Sunshine streaming in through the huge arched windows, my dress sprawled out on the King sized bed. Standing only in my inner slip, I was absolutely losing it.

  I had no shoes or accessories to go with my dress. The horror.

  Knock, knock.

  A maid entered the room on my assent.

  She introduced herself as Lenne. Her dark hair was pinned back and she had a forgettable quality about her.

  Her job was to help me look good and she came bearing gifts. I welcomed her heartily mentally thanking our generous host, the royal family.

  Lenne had dressed me in under a minute. Her shyness melting away in face of work.

  She had me sit down on the vanity stool.

  She braided the front pieces of my hair back so they won’t fall on my face, her delicate fingers worked quickly.

  Her gaze lingered on my neck as she secured the braid on its back.

  Then from a velvet case she produced a beautiful delicate gold headpiece set with pearls. It was sized perfectly for my head and she affixed it to my braid so it wouldn’t move throughout the day.

  Next, she had me put on ivory ballet flats with gold embroidery mimicking the one on the dress.

  Celeste the dressmaker was a true professional. I pledged my loyalty to her as a client mentally.

  Standing in front of the mirror, I did a little spin loving the way my dress caught the light as I did so.

  I caught Lenne’s suspiciously wet eyes in the mirror. She saw me looking at her.

  Something crossed her face and she said, "You look very fine.”

  I know I looked adorable but I didn’t realize it was to point of making people teary eyed.

  I thanked her and she turned to cleaning up.

  With the atmosphere now awkward, I went to find papa.

  The investiture ceremony took place in the main hall. The room imposed its will on you. Quite literally, I could feel the magic in this room constantly scanning for threats. I couldn’t say what it would do if someone decided to create problems but likely something brutal.

  From the high vaulted ceilings, light coming through windows fell exactly in the centre row of the room where it was reflected by crystal chandeliers and multiplied across the white gold marble. The design set the mood for what would come.

  Papa looked quite dapper in his new clothes. Muted and professional with the just the right amount of bling to make a statement. He looked every bit the noble man he was soon becoming. Except for the unearned sneering superiority complex, of course.

  Finn and Rowan were dressed for the occasion as well. Although, Finn somehow still managed to look disheveled despite the finery.

  I looked quite good too and I thought mumma would have enjoyed seeing us like this. I hoped my pink-on-pink registered as a tribute. You could communicate with clothes like Celeste said.

  Rex the King sat regally at the end of the room on a gem studded throne. Behind him, was a tapestry the height of the wall itself.

  It depicted sky going from a polluted wasteland to clear blue with fluffy clouds.

  Below the sky was a giant white stag, with antlers branching wide touching the edges of the tapestry, kneeling in respect. Beneath its knee the ground was cracked open like ploughed fields. A symbol of growth.

  To its left an enormous grey wolf sat folded on its forepaws. Relaxed.

  Between them stood the unarmed man. Much smaller in size compared to the animals. His outstretched hands held something too small for me to make out from here. It was not clear what he was looking at but it wasn’t either of the animals. Nor was it the map of Auren depicted below. It was something outside the edges of the tapestry. Unexpectedly sending shivers down my spine.

  I had heard of the pale stag and the grey mother wolf before. I had thought it was just a bedtime story. Mumma never mentioned the man.

  I kept looking for clues in the tapestry as the King started his speech. He spoke all the things you’re supposed to say about service and loyalty and the honor of the crown. He was warm not distant.

  At one point he looked directly at me and I was met with the same calculating look I had first seen on the battlefield. I stared back although I itched to research the myth in the tapestry further.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  He announced the formation of House of Kingsward—the new protectors of Auren. The territory, the city residence, and the gold rewarded to the House for papa and my effort. I wondered how he would make me pay for all this. I could power the shield alright now but something told me it would take more next time he asked.

  Then, a drop of papa's blood was taken for official record. House of Kingsward was officially founded and sworn to the Kingdom. Rowan and Finn and I recognized as members by descent. There was only empty space where mumma’s blood would have gone. It would remain empty.

  I watched papa's face as his name was entered into the kingdom's permanent record and thought about mumma who didn’t join us.

  Afterwards, Rex spoke to papa at length about the territory being granted. Then, almost as an aside, the residence.

  "A property has been prepared for your family in the noble quarter," he said. "Quite close to the palace grounds. It belonged to a family who are no longer with us."

  Papa received it with gratitude. I received the threat in a gift wrap with a thank you.

