Page 7 of The Queen & the King

Mother links her arm through mine and leads me into the house. “I had lunch prepared for us, sweetling.”

“Thank you, Mother,” I reply, taking care to straighten my back and lift my chin, walking as she taught me. I’m not sure why, but it is harder to maintain walking like this now. It’s like the muscles in my back have weakened.

“I had them prepare your favorite meal. Roasted vegetables and rice,” she states, like it’s a kindness.

“Thank you, Mother,” I reply, keeping my voice light. Roasted vegetables have never been my favorite, but apparently, it is proper, and what am I if not the perfect little proper princess? I need to stay in her good graces if I want to retain what little freedom I have.

When we arrive in the dining room, we take our usual seats. My mother sits at the top of the table, and I sit to her right. The long table only has four chairs, so I sit about halfway down, by no means close to my mother.

Mother gestures for the servants to serve the meal, and she lifts her goblet of wine. “How was your outing today?” she asks. She sounds nonchalant, even bored, but I can sense the slightesthint of interest. Something that I probably wouldn’t catch if I didn’t know her so well. But why?

Never has she been interested in anything I do. She only cares about things I do wrong. She only cares about punishing me for not being perfect.

“It was lovely,” I reply. “Olympus is beautiful, just like in the books.”

My mother looks at me, her gaze full of cold, calculated intrigue. “Did you talk to anyone while on your adventure?”

It is an odd question. Am I not supposed to? I decide it would be unwise to tell her of the mysterious man who approached me. He should be a secret until I know more about him.

“Only Florence and the tailor.”

My mother nods, seemingly pacified, and cuts into her vegetables. “You are permitted another outing. Next week.”

I glance at her, my eyes wide and my heart soaring. It is another taste of freedom, another moment out of my?—

“There is one small caveat, Persephone,” my mother adds, her voice growing cold. My stomach plummets as I see the change in her eyes.

“Oh?”

“It is that time again,” she says, tilting her head.

My brows furrow, but then it hits me. “N-no. I just had them done not two months ago.”

My mother smiles at me, but it’s not kind. There is something cruel about it that sends a shiver down my spine. “What are they?” she asks, her voice like ice. She waits for the reply she has drilled into me, and I know she will punish me if I don’t say it.

I know what she wants me to say. I can already feel the acid of my words against my tongue.

I look away, tears welling in my eyes. “H-hideous…”

“And what do we have to do to them?”

A tear slides down my cheek. “Remove them…”1

1 The Nightmare & The Daydream Chapter 3

Five

Hades

ZEUS AND I SPEND THE NEXT TWENTY HOURS TRYING TO TRACK KRIOS DOWN TO NO AVAIL.We scour every possible hiding place across Olympus and into the Underworld. It is impossible to catch someone who can literally summon the stars from the sky to cloak them. Zeus wants to continue the search, and I know he will continue until he drops dead from exhaustion. A part of me is tempted to do the same, but I have duties to tend to in the Underworld.

I collapse into my desk chair in my study, the leather creaking under my body. Thankfully, Zeus went back to Olympus. I can only tolerate him for so many hours, and I am well past my threshold.

The only person I can stand to be around isgone, and I am alone again. I am alone in a cold, dark palace with no one but souls to speak to. For a moment, I see a different future for myself.

The shadows around me flicker and swirl around the room, climbing up the walls and shattering several lamps. The castle immediately replaces them. I swallow roughly, rubbing mytemples, pushing that darkness back into the box I kept it in, but it won’t remain there. I broke the box. The lock box of control in my mind is fractured. Each time I use my abilities, the cracks in it grow bigger and more of those repressed abilities and memories leak out.

I drop my hands, glaring at my fingers. My power no longer stained them, but I could still feel that darkness lingering like an oil along my skin.

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