18. Montana

I was walking through a dark fog, my sister’s hand holding tight to mine, pulling me along through the gloom. I ran faster, trying to keep up, crying her name and hearing it echo back to me from every direction.

She yanked my hand firmly and I went stumbling forward, losing my grip on her, and suddenly I was on the precipice of a cavernous hole so deep I couldn’t see anything at the bottom. My arms cartwheeled, terror locked a scream in my throat, then someone caught me by the shoulder, drawing me away from the edge.

I glanced back, finding myself eye to eye with Erik, a cruel and sinister sneer on his lips. He stepped closer, banding an arm around my waist and forcing me to look back over the edge.

I wanted to demand he let go, but no words would escape my lips.

“The fear is in the falling,” he growled. “It only ends when you hit the ground.”

He shoved me, and my scream made it free of my lips as I went sailing over the edge, spiralling down into the depths of darkness. I lost sight of everything, falling deeper and deeper into nothingness, and only one sound found me among it all. Callie was crying, shattering somewhere without me, but before I could even try and find her, the ground rushed up to meet me.

I bolted upright in bed, fingers knotting in the sheets and heavy breaths heaving in and out of my lungs.

“Callie,” I panted, feeling her so near yet so impossibly far away.

My sister felt somehow closer when I was asleep and waking always felt like her fingers slipping through mine. But this time had been worse than that. I’d heard her, I’d sensed her anguish over something I couldn’t perceive.

As I caught my breath, I tried to remind myself it was just a dream, no matter how vivid. It wasn’t real. The only thing that was solid and true was the bitter reality staring back at me. A heaviness clung to me from that dream though, like a weight was attached to my heart. I didn’t know why but Nightmare seemed to feel it too, giving off a strange, morbid vibe.

I slid my hand under the pillow, trailing my thumb over its warm hilt, and it relaxed at my touch - if a blade could relax.

The door opened and I jerked my arm away from the blade, causing a stabbing pain in my injured shoulder.

I stifled a groan, but Erik clearly heard it, walking toward me dressed for the day in his royal attire. Though he looked perhaps even more regal than usual, his navy jacket trimmed with gold and the tree symbol stitched onto his breast pocket more decorative than those I had seen before.

“The doctor left more painkillers for you.” He pointed to the nightstand where a little white bottle sat.

“I don’t want them,” I said firmly. “I’d rather feel steady on my feet and have a sharp mind around a bunch of bloodsuckers. Besides, Callie and Dad will be here soon, right?”

“I am awaiting an update from General Wolfe. But yes, I assume their arrival is imminent,” Erik said, and my skin prickled as I wondered if he had decided on what he was going to ask me for in exchange for Dad’s freedom.

“Have you found out anything more about the bombing? Do you have any evidence it was Fabian?” I asked.

“My people are looking into it,” he said, a single line forming on his brow.

“Right…but…nothing has changed?” I asked, meaning with the plan for me to choose Fabian. Erik blinked, his ashen gaze trailing over me.

He hesitated, and a beat of silence passed between us that spoke of what we’d done at the party last night. I thought of the words he’d spoken to me, declaring his jealousy at seeing me with his brother. But it had all been some twisted game of his, none of it was real.

“Do you think anything has changed, rebel?” he asked, his tone low, his eyes piercing, and I knew we weren’t talking about the plan.

I thought of everything that had happened since the moment I met him. How he had trapped me, tormented me, used me. Then of last night, how he had made my body bow to his, and how it all just felt like another way to assert power over me in hindsight. Even him protecting me from the blast had been for a selfish motive. I was a doll in his fist, and dolls were made for playing other people’s games. They didn’t get a choice of their own.

“No,” I said coldly. “Nothing.”

“Well then, let us get on with our day, shall we?” he sniped, like I was wasting his time. “Get dressed. We will be leaving shortly. It’s customary for us all to attend an opera before the choosing ceremony.”

“What?” I gasped in horror, sure that was the word Dad had mentioned when describing what human doctors used to be capable of. “You mean we have to watch someone get cut open?”

Erik’s eyebrows raised then, a wicked look gleamed in his eyes. “Yes, we do. So hurry along. We don’t want to miss the first splash of blood.”

“Fuck no,” I said in disgust. “You think I’m going to come with you to watch some innocent human get tortured?”

Erik barked a laugh, then grabbed my comforter, ripping it off me and throwing it across the room.

