I circled her to gather what remained. In one motion, I cut it to a blunt edge that rested at her jaw. Sheathing my knife, I circled back to face her.
“I should have done this weeks ago,” she said, her eyes filling with tears as she touched her shorn locks. “I should have disfigured myself so that she would not take her wrath toward me out on Father, on our kingdom, on our faith.”
“Princess!” Hesper cried, clearly disturbed by the suggestion, but Navara ignored her.
“Please,” Navara begged again. “Only you are powerful enough to fight through her dark enchantments.”
I bit hard into my bottom lip. They were right: this was my fault.
This rebuke could not be like the last one. I couldn’t make the same mistake of showing mercy. I would have to confiscate Ambrosine’s elicrin stone and drag her back to Nissera for another trial before the Realm Alliance.
“So you will help us?” Navara asked.
“Help you with what, darling girl?” asked a calm, lyrical voice from the shadows of the edifice entry.
ELEVEN
AMBROSINE
TWO MONTHS AGO
HOW could someone so beautiful look so unhappy?” Myron’s finger curled under my chin and lifted it until our eyes met.
I didn’t want to answer. I didn’t know how. So I urged his mouth toward mine, slid my tongue along the inside of his lip. Myron was an attractive man—older than I would have preferred, but a skilled lover and a distraction from the boredom overtaking my mind.
The only other cure was basking in the admiration of his people. But they had grown accustomed to my beauty. They no longer gasped and fawned over me. They no longer spoke Nisseran in my presence, instead droning on and on in Perispi with no regard for my lack of understanding. Sometimes I wished I had paid closer attention in lessons, but I always envied how naturally Glisette picked up Perispi, how relentlessly she teased me for guessing wrong answers. Even Devorian didn’t do that.
Lonely, powerless, overlooked. Queen or not, I had come to realize I was nothing but a jewel in the king’s pommel. The best I could do was to be a sparkling jewel that pleased and dazzled him, one too rare and precious to replace.
I pulled back, molding my body to the chaise, trailing one hand along the silk collar of my dressing gown and tugging at his belt buckle with the other.
“Not now, my love,” he said, bending to plant a kiss on my forehead. “Navara will never forgive me if I miss the Day of Holies ceremony in the city square.”
“She’s a demanding child, isn’t she?” I remarked before I could stop myself, but I managed to temper my irritation enough to sound fond of her.
He laughed. “Demanding yes, but a child no longer. Men young and old have taken to ogling her. Are you sure you don’t wish to come and protect her by holding their gazes captive?”
A tendril of delight unfurled in my belly at his flattery. “I’d rather hold you captive,” I purred.
“Later, my queen,” he promised, pressing a kiss on the back of my hand. “I know it’s difficult for you to understand the customs of my people, including our many, many religious holidays—”
“There’s practically one every fortnight,” I grumbled.
“—but perhaps you could try. The philosophy of the faith is based on self-examination: what we aspire to be and how we fall short. If you think of it that way, it doesn’t seem so ridiculous.” Tenderly, he brushed a lock of hair from my face. “It would mean so much to Navara if you went to the edifice to pray with her, or if she knew you made a habit of going downstairs for reflection hour every seventh dawn.”
“Reflection hour?”
“Come. I’ll show you. You’re usually sleeping, and I don’t like to disturb you when you look so peaceful.”
With a scowl of reluctance, I accepted his hand and allowed him to lead me across the expanse of our private chamber. Morning sunlight poured through the vivid colors of the stained-glass figures of the eight Holies, four goddesses and four gods. Though I had never made a direct effort to learn them, I knew all of the Holies by name, virtue, and symbol. If I cared about them, or pretended to care, perhaps I might not feel so lonely.
Myron shoved aside a rich tapestry of frolicking deer, revealing a door in the wall.
“I never noticed that,” I said. “Why is it hidden?”
“I had the servants cover it before you arrived. I didn’t