The Prince of Envy smirks. "Princess Arianna, how low the mighty fall. Fancied yourself queen of everything, did you? But here you are, no better than sewer vermin, and smelling much the same." He wrinkles his nose.
I glare at him. "I seem to have misplaced my perfumes."
He chuckles. "I must admit I respect your spirit. You have a way about you that attracts admirers from all walks of life. You might have even made a great queen, had fates turned out differently."
"What do you want, Levi? I'm busy."
He scowls. "Of course, I mustn't take up too much of the lady's precious time. After all, you have only a few hours remaining of your life. How does it feel, knowing you're about to die? Your tiny mortal life snuffed out in just a few short years? And no mum here to trade her soul for yours."
I'd forgotten that this all started when I died once before. How odd that I'm about to face for a second time something most only ever face once.
When I don't respond to Levi, he frowns, then leans against the bars and plasters a smile across his face that doesn't reach his eyes. "Come to the door and place your hands together. You are needed elsewhere."
"Needed? For what?" My heart is racing. Is he going to have me killed early? Will he steal the last few hours I have left just out of spite? Does he really hate me that much?
I consider refusing. Fighting. But honestly, any chance to get out of this cell is welcome, even if it is for my execution. I walk to the cell door and put my hands together, slipping them through the slit in the steel.
Marco clasps chains around them and I pull my hands back in as he unlocks my cell. Levi steps away, letting the guard do his job of securing me.
"Where are we going?" I ask, when Levi refuses to speak more about what's going on.
"You'll see soon enough. Let's just say you never had the proper Presenting, and now everyone is dying to see the true face of their admired princess."
I shiver as I think about the Presenting Levi arranged for me when I first got here. I look down at my dirt-caked body. My hair is a tangle of straw, mud and who knows what else. I smell like an animal carcass left to bake in the sun. Is this really how I will be presented to the world?
And then I remember my ears. My signs of Faeness. I used illusion magic to make myself look human the first few days of my capture, then I stopped after the guards beat me. It wasn't worth the pain. Now I’m too weak to cast the spell even if I tried.
I can guess at Levi's plan. He wants the world to hate me before I'm killed. He wants to turn all those who loved or respected me against me, so that they are more loyal to him.
And it just might work, if Marco's disdain for me is any indication. Everyone is turning against me. Ace. Zeb. People I thought cared for me, for Fen. There is no loyalty here. I was a fool to believe otherwise.
I'm dragged through the tunnels and up stairs. When we reach the main castle, my heart clenches. This is Stonehill. This is what home feels like. Or used to. Everything has changed now. It was a twist of cruel irony that Levi had both Fen and I locked away in Fen's own home. In his own realm. With his own people guarding us. A twist of the blade into his gut. And mine too.
We reach a door and suddenly I am thrust into sunlight. My eyes go blind from the brightness, so long have I been stuck in darkness. I'm reminded of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. When we live our lives in darkness, the shadows seem like the only reality, and the truth is too blinding to accept. I wonder if this is what the princes' lives are like. They are cursed in their sins, stuck in their lack of growth. Perhaps their evil is not their fault, but the fault of the curse and the darkness in which their souls are fated to live. The light hurts them, and thus makes the shadows their only source of truth.
But that does not make their deeds any less evil to those they are perpetrated on.
It takes time for my eyes to stop hurting, for my vision to return. I stumble through the training yard, the sound of swords clashing cuing me to my surroundings. But the closer I come to any group, the quieter it becomes. A natural hush falls around us, as people gawk and stare. Then the whispering begins as they join with the throngs of people following us. I am surrounded by guards now, not just Marco, and Levi leads the way as if he has already been crowned King of all the lands. He relishes this power, and covets it as he does all things not his by right.
We approach a wooden stage and my legs stumble on the steps, still weak from my time in the cell. My muscles have atrophied. Marco grabs my arms to keep me from falling on my face, and he is gentle as he helps me stand. A small kindness in the face of what's to come—one I appreciate.
"Here she is!" Levi yells to the growing crowd. I've never seen so many people in Stonehill. It's clear from the diversity of dress and style that Levi planned this ahead of time. All the realms are represented here, not just Fen's.
The crowd quiets enough to hear what Levi will say next.
The Prince grabs my arm and shoves me to the edge of the stage. The same platform used for the slave auction. The same platform used to torture the Fae they captured in battle. I wasn't here for that, but I heard the stories of what happened while I was in Avakiri. I can see the stains of blood worn into the wood under my bare feet.
The blood of my people.
We are all monsters. The Fae. The vampires. All of us, for the war we have wrought. If I somehow survive this, I will make sure this platform is destroyed. It is soaked in evil.
"Take a good look at her," Levi says. He pulls back my hair and the crowds gasp, seeing my ears for the first time. "She is one of them. She always was. She is Fae. And not just Fae. No!"