“Get up,” he commanded. “I said an opera, not an operation. It is a kind of singing. Now get moving.”

“You asshole,” I hissed.

“It’s past noon already,” Erik said. “And I’m growing bored of this interaction. I want this day over and done with so I can head home at last.”

“You don’t live here?” I asked in surprise, though I was still pissed at him for the shitty joke as I shoved out of bed and headed to the closet.

“My family take this time off specifically for the ritual. We will return to our own houses and our duties once it’s over. The castle is equally ours but living on top of each other is a little suffocating for all of us.”

The door flew open and Clarice stormed into the room with her blonde hair streaming out behind her. “Erik! You’re not supposed to spend time with the courtiers on the day of the choosing. Get out.”

“The circumstances are a little different today considering my courtier almost died,” he snarled as she shoved him, but he didn’t move an inch.

Clarice’s eyes whipped to me, then widened. “She’s not even dressed! Where’s your stylist? Get her in here this second.”

“Gladly.” Erik dragged his sister out of the room.

Nancy soon appeared holding a large bag, looking flustered as someone shoved her through the doorway. I didn’t need to guess who.

“Take your shirt off, Montana, the doctor advised me how to clean the wound,” she said gently.

I folded my arms, shaking my head in refusal. Not because I was embarrassed but because of the mark on my forearm. I couldn’t take the risk of it being seen again.

“Don’t be silly, I’m not going to look at you.” She released a laugh, but I didn’t join in.

After a moment, she headed to the bathroom to fetch a towel, then held it out to me.

Having no real choice, I turned my back on her and tugged my pyjama top off, wrapping the towel around me so only my left arm was poking out. I looked like a dumb bitch, but Nancy didn’t question me as she opened her bag and took out a bottle of clear liquid and some fresh bandages.

She patted the stool before the dressing table, encouraging me over. I sat on it, and she shifted my hair aside, unwinding the bandage from my neck and shoulder. I took in the wound, frowning in surprise, the injury not half as bad as it had seemed last night. A little blood stained the jagged edge of the slice into my skin, but there was no fresh blood leaking from it this morning.

Nancy took the cap off of the bottle in her hand and poured it over the wound.

Fire flared inside my arm, and I bit down on a cry. “What the fuck was that?”

She gave me an apologetic look. “I’m just following instructions.”

I sucked air through my teeth and the pain finally subsided. Nancy started binding the wound with a new bandage, being more gentle with her movements.

When it was done, she picked up my pyjama top and passed it back to me. “The doctor will check on you again tomorrow.”

I nodded, and she turned her back while I pulled my shirt on.

We set into our usual routine as she brushed my hair and painted my face. Would I be considered attractive without all this? I wasn’t really sure. I’d received attention from men back in the Realm, but I’d never taken an interest in preening for them. I’d never really valued looks because they didn’t save you from starvation or make you any warmer at night during a hard winter. It felt wrong to be sitting here, letting Nancy make me into a creature of temptation when so many humans were out in the world suffering, not knowing when their next meal might come. I couldn’t do anything for them, but going along with this bullshit did something for my family. And I would buy their protection in whatever way I could.

My stomach clenched as I thought of the dilemma I was faced with today. Choosing Fabian secured Erik’s promise, and choosing Miles secured my secret. I chewed anxiously on the inside of my cheek, still torn between the fates I was faced with.

I found myself lost in my own eyes, wondering if I even recognised the woman staring back at me. Something told me I needed to trust this new woman, that I needed to have faith in my instincts, wherever they might lead me.

Nancy finally stepped back, leaving me looking polished to perfection with half my hair pulled up into a delicate bun and the rest of my dark curls hanging loose down my back. I had to admit, this was Nancy’s best work so far, and she admired me a moment longer before heading to the closet.

“Erik already chose a dress for you. He sent it here yesterday.” She took out the item hidden within a large white bag before unzipping it.

I stood, curious as she pulled out a gown that seemed to embody the night sky.

The deep, navy material was speckled with tiny diamonds which glittered like starlight. It was long sleeved - thankfully – with lace arms and a satin corset. At the bust was a glittering broach as bright and as round as the moon.

“It’s...” I shook my head, not finding the words.

“It’s fit for a princess.” Nancy smiled, and her final word ricocheted through my mind, driving a sliver of dread deep into my heart.

