Every muscle in my body tenses as her red lips curve into a smile. She’s in a black dress similar to my own, though hers has long sleeves and glitters when she moves.
“Today we welcome twenty-five new witches to the Carrington estate’s Marionettes,” says the queen. She stands in front of her throne, face still covered by her veil. “These twenty-five witches have shown great strength and discipline, and it is an honor to welcome them home. Just as we know they will protect and serve us, we now vow to protect them as our own.”
The guests murmur their agreement and bow their heads.
“And it is our honor to witness their pairings. Rosemarie?”
My mother smiles again and steps up beside the man at the end of the line. “Daniel Abney,” she calls. “To be paired with Warren Harding.”
Daniel squares his shoulders and shoots me a wink before stepping into the room, a man with dark skin and darker hair following a few paces behind—Warren, apparently. My mother instructs them where to stand, facing each other, with the man in black behind them.
“Bethany Coldwell, to be paired with Valentina Reyes.”
Beth lets out a nervous giggle but composes herself before walking forward and finding her place in the center of the room. I stare at the torches over their heads until my eyes start to burn.
“Valerie Darkmore,” calls my mother. “To be paired with Prince Reginald Carrington.”
I don’t move at first, and Reid gives me a small nudge between my shoulders. My footsteps seem to echo in the room, and the expression my mother gives me as I pass is entirely emotionless. Beth smiles at me as I step up beside her, and I force myself to smile back as Reid finds his place across from me. I can feel him staring at me, and indeed, when I look up, he’s studying my face.
We stand silently as more names are called, and the spaces beside me are filled one by one. The air feels warmer here than it did in the hallway, and sweat starts to form in my hairline.
“Kirby La Doux,” calls my mother. “To be paired with Alice McCoy.”
My vision blurs in and out for a moment, and I blink a few times, trying to force myself to focus.
“Monroe Macavei, to be paired with Nathan Van Doren.”
A tug on the bond makes me look up. Reid’s gaze is probing, unblinking. I force a small nod to show I’m fine, though I guess I’m not entirely sure if that’s true.
Once we’re all in line, my mother slowly makes her way back to Daniel and takes the cup from the man behind him.
“Daniel Abney, do you swear to uphold your duties as a Marionette and pledge your loyalty to your partner, Warren Harding?”
“I do,” says Daniel.
“Hold out your arm.”
He does, and my mother carves a deep line in his skin with the razor on her nails. The blood pools in the golden cup, and once there’s enough, my mother lets a single drop of her own blood fall onto Daniel’s arm so it will heal. She then adds a second drop of her blood to the cup as she says the pairing incantation under her breath. Once Warren drinks, she takes back the cup and carves a line in his arm.
“Do you, Warren Harding, swear to uphold your duties as a paired member of the Carrington estate and pledge your loyalty to your partner, Daniel Abney?”
His voice comes out rough and low as he says, “I do.”
Once the exchange is complete, my mother returns the cup to the man in black and moves on to the next pair. The room remains unnervingly silent as they proceed, as if everyone is holding their breath. The cups must already have a drop of the queen’s blood inside them, meant to signify tethering us to her estate. My shoulders tense as my mother draws closer, and I clench my jaw in the hopes my thoughts won’t show on my face.
It was only yesterday we were in this room, and not only did she sit and watch my entire world fall apart, I have a feeling she orchestrated it.
And now, as she steps up between me and Reid, the look on her face is still utterly impassive. She jabs her nail into my arm with more force than necessary and stares at me as my blood fills the cup, but I refuse to give her a reaction. Her eyes flick down to my arm before casting the spell over the blood—is she expecting the wound not to heal? When it does, her expression doesn’t change. She hands the cup to Reid.
“Do you, Your Highness, Prince Reginald Carrington, swear to uphold your duties as a paired member of the Carrington estate and pledge your loyalty to your partner, Valerie Darkmore?”
Something burns behind his eyes as he says, “I do.”
“Valerie Darkmore, do you swear to uphold your duties as a Marionette and pledge your loyalty to your partner, Prince Reginald Carrington?”
Reid holds my gaze, and I can’t look away. “I do,” I whisper.
My hand shakes as I take the cup with his blood, my mind flashing back to the last time we did this. But there’s no immediate effect as it coats the back of my throat. Nothing except maybe some relief. It’s been a while since I’ve fed, and the warmth of the blood as it trickles down my throat is welcome. My vision clears as my mother moves on.
The blood goes straight to my center, circling and warming around the bond that’s already there. It seems most of the others in line have stayed with the same vampires they’d been paired with for the initiation, but some are new pairings. I wonder what it feels like to have that first bond severed and replaced with another. As annoying as it had been at first, I’ve grown used to its presence, and it’s hard to imagine what it would be like without it now.
See? Reid’s voice appears in my head. He’s watching me again, a bemused smile on his lips. Hard part is over.
I roll my eyes, but for the first time all night, I smile back.
The party wastes no time getting started once the pairing ceremony concludes. The room livens as guests flood the space again, and waiters carry flutes of champagne back and forth—some plain for the witches, some laced with blood for the vampires. Orchestra music plays from the corner, and the room brightens with the lighting of additional torches and chandeliers.
I hesitate by the tables of food near the back, picking through the different platters and adding a few fruits and cheeses to my plate. My eyes flit over the human servants as they float through the room, taking away empty trays and bringing out new food and drinks before anything can get too low. They’re blurs of white uniforms, making eye contact with no one. Speaking to no one.
A sharp stab of pain emanates in the middle of my chest as I realize I’m looking for someone I won’t find. Of course Connor won’t be here tonight. But every time I’d envisioned this night, he’d been here. Even if we couldn’t spend much time together, just the looks across the room, maybe stealing a brief conversation in the corner, would have been enough.
He’s okay, I remind myself. But that does nothing to help the guilt still eating away at the pit of my stomach as I picture him on his knees in front of me. How still he’d been on the floor—
Trying to brush off the thoughts, I turn toward the dance floor, where Monroe and Kirby have abandoned their pairs and are dancing with each other. They spot me a moment later and wave for me to join them. I shake my head and hold up the plate of food I still haven’t touched as an excuse. Glancing through the crowd again, I wonder where Adrienne is. I don’t see Reid either. He disappeared shortly after the ceremony, swept away by the queen to talk with some visitors from the other regions.