  Once the ceremony ended, a banquet followed.

  The food was good—nay, it was great—but by the end of it my feet hurt, and I sadly hadn’t learned any healing magic to make it all better.

  When I came back to the room, the bath was already drawn—the smell of lavender and sage beckoning me in for a relaxing dip. I followed it without further thought.

  Lenne was sitting on a footstool near the bath, pouring milk into the water. White clouds curled slowly through it as she scattered rose petals across the surface, spreading them so they floated evenly.

  “I thought you might want to rest,” she said nervously. “It’s been a long day.”

  I needed to figure out how to lure her from the palace to take care of me. She was certainly better than Agnes at predicting what I would like, and didn’t I deserve a luxurious bath on my last day in the palace? I definitely did. I had ended a war, after all.

  I smiled at her and nodded.

  She helped me take off my outfit quickly, and then I stepped into the bath. The water was just the right temperature—hot enough to relax in but not so hot that I would get overheated and leave quickly.

  The events of the day were fading from my mind. Only the tapestry remained at the forefront. The Grey Mother especially vivid.

  “There’s a massage I learned from the palace masseuses,” she said, her voice more professional now. “For your shoulders. It will help you relax.”

  I had stood with my back straight all day, imagining an invisible thread pulling me upward. A massage was a very attractive offer.

  “Yes, please,” I said. “Thank you.”

  She got to work soon after. Her hands moved outward from the base of my neck, slow and steady. There was oil on her fingers—a faint scent of chamomile filling the air.

  The warm amber light.

  The setting sun outside the window.

  The floral scents.

  The milk in the bath making my baby skin even more softer.

  I had survived, and for the first time in several months it genuinely felt like everything would be alright.

  At some point I dozed off.

  I woke to warm breath on my face.

  Lenne was leaning over me far closer than she had any reason to be.

  The cut came before I could place what was wrong.

  Steel slid across the left side of my neck—fast and methodical, like the massage I had fallen asleep to.

  Pain hit sharp and burning as blood burst free, bright and hot, spilling down my throat and chest into the bathwater.

  Rose petals bumped softly against my skin as the water darkened around me.

  I tried to scream.

  The moment I forced air through my throat it came out wrong—wet and bubbling. If I screamed, my throat would only gurgle up blood.

  The sound that escaped me was a choking gargle.

  I stopped immediately.

  My hand flew to my neck, pressing hard against the wound. Blood pumped hot and slick between my fingers. For a brief, horrible moment I could feel air moving where flesh should have been.

  My magic answered the panic before my thoughts caught up. Air folded inward around the wound, compressing tight like invisible hands forcing the torn flesh together.

  The flow slowed.

  From a spray—to trickle, trickle.

  I focused on breathing through my nose.

  Focused on not dying in a bath.

  Lenne loomed over me.

  She was shaking—but not with hesitation. The knife in her hand was steady enough. Whatever she had decided to do, she was capable of finishing it.

  “Twelve years old,” she said, her voice cracking. “I raised him from three. Our mother couldn’t, so I did.”

  Her eyes flicked to the bathwater.

  “He loved milk,” she said, like it hurt to say something that small out loud. “Drank it with everything. Said it made him strong.”

  Her grip tightened around the knife.

  “He was on that field. Moving supplies.”

  She swallowed.

  “They said it came from nowhere. They said it was a bloodbath. Thousands dead. A death ritual.”

  I noticed distantly that she said they as though it was a group different from herself.

  It wasn’t.

  She was one of them.

  Before she could try again, I bound her.

  Air thickened around her limbs and hardened into invisible chains. She struggled immediately.

  It didn’t matter.

  “I know who you are,” she said, her voice dropping lower. “Too much power. Too little wisdom to use it. Everyone calling you a hero.”

  Her eyes burned into mine.

  “You are just a foolish murderer.”

  She was not entirely wrong.

  Many had died.

  But many would have died regardless of my actions or my inaction. Mira or not. The war would have dragged on longer, feeding its appetite for blood.

  I had hastened the process.

  Saved those who mattered to me.

  And benefited from its ending.

  I had gambled my life to achieve that outcome.

  And now I was gambling again.

  What I needed was a healer before I lost consciousness from blood loss.

  My magic held back the bleeding. Lenne hung restrained in chains she could not comprehend.

  Water sloshed red around my legs as I stood.

  Rose petals clung to my skin before slipping back into the pink water.

  I stepped out of the bath.