The choosing ceremony wasn’t a distant fear anymore. It was here. Today. And I wasn’t getting out of it.

Whoever I chose, I’d have to marry. A human bride for a bloodsucking monster.

I stood in a royal box beside Paige, my hand locked around hers as we gazed down into an incredible room that one of the guards had called a theatre. Golden pillars reached up from an enormous stage and luxurious red velvet adorned the many hundreds of seats angled towards it, all occupied by a finely dressed vampire. Our eyes were on the dark wooden stage where a woman sang her heart out in a luxurious cream dress that trailed behind her in a swathe of satin.

The sound was nothing like anything I’d ever heard before, and it evoked an ache in me over what had happened since I’d left the Realm. To me, to dad, to Callie. Something about the music spoke of that pain, their absence. Though the vampire didn’t sing in any language I knew, I understood her song in a way that didn’t need words to be conveyed.

Behind us sat Clarice’s remaining two courtiers, Hank and Luke. They were dressed in suits almost as fine as the royal brothers’. The family sat on the other side of the theatre in a box of their own, the gilded lettering on the front of it blazing with the name Belvedere.

I closed my eyes to avoid looking at them, drinking in the final notes of the song as fear gathered in my heart. We’d been told that the moment the opera ended, we’d be taken to the choosing ceremony, and I could sense the conclusion drawing in.

I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t made my choice, still in turmoil over which path to take. It wasn’t as simple as choosing Fabian to protect my family, because even if I took that path, Miles would out me as a slayer. And if that truth was discovered, it surely didn’t just implicate me, but Callie too. She was my twin, we were one and the same. If this blood ran in my veins, then it surely ran in hers too. So what then? Miles would expose her as well, and she would face whatever dark fate was coming my way. But if I selected Miles, then what if Erik sent Dad back to the blood bank? What if he punished Callie for my disobedience?

I grappled with the crisis, not knowing what to do, fearing whatever path I picked would lead me to deeply regret it.

My forearm prickled, and I released Paige’s hand to rest my palm over the material hiding the mark. Nightmare was strapped to my thigh again, humming a tune as beautiful as the woman’s song. The emotions in my body seemed like someone else’s. Like another soul was reaching into mine and telling me I should be sad. But why?

Paige wiped a tear from under her eye as the song ended and the silence in the room turned to roaring applause. The red curtain fell, and the crowd started filing out of the theatre, heading along the aisles toward the exit.

I spotted the royals moving too, and watched as Erik took hold of Fabian’s arm, tugging him to a halt before he vacated the box. Erik snarled something in his ear and Fabian shook his head at him with a look that said he was equally furious.

Paige prodded me and I turned, finding two guards with swords on their backs gesturing for us to leave the box. I ducked past them, but they followed closely, guiding us down the corridor with crimson carpet and cream walls.

We were prisoners walking to the hangman’s noose, only the noose was a wedding ring and the gallows the altar.

Nightmare hummed angrily on my thigh, and the nagging feeling it emitted told me something was deeply wrong, I just didn’t know what.

This life was casting a curse over me, and I vowed to break it. Whatever my fate was today, I wouldn’t bow to it willingly. Marrying a monster was one thing, but if they expected to turn me into a vampire too, I’d die trying to resist that fate before I ever succumbed to it. I had to fight, had to find a crack of light in this bleakest of fates and step into it.

The other courtiers and I were led downstairs and out of a door onto a dark street. A shout filled my ears, and something whipped past my head, smashing against the wall, and making my heart leap in fright. I gasped as I took in the broken bottle and the blood splattered all over the brickwork.

“We have the right to bite!” a protestor called, and I spotted a crowd running toward us under the orange glow of a streetlamp, their eyes flaring with anger.

My pulse rioted as the guards grabbed us, tugging us toward a large black vehicle and pushing us into the back of it with firm hands.

Paige pressed up against me on the back seat, huddling close while Hank and Luke were squashed in beside her.

“Oh my god, what’s going on?” Paige whispered frantically.

A crash sounded as another bottle hit the car, blood splattering across the window beside us, and I swore, adrenaline surging through me as our driver sped off down the road.

“Nothing to worry about,” she called to us, accelerating faster away from the mayhem. “The rebels always get agitated during the choosing ceremony. It’s under control.”

“It doesn’t seem under control,” Hank muttered, and I had to agree.

