeply.

My mind allowed only a second of peace before my thoughts shifted back to the marriage trials and that damn prophecy.

A prophecy I didn’t even believe in. Straight from a woman more befuddled than the village drunks. How could what she said hold so much influence over my father? Her words were revered as if they were law.

The sound of my father’s voice played in my head. He’d repeated the prophecy a thousand times in my life. On occasion, I crept to his private dining room and overheard him talking it over with my mother. Over and over, they thought about it, using it to define my entire life.

Void of magic, a heroine born,

Destiny calls, though faint and torn.

Many will come from across the land,

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