“We do have to do this.” I squeezed his hand. “We came here for answers and she’s been helpful so far, so if she thinks we need to meet with the queen now, then I say we trust that.”
Marco muttered a curse under his breath before he inhaled sharply and nodded. “I don’t disagree with you, baby girl. Just remember that no matter what happens, we can always leave. We can leave this place and ignore whatever we learned here.”
I examined his face, noticing a string of panic there. He was as uncomfortable, if not more uncomfortable, as me with all of this. As a pair of massive doors loomed ahead, I paused and wrapped my arms around Marco, burying my head in his chest and whispering ‘I love you’ as he wrapped his arms fully around me. The low rumble that he let escape from his throat had me relaxing. I was finding that I truly considered this man my safe place.
“This is bullshit.” Henry’s voice was edged with a dangerous tone despite his words being under his breath. I turned my head slightly, noticing that the two up ahead had stopped, clearly waiting for us.
“Let’s just get it over with,” I confirmed, attempting to be positive.
After a sharp nod, I moved forward with my mates behind me. An odd sense of calm infiltrated everything as I rolled my shoulders back, trying to straighten myself and be more confident. I needed that. I needed that inner strength.
The gold doors up ahead opened after a sharp nod from the guards that lined the space. Immediately, sunlight flooded the hallway, and my eyes moved across the marble and gold room to the ceiling that was made of a glass dome that presented a stunning blue sky and gold clouds above. It was indisputably gorgeous, and distracting enough that I didn’t even notice how crowded the room was. I didn’t notice the large amount of guards that lined the sides of the room or the people that seemed to hover throughout.
Almost immediately, we drew attention, and my fear and nervousness began to fade despite being the center of attention. A weird sense of calm filled me as the familiar scent of ash filled the space, mixed with floral, my skin lighting up with heat as we passed through the doors. My phoenix began to flutter in my chest, and I nearly let out a sound from her but managed to keep my lips pressed together as we continued to examine all the eyes on us.
Beautiful people filled the room, dressed in an assortment of whites, golds, and jewel tones that seemed to only add to the luxury of what I imagined most throne rooms were modeled after. The music quieted at my arrival, and everything seemed to pause, my eyes finally making it up front. That was right about when true shock slammed into me, making me pause in my step as emotion flooded my throat.
The woman standing in the front of the room was undeniably the queen in the question, that much was clear. But more than that… she looked just like me.
11
Maya
I wasn’t particularly good at knowing how to react to situations, but now more than ever I felt extremely confused and uncomfortable. There was absolutely no denying the fact that the woman across the room looked exactly like me. I knew I wasn’t the only one who recognized it either, because the entire room broke into low, murmured conversation. I couldn’t look away from the woman up front though, her eyes widening as I stared back into the same exact gold shade that mine had turned recently. It was way more than that though. The similarities were enough that I was trying to find differences other than the fact that she appeared older than me—not by much—but there was an angular element to her face that I didn’t have.
I needed to say something, ask something, but I was unable to because of the shock radiating through me. We even had the exact same color hair. Her nose was rounded on the tip, like mine, and covered in freckles. Like mine. The only difference was the way she held herself, a gold crown covered in blue stones sitting on top of her head, which was held high and with confidence. There was a power and elegance to her that I could never myself contain, but I wanted to. I wanted to have that strength. Looking at her was like finding an idealistic image of yourself—both painful and fascinating.
“What is this?” A man’s deep voice rang out from nearby, clear and strong, as my eyes darted around to the six men that seemed to surround her. All of them were wearing gold and blue uniforms that matched her own dress in style. They had crowns as well, but they were simple gold bands, and I wasn’t positive if that meant they were kings or if they were simply a reflection of their relationship with her. Honestly, it was a bit difficult to focus on that element of it right now.
The man speaking seemed to have a similar magic signature to Atlas, his dragon apparent from here. The shadows on the edges of the room grew in response to the defensive energy that radiated off him. His dark hair and eyes were such a drastic contrast to the lightness of the room around him, and it only seemed to amplify the danger he exuded. I nearly stepped back, my hands shaking, but I managed to keep my ground. Luckily, Doctor Bates spoke up and pulled their attention away from me briefly, straightening from a curtsy that was echoed by my mates’ bows.
Was I supposed to have curtsied as well? Crap. I was already messing this up.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.” Her apology was authentic, but there was an urgency to her tone. “I couldn’t wait. I knew that there was no way to possibly explain this situation. It is one you had to see for yourself.” The rambling nature of her words was such a stark difference from her calm, calculated attitude before, and it had me staring up at her in confusion. She almost looked excited?
“This is impossible,” the woman at the front of the room said softly, but her voice traveled through the space, drawing my attention back up. Her large gold eyes were still completely focused on me, filled with an emotion I couldn’t place but had my heart racing nervously. My eyes almost felt as though they were stinging, and emotion I didn’t understand caught in my throat, making me feel almost choked. There was no way to hide how I felt, and my hands tightened on my dress, wanting desperately to turn into one of my mates. They were so close, yet there felt like there was a distance between us, and I was hesitant to look away from this moment, afraid that I would find I was imagining it.
The room grew louder, confusion filling the air with tension as the queen stepped down from the front. Well, tried to. The man from before stepped in front of her, his massive frame shielding her from the rest of us. I made a noise in my throat, frustrated that I could no longer see her, and immediately she stepped out from the man’s space and offered him a look.
“Cyra.” His voice held a softness that surprised me as his hand on her waist tightened.
“Con, look at her. Really look.” Her voice was almost pleading.
The man turned to look at me briefly, and I noticed pain flash across his face before I was distracted by another man stepping forward, his gaze far more clinical and a bit cold. Honestly, the man appeared a bit younger than the others, and he was very unique-looking, his golden skin almost the same exact shade as his hair and eyes, almost creating an effect where he seemed to be made of gold. I couldn’t tell you what type of dragon he was, but there was a cool, even energy to his magic that attempted to reassure those around him.
“I think she may be right,” he murmured, his eyes darkening before looking back at the other men, all of them staring between Cyra and me in a mixture of surprise and pain.