My heart wouldn’t settle even when we rounded another corner and put more distance between us and the rebels. Knowing what those creeps wanted from us made me sick to my stomach. They’d hunt us, sink their teeth into us, and feed directly from the vein. It didn’t bear thinking about.

We approached a tall building with an arching glass window at the front of it, the bright light within beckoning us closer. A red carpet ran all the way up to the street out front, and I caught sight of the Elite stepping out of cars and moving along it in beautiful dresses and suits. A group at the far end of the carpet seemed to be recording the event with large cameras. Armed guards stood with swords on their backs, lining the pavement in droves, and I hoped that meant the rebels would be kept away.

Instead of driving up to the carpet, our car veered to the left and passed down a narrow street beside the building. We turned down a steep ramp and arrived in a huge area beneath the building full of other stationary cars. A couple of guards hurried to open the doors for us, and Paige caught my hand again as we followed them, keeping close to me as if I could somehow offer her protection. But she was a fool to think I could do any such thing. Still, it felt nice to have the company in our moment of reckoning.

We moved across the echoing, concrete space and approached the steel doors of an elevator.

“Where are we going?” Luke asked one of the guards as she punched her finger on a button beside the doors and they slid open.

“Floor two, an official will be waiting for you,” she said, gesturing for us to head inside without them. I eyed the sharp looking blade at her hip with unease and stepped past her into the space.

The doors slid closed, and I glanced at the others, wondering if they were as nervous as me.

“Are you ready?” Hank asked us, and I shook my head.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Luke replied, pushing a hand into his dark hair.

I looked to Paige who dabbed at her eyes, her low lip trembling a little.

“Are you alright?” I breathed.

“It’s Brianna and Joshua...what happened to them was so awful. And then those rebels, I don’t know, they just gave me a fright.”

I nodded, leaning closer to her, feeling a bond growing between all of us humans. I’d never let myself care for other people, or at least tried not to. But I couldn’t deny how shaken I’d been by the loss of Brianna and Joshua, and the thought of anything bad happening to the others made me worried as hell.

“Paige, listen to me,” I said as the elevator rose upward, figuring we might not get another chance to talk tonight. Her bright blue eyes turned my way. “Don’t pick Fabian. I can’t tell you why, but Miles is the better option. Just don’t pick Fabian...promise me.”

Her mouth parted, but she didn’t answer.

“I think Montana’s right, there’s something off about Fabian,” Hank said, giving me an anxious look.

Paige nodded weakly and I hoped that meant she agreed.

The doors opened and a bright hallway with marble flooring opened up before us. Two guards stood on either side of the elevator and a male vampire with jet-black hair and a silver ring in his ear stood waiting for us. He had a clipboard in his hand and immediately ushered us out of the elevator. “Come on, come on, we don’t have all day.”

He looked us up and down, then put a large tick on his clipboard. “You’re all looking fabulous, now you’re going to step through this door up here and I want big smiles for the cameras, okay? The whole of the New Empire is watching tonight!”

We nodded vaguely as he escorted us to a set of red double doors at the end of the corridor and my heart took a dive. We were so close now. Moments away from making the decision that would bind us in chains for good.

I glanced at the vampire for instructions, but he seemed to be listening to something as he pressed a finger into his ear.

“One minute,” he announced, and my pulse drummed faster.

I still had my fingers locked with Paige’s and Hank suddenly took my other hand. Luke took hold of Paige, and we shared a fierce look that united us as one.

At least I’m not alone.

“Okay, go, go, go,” the vampire called, and the doors opened wide in front of us.

A hundred flashes of light blinded me as we walked onto a huge stage. Before us was a grand ballroom with a polished floor glimmering under the light of an enormous chandelier. A series of steps scattered with rose petals led down from the stage deeper into the room. The place was packed with Elite, all gazing up at us with golden chalices in their hands, standing around the wide hall below.

The crowd applauded at the sight of us, and I spotted a camera crew filming us at the bottom of the stairs, recording every second of this nightmare.

A huge screen at the back of the hall showed a live feed of us all standing in line. We didn’t look afraid as I’d expected, but strong, a band of humans standing in a united front. And I took pride in the sight, lifting my chin as I gazed down at the sea of vampires, vowing that no matter what they claimed from me this night, they would never break me.

My dress sparkled like stars, winking as the tiny gemstones caught the flash of the cameras.

