Page 1 of Crown of Thorns
Prologue
Crown of Thorns
Iswipe gloss across my lips and twist the cap back on, passing the tube back to its owner. I wipe a smudge at the corner of my mouth with my fingertip before twisting the wisps that Maeve artfully framed my face with around my fingers to spruce them up a bit.
“Thanks,” I say.
“Like I said, this color is perfect for your olive skin. I’m a little jealous,” she says with a wink.
I’ll never get used to looking at myself like this. Like a princess… No,a queen. Or someone who’s soon to be one.
My dress is made from yards and yards of pristine, cream-colored satin that’s been pleated and gathered here and there to form a perfect bodice with a Basque waist that skims my body down to my waist and thenbursts out, falling to the floor in a fluffy ball gown skirt. Artfully beaded Louboutin’s dyed the same color peek out from beneath the hem. But it’s the huge diamond chandelier earrings that hang from my ears featuring emerald teardrops that hang in the middle and a massive matching necklace that wraps around my neck.
Maeve had the hairstylist carefully curl my hair and pin a few pieces back away from my face. Then they pinned the heavy diamond crown in place, its delicate swirls and valleys and peaks tipped with—small-ish for royals—diamonds. She said I would adjust to its weight but there’s no way I can.
My emerald engagement ring is the only thing different. It stands out but that was the plan—to make me into a giant showcase for this ring and all that it stands for. A bigfuck youfrom Rhys to the other side of things. We’re here and we won’t be stopped.
I smack my lips together when I start to feel a tingle that crescendos alarmingly fast to a sting. My skin flushes hot then cold and a cool sweat breaks out on my brow and upper lip. My heart begins to race.
I’ve felt like this as a child. I was so small, running through the garden with my mom and our dog. I went to smell a flower when a bee buzzed out of it and stung me.
“What’s this made of?” I ask, my voice small and scared even though I already know.
“A very rare bee venom.”
“I’m allergic,” I whisper as the world turns fuzzyagain. I clutch my throat as I fall to the tile floor of the lavish bathroom, knocking my satin clutch from the vanity top to the floor.
“I know,” she says.
“I need my EpiPen.” I gasp for air. It feels like I can’t get enough in my lungs.
I reach for the bag, flopping to my side like a fish out of water and struggle to feel the smooth material in my hands. It’s just within my fingertips when she leans over me and kicks my bag away from my grasp.
“Why?” I gasp. I’m shocked, truly. I had thought we were friends.
“I want you to know that I’ve come to love you,” she says. “I feel we could have been great friends if the circumstances were different.”
“But why then?” I ask. I try to lift my head, but the weight of the crown weighs me down. I never would have thought that the glittery trappings of this life would be what would lead to my death but there it is.
“Because the Queen always wins the game. There is no use fighting the firm.”
And then everything goes black.
It’s like Shakespeare said, “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”
Chapter 1
Black
Five weeks earlier
Beep… beep… beeeppp…
It feels like I’m underwater and I can’t get to the surface. It’s dark and it’s murky but I fight my way through the oppressive weight that holds me down.
Beep… beep… beeeppp…
I blink my eyes and everything is so blurry, I blink them again. I’m in a hospital bed. I’m in a hospital. And then it all comes back to me.
