Chapter 2

The next afternoon, the garden at Nightfall Court was full of black roses in bloom.

I put Noah in a clean little dress coat. He held on to my hand and kept his eyes fixed on the garden entrance, practically vibrating.

"Mommy, is Daddy really coming?"

"He promised." I smoothed his hair down.

Three o'clock, right on the hour.

Footsteps came from the entrance. Noah let go of me and ran toward them. "Daddy!"

He made it two steps before he stopped. The smile dropped off his face, and he backed up against my legs.

It wasn't Izael.

It was Lilith.

She swept in wearing a moonlight gown, with a crowd of dark elf nobles trailing behind her. She wasn't even trying to hide the smirk.

"Well, look at this. Our Court's most distinguished human lady." She stopped in front of me and looked me over from head to toe.

The nobles laughed.

"Lady Lilith, don't be cruel. She can't even sense magic. You're calling that a lady?"

"If the King weren't so generous, that bloodline would have been thrown out years ago."

I stared them down and moved Noah behind me.

Then Lilith's eyes settled on my throat, where a black crystal hung on a chain. The Tear of Nightfall.

Izael had fastened it around my neck himself, the night he asked me to marry him. He told me it marked the mother of the royal line.

"That thing around a human's neck is an insult to this house." She pointed at it. "Take it off. The King says only someone with pure elven blood has any right to wear it."

I met her eyes and kept my voice level. "Izael gave it to me. If he wants it back, he can come ask me himself."

Something hardened in her face.

Then she stepped forward, caught her own skirt, and went down hard on the stones.

She screamed.

A black blur crossed the garden. Izael was there in an instant, scooping her up off the ground, checking her over.

"Izael..." She sagged against his chest with her eyes going red, one finger pointed at me. "I only came to be kind. I wanted to tell Aria the wind was picking up and she should take Noah inside. She cursed at me. Then she shoved me."

His head snapped up. Those purple eyes were burning.

"Aria! What the hell is wrong with you?" he shouted at me. "She came here to check on you, and you put your hands on her? Have you forgotten what you are?"

I looked at the way he was holding her. I listened to him raise his voice at me over another woman.

And whatever was still left in me for him, whatever last thread, went out right then.

"I didn't push her," I said quietly.

"Don't lie to me." He cut me off cold. "Apologize to Lilith. Now. And take that necklace off and give it to her, since you owe her that much. A jealous woman like you doesn't deserve to wear it."

The nobles were all wearing the same expression. They had come for a show. They were waiting for me to break down, drop to my knees, and beg him not to take the last thing I had.

The old me would have done exactly that.

But now?

I looked at his face, and I laughed.

Then I reached up and grabbed the chain.

And pulled.

The links snapped like thread in my hand. The crystal swung loose, catching the sunlight, dark and shining.

Izael blinked. He hadn't expected me to give in that easily. Something smug flickered across his face — he thought I'd finally come to my senses.

He put his hand out, waiting for me to hand it over.

I didn't.

I raised the Tear of Nightfall high, where every single one of them could see it. The greatest honor his house had to give.

Then I threw it down at Lilith's feet.

The sound rang out across the garden.

That crystal had a hundred protection spells layered on it. It hit the ground and burst into powder.

Nobody moved. Nobody made a sound.

My fingertips were still buzzing. What was that? Where had it come from? I glanced down at my own palm without meaning to.

Izael's voice snapped me out of it.

He was staring at the dust on the stones, and his face had gone gray. Then he laughed, short and ugly. "Very clever. So where's the real one? A human without a scrap of magic couldn't crush a royal relic with her bare hands. Tell me where you hid it."

I didn't even bother looking at him.

"A necklace that stands for cheating and betrayal." I turned my eyes on Lilith. "It suits you far better than it ever suited me."

Then back to him.

"You both want it so badly. Go ahead. Get down on your knees and pick it up."