Our attention was grabbed by a woman to the right of the stage dressed in a silken purple gown. Felicia looked as beautiful as the first day I’d met her when we’d been presented to the royals. Her flowing dark hair was braided with a white ribbon and her stunning features lifted in a wide smile. “Ladies and gentlemen of the New Empire, welcome to the twenty-first annual choosing ceremony! Our royals have selected the finest humans of the Realms, but today, they will make their own choice and pick a prince or princess to unite with.”

Doors opened at the far end of the hall and the royals appeared, walking into the room and dominating the air. Erik’s brow was drawn low, and Fabian took the first opportunity to break away from him, a smile hitched onto his lips but his eyes as dark as sin.

As Erik’s attention turned to the stage, his gaze locked with mine. Time seemed to slow, and oxygen stopped travelling in and out of my lungs. His mouth pulled up at one corner and I mirrored him, achingly drawn to him in that eternal moment, like for one second in time he was on my side, offering me a slice of encouragement. Then it was gone, his eyes still on me, but there was no kindness in this look. Now, he looked fierce, possessive, like the raging creature I had met in the dark corridor at the party last night.

Felicia gestured for us to descend the stairs, and I guessed that was our cue to join the masses. I finally dragged my eyes from Erik and moved down the staircase, immediately more at ease out of the spotlight. Eyes still turned our way, but the Elite parted, allowing us through as they talked among each other, excited chatter filling the room.

We found a space within the crowd and huddled close, sharing nervous looks and waiting for someone to tell us what to do next.

Felicia raised her arms, calling out to the room again, “I present to you the wives of the royal brothers!”

I turned to look back up the stairs to the red door we had entered through, finding it opening once more. A group of female vampires arrived in flowing white gowns, followed closely by children of varying ages, and I frowned, unsure what I was witnessing. I’d never seen a single child since I’d been here. Not one. Because vampires didn’t breed, right?

Clarice let out a cry of excitement, running up the steps to greet the children and falling to her knees as she gathered a couple of dark-haired kids into her arms. “Aunt Clarice!” many of them called to her, running forward and squeezing her affectionately.

Miles was hot on her heels, placing kisses on some of the women’s cheeks before kneeling to embrace a few fair-haired girls.

I stopped moving. Stopped breathing as Felicia’s words resounded through my head. The wives of the royal brothers. These women, these vampires…they had been like us once. Humans from previous years, now changed into immortal, lifeless vampires. And that meant these children were…

I took a step back, horror crashing through me and echoing through every cell in my body.

My gaze fell on Erik across the room, and his ominous expression confirmed what I suspected. My fear turned into a penetrating certainty. This was why they wanted human wives. This was what they wanted from us.

Children.

Nightmare was buzzing furiously on my thigh, trembling with rage, as if the sight of the children upset it as much as it upset me.

Fabian moved to greet his wives, kissing the backs of their hands like he was the perfect gentlemen, and I gazed at the youngsters gathering around him, narrowing my eyes. Their skin was glossy like a vampire’s but something about them screamed life. Like they were half dead, half living. Half human, half vampire.

I backed up again, knocking into Paige, and she gave me a fearful look that told me she’d figured it out too.

“I can’t – I won’t,” I gasped, unable to draw breath. Panic was washing over me, rushing in too fast for me to escape it.

Paige opened her mouth as if to warn me to be quiet, but I pushed past her, desperate to get away. To find some breathable air.

I ran through the crowd, finding a side door and darting through it into an empty corridor. I sprinted down it, searching for an exit, some way forward, but every other door I found was locked tight. I found myself at a dead end, shaking and bracing my hands against the wall, revulsion carving down the middle of me.

No. Not this. I don’t want this. I won’t do it.

Nightmare whispered soothing words. Be still, Moon child. You mustn’t allow this fate.

“How can I avoid it?” I rasped.

A hand caught my arm, twisting me around, and I grimaced, finding Erik there with a sombre look on his face.

“Montana,” he said in a low voice. “Listen to me.”

“No,” I snarled. “I don’t want to hear it. You’re not going to convince me to do that. To have children with your brother. I won’t. I’ll die first.” Nausea gripped me. I’d never wanted human children, let alone this.

It wasn’t natural. It was twisted. What even were they? Did they drink blood? Were they as monstrous as their immortal sires?

