The last time I had been in this hall, surrounded by its gilded mirrors and its blue banners, my father had claimed I was worth every star in the sky, and he had nearly gone to war with Adrian after he had asked for my hand in marriage.
Even as these thoughts raced through my mind, I could not look away from my father’s throne, which was occupied by Alaric. He was a severe-looking man with long, dark hair and prominent, dark brows. His eyes were a piercing gray, and he sat with his large hands curled around the edge of my throne, dressed and crowned in black.
I was surprised that Julian was not here, but my attention was soon taken by Nadia, who stood to Alaric’s left in the grasp of a guard who held her hostage, a blade to her neck.
I returned to my human form, my hands fisted.
“Queen Isolde,” said Alaric with some surprise in his voice, though it remained deep and menacing. “I have been expecting you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that,” I said. “You would think if that were true, you’d have made it easier for me to reach this point.”
He chuckled. “You have proven very capable.”
“You’ve just now figured that out?” I asked.
“I think you’ve had some help,” he said. “An aufhocker bite, a vampire bite. You’ve turned yourself into a true monster.”
“Not so different from you,” I said.
He tilted his head, smiling.
“I suppose not.”
I took a step forward, and Nadia inhaled, the guard pressing his blade into her neck.
“What is all this?” I asked. “A futile attempt to conquer my lands?”
“Futile?” Alaric asked. “I sit on your father’s throne.”
“My throne,” I said. “My father is dead.”
“No!” I heard Nadia say.
The mirrors on the walls began to tremble. I exchanged a look with Nadia.
My one and only thought was that Ravena was near. I expected the mirrors to explode, but instead, the floor began to crack and shards of mirror shot up from the ground. They were tall and sharp, and they surrounded us in a jagged circle.
Alaric stood, staring frantically at our surroundings.
“What is this witchcraft?” he asked and narrowed his eyes upon me. “You.”
He started toward me, but then he began to seize and his eyes bled. He fell to his knees with crimson tears streaming down his face. The man who held Nadia followed, and as soon as he began to shake, she pulled his knife free and stabbed him in the chest.
“Nadia!”
“Oh, my Issi!” We ran to each other. She threw her arms around me, and I hugged her tightly.
“I missed you so much,” I said, tears streaming down my face.
“I missed you, child,” she said, and as she pulled away from me, she gripped my shoulders, then my face between her hands.
“My child,” she whispered. “Tell me it is not true, what you said? King Henri is indeed…dead?”
A sob tore from my throat that I did not intend, and I nodded. “It is true.”
“Oh, my dear.” She hugged me to her. “What happened?”
“That is not a story for now,” I said, and this time I drew away from her. “We must get you to safety.”
But there was something in her eyes that made me feel uneasy—a strange look that set me on edge. My brows lowered. “Nadia?”
Her hand tightened around mine.
“My child,” she said. “What have you become?”
I could not answer before I felt the sting of a blade slide straight into my heart. Blood pooled in my mouth, and the tears of joy that had streamed down my face became a mixture of pain and sorrow.
“Nadia.” Blood spattered her face as I said her name. “Why?”
“You are no longer my child,” she said. “My Issi died the night she had to marry that monster.”
I covered her hands, which still held the blade in my chest. I realized she believed this would kill me, which meant she had likely never trusted that I would try to kill Adrian.
“You never were very good at reading people, Issi,” she said.
With my hands over hers, I jerked them back, and as my wound healed, my claws burst from the fingertips and sank into Nadia’s stomach.
Her eyes widened with shock, and as her legs gave out, I helped her to the ground.
“Issi,” she whispered, a trickle of blood trailing down her mouth.
I held her to me, staring down at her pale face, watching as a single tear fell from her eye—it was all that she would shed for me.
As she took her final breath, I spoke. “No, Nadia. I am not your Issi,” I whispered, though tears filled my eyes. I had no time to process the feelings that tore through my chest and ripped me open, but I felt raw and exposed and completely devastated.
This woman had cared for me and nursed me; she had stepped into a mothering role, and I saw her as such—and yet, when she had seen me shift, I had only become a monster in her eyes.
My breath became shallow, ragged, and I screamed until my throat burned, until my ears rang with the sound of it, until my wails dissolved into silent tears.
“Well, isn’t this devastating.”
I froze, lifting my head at the sound of Ravena’s voice.
“First you lose your father,” she continued. “And now the woman who treated you as a daughter.”
My gaze fell to Nadia, whose eyes remained open and wide. I closed them, pressing a kiss to her forehead before carefully resting her upon the ground. Then I rose to my feet and turned, still surrounded by the mirrored circle, and faced Ravena.
She filled one of the large, jagged pieces of mirror she had called forth from the floor. I expected her to appear all around me as she had done in the hall of mirrors at the Red Palace, but she didn’t.
“Why did you help me?” I asked.
“I have been trying to help you,” she said. “I have warned you about Adrian. I have told you that we are fighting for the same purpose.”
“You keep saying that, and yet you keep killing my people,” I said.
“Men,” she said. “I am killing men.”
“Ivka was not a man,” I said.
Ravena smiled, but it was sad. “An unfortunate sacrifice. I did not wish to see her die, but she would have distracted you, and Nalani is not your concern.”
“Who are you to say?” I asked, gritting my teeth.
“You did not incarnate in this life to be Isolde of Lara. You incarnated to seek revenge as Yesenia of Aroth, and that revenge must be against men. They hurt you.”
“You hurt me,” I said.
“Not like them,” she said, and there was an edge to her voice, as if she were insulted I had compared the two. “I know you sometimes mourn for the life you didn’t live, but it was not just your life that was taken the night you burned.”
My stomach roiled and I hit the floor, vomiting into a chamber pot. My face was hot and my heart was racing in my chest. The feeling had come on so suddenly, I could barely stop my head from spinning.
The door opened and I looked up, realizing I was in my bedchamber at the Red Palace.
“Yesenia, are you okay?” Ana asked. She came to kneel before me, her golden hair spilling over her shoulders.
“I am okay,” I said. I spent a few moments breathing through my mouth until the nausea passed.