“Not stalking. Not trying to make this weird,” she says with an awkward nod. Her face is a bright shade of red and I swear I can see purple forming where Jeriko’s knuckles must have hit. Noticing the way my eyes snag on her face, she waves a glowing palm over her cheek and the mark is gone.
With a growl, I plant my feet when I remember where I go, she goes.
I’m only a few yards away from the others. I don’t have anywhere I can go to hide. Dinner will be ready in a few hours, and not a single one of us looks presentable in the least.
Slowly, I take a seat on the small curb that surrounds the garden beds, letting the wet ground seep into my already dirt-stained jeans.
“Your name.” She pauses and takes a seat at my side, our thighs not quite brushing. “It’s pretty.”
My face scrunches at her statement.
Violence is most definitely not a pretty name.
“Of all the things you could have said, you decided to lead with that?”
A smile pulls at the corner of her lips, and I almost want to mirror the optimism creeping over her face.
“What? It is.” She shrugs slightly, her arm skimming mine.
“No. It’s not.”
“The term itself is not. But the sound is. It sounds pretty.”
With a small sigh, I pluck a red bud from the flower bed and twirl the stem between my fingers. “You’re not the least bit upset that I stole your life?”
A silence drifts between us as she tips her head up to squint at the sky.
“Maybe I’ll steal your name next.” She laughs nervously. “Then we can be even.”
“You can have it. Want to just switch?” Cameron is a nice enough name, I suppose.
“Deal.” Cameron’s soft smile falters, her features falling into something more serious. “This wasn’t the first time I’ve stolen,” she admits on a quiet breath. “I’m not a thief, but I suppose I’m not a proper lady either. It’s kind of starting to catch up with me.”
She wrings her hands in front of her until she sees me watching and instead tucks them under her thighs. "Tonight, a princess ran right into me, and I didn’t have a clue what it meant. I don’t think the reality of it has really set in just yet.” Her gaze drifts across my features, and for a second, we’re two friends both lost in a world we have no control over. “I’m not going to lie, I’ll probably have a nervous breakdown at some point.” A quiet laugh shakes through me as her smile returns. “But right now, being a lapdog to a—slightly deadly—princess is an okay gig.”
“This will give you a nervous breakdown but stealing from the king won’t?” I can’t help but arch a single brow. Cameron is quite the puzzle.
Her shoulder bumps mine, sending a burst of warmth into me. “I’ve stolen before. I’ve never been bound to someone else’s soul. I can’t even keep a boyfriend for longer than a week. My parents split up, and now I have all sorts of commitment issues.” She inhales sharply like she’s just realized she’s babbling. “Let’s go get cleaned up for this dinner thing before Jeriko tries to shove her fist down my throat again. Hm? Maybe you can give me a tour of the Palace?”
Her light and careless demeanor is intriguing. It’s astounding, really. Even... suspicious. Hadn’t she almost been put to death a few minutes ago?
“Not likely.”
With reluctance, I stand. As I trail back to the Wild Hunt, they look at me in a new light. The three of them watch me carefully. They look at me like I’m a real woman instead of a broken girl.
And they look at Cameron like she’s a dead girl walking.
* * *
Putting on a fancy gown is like slipping into some past version of myself, one that is hard to recognize. I’ve nearly forgotten what I look like. There are no mirrors out in the valley the Wild Hunt tends to sleep in.
My jawline is sharper. My arms and shoulders have toned, and when I turn to see the exposed skin of my back in the mirror, I can make out the shifting definition of muscles. Even the seamstress who’d swept me up had tutted about how slender my waist had gotten. Through the pink silk, I can still count my ribs one by one.
Diamonds dangle from my earlobes, sparkling in every turn of the light. There is a shine to my hair that I’d forgotten it had ever held after it has been scrubbed clean and then pinned up off my neck in a simple updo.
Carver, Nollix, Jeriko, and Cameron have all been offered the same fineries and royal treatment as I have. Admittedly, they clean up well. Each of us looks well dressedanddeadly now.
None of us speaks a word as we soak in each other’s images. The doors to the dining hall are thankfully closed, giving us a brief moment of peace before we are tossed to the chaos of this court. I’m frozen to the spot, listening to the chatter on the other side of the door.
