Chapter Twenty-One: His Potential Queen

Baila

The night air was sharp, carrying a faint chill that made me pull my cloak tighter around me as Sara and I trudged back toward the castle. The streets were unusually quiet, the usual murmur of voices and clatter of hooves replaced by an eerie stillness and the shadows seemed to stretch longer than usual. I kept glancing over my shoulder, the unease from Salem’s prophecy still prickling at the edges of my mind like a splinter too deep to pull out. The words rang in my ears, fragments of their meaning slipping through my grasp no matter how hard I tried to piece them together.

A lying mate. A backstabbing friend. A foe turned friend.

Sara walked briskly ahead, her green dress swishing against her legs, her shoulders stiff and head bowed low. She had not uttered a word since I told her about Salem being a witch. She had not asked me how I found out or what proof I had and I had not offered an explanation either.