He slowly closed the distance between us like I was a rabid dog about to bite. “It can be insemination if you prefer, you do not have to-”

“Fuck you!” I roared, and Erik came at me, clapping his hand over my mouth and forcing me back against the wall.

“Quiet,” he hissed. “Whisper or I will not let you speak at all.”

I nodded, grinding my teeth as he peeled his palm off of my mouth.

“You can’t do this to me,” I said, voice cracking.

“This is what the ritual is in aid of,” he said darkly. “We don’t tell you sooner because of this very fear I see in your eyes.”

“Is this what you want from me? To marry Fabian and let him-” I couldn’t get the words out, choking on them. “Is this the price I have to pay? Are you going to dangle my family over my head forever? Keep me compliant with a threat against their lives? Did you ever intend to free my father at all?”

“I do not care for the ritual or its outcome. I only want eyes on my brother,” Erik hissed. “But you are causing me a confliction that I cannot escape. And I do not remember the last time I felt any such thing.”

A sneer lifted my lips. “I’m a puppet on your stage, my strings tethered to your hand. You move me in any direction you want, so what confliction can I possibly cause you?”

I didn’t know why I was bothering to argue, only that the burning rage inside me needed to escape. The truth had struck me like an axe, and now I was bleeding in the aftermath of that knowledge. Vampires expanded their numbers by turning humans, not by breeding with them. I’d never even considered this possible.

“Montana,” Erik said roughly, caught in hesitation. “You told me I could make an ask of you to secure your father’s freedom. To walk him beyond the city and take him somewhere safe once he arrives.”

“I did,” I whispered, fear trickling through my chest.

“Well, I have a request of you now, one that I believe will quiet this madness in me.”

A lump rose in my throat as I took in the beast before me who seemed barely restrained. His muscles were taut, his eyes two forbidding wells of darkness that were full of threat.

“You have been a poor spy who has reaped little to nothing in your time with Fabian,” he said cuttingly.

“I hardly had much time,” I said in anger.

“And you will have no more of it either,” he snapped, making my heart stumble. “You have frustrated me to no end. Argued with me, provoked me, jeered and scoffed at me.”

I pressed harder against the wall as he moved closer, a demon in a fine suit, ready to flay the flesh from my bones. There was no escaping him, and I feared his request was going to involve punishment for all the things I’d done to insult him.

“But you have amused me too,” his tone softened, and my brows lowered in suspicion. “You have made me laugh when I thought there was no laughter left in me, and you have made me question things I had long forgotten to question. You, rebel, have made me feel more than I have in a thousand years, and now I find myself making a decision this night, while you stand on the cusp of a destiny I chose for you. But I am rewriting that destiny here and now.”

“I don’t understand,” I rasped.

He gripped my jaw, hand rough and firm as he held me so our gazes couldn’t break. “You will be mine. That is my request of you. You will choose me at the ceremony, and you will marry me. Do this, and I will promise you infinite protection. I will be your keeper, even when I am your monster too. But understand that there will be no reneging on this vow if you make it to me this night. You will belong to me in every way imaginable. You will never run from me, and if you dare escape, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth and make you pay for every day we were apart. That is my offer. Speak my name at the ceremony, and the deal will be done.”

My rampant breaths wouldn’t slow, and Nightmare burned with furious intent, begging me to take the blade into my hand and drive it deep into his chest. But even if I attempted such a thing, I’d seen Erik’s strength firsthand and had no doubt I would fail.

“I have two caveats to this deal, however,” he said before I could form the words to speak. “The first is that I will never sire you. You will remain human, and even if you decide to become one of my kind, I will deny you of the opportunity. And secondly, I will never demand children of you. I have never partaken in this ritual, and I do not intend to start now. That will never be a request I make of you, do you understand?”

I nodded mutely, trying to process everything he was saying. He was asking me to become his prisoner for good, one he would declare his wife.

“Why not just force me to do this, why give me the choice at all?” I asked bitterly.

“Because I want you willing.”

“Willing,” I scoffed, shaking my head to free my chin from his grip and feeling a tear slip from my eye, rolling down my cheek.

“The choice is yours, rebel,” he said, then turned from me, shooting away down the corridor and disappearing back into the ballroom.

I stared after him, a new path laid out beneath my feet, but walking it would lead me to a future in the clutches of a callous prince. None of the options were what I truly wanted. Freedom alongside my family was the only future I wished to claim, but it looked like I was going to be forced to pick a cage instead.