The Everlasting Rose (The Belles, #2)(87)

Another door flies open. My heart jumps with hope that it’s Padma and Auguste, Charlotte and Lady Pelletier, Lady Arane and her army of Iron Ladies.

Instead, more courtiers flood inside.

“Shall we demonstrate?” Sophia asks. “Wouldn’t you all like to see how Belle blood transforms the skin?”

The crowd shouts with excitement.

Sophia pivots back to Amber. “We’re going to show them our new trick.”

Amber almost shrinks into herself. She pulls her arms in tight and drops her gaze.

Rage hums in my bones, urging me to help her. I step a little closer. Only a few paces more. Sophia motions for a nearby attendant, who steps up on the platform with my sister. Amber jerks away.

“I thought we were going to be agreeable today.” Sophia twists the whip, then slaps it on the ground.

The sound reverberates through the room, the noise cutting deep inside me. My eyes burn with tears, my throat tight with disgust.

“I don’t want to have to use this,” Sophia says, but her anticipatory grin tells another story.

“Don’t touch her,” I shout.

The courtiers nearest me gasp and turn to stare.

“Who said that?” Sophia spins around.

I step out of the crowd.

We glare at each other. A knot coils tighter and tighter, the unspoken words between us twisting inside me like a set of knives.

“Corrine?” Her eyes flicker over me.

“Let her go,” I demand.

A dead, haunting silence stretches through the room.

Amber stares at me.

The cold pain of maintaining the glamour sends blood pouring from my nose. I release it. I’m tired of holding on to it, tired of hiding. I want Sophia to know it’s me. The disguise disappears.

Gasps explode in the room. The whole world seems to still.

“Camille?” Amber cries, that one word suffused with so much relief and anguish, hope and fear, it almost kills me.

A grin slowly curves along Sophia’s mouth. “Dragon merchant.” She begins to clap slow at first, then descends into a fervor. “Well done. You tricked me. I didn’t know you could change yourselves.”

“There’s a lot about our gifts that you don’t understand—will never understand and will never know!” I snap. “No matter how many of us you lock up or poke or prod.”

I watch for the guards. They inch closer.

“Give me my sister.”

“She is not my prisoner,” Sophia replies, her eyes inspecting every inch of me.

“She is chained.”

“Only because she tried to break our deal.”

“What deal?” I spit.

Sophia jumps with glee. “Oh yes, oh yes. We have a deal, and deals are binding.” Her gaze cuts back at Amber, who begins to sob. “Should I tell her? Or do you want to?”

She waits for an answer. Amber’s cries deepen and her whole body shakes. I want to go to her. I want to tell her that everything is going to be all right, that I will get us both out of here even if no one shows up to help. She swallows over and over again like she has something stuck in her throat. Beads of sweat race down her face.

“This pretty little mouse sent me all sorts of messages about you,” Sophia reports. “As soon as she told me what I needed, I staged her capture.”

My pulse throbs, counting down the moments. Hate simmers inside me, sharp, hot, and pricking.

My fists ball. I clench my jaw.

I glare at Amber. She won’t look at me. Edel’s suspicions of her lock into place. The betrayal is thick and painful. I don’t know why she would feed information to Sophia. Not even the hint of a reason can form in my head. It has to be something. Blackmail. Coercion.

Sophia motions to the guards. They unlock Amber’s chains.

“After I caught this pretty little mouse, she promised to be my personal Belle until my new generation had reached maturation. She even said she’d give them lessons. Teach them everything those wretched Du Barrys taught you.” Sophia’s eyes gleam in the snow-lantern light. “Oh, and there’s more.” She pirouettes, her ballgown billowing around her slender frame. “She knew you’d come for her. She agreed to lure you here.” She blows me a kiss. “Some sister that is.”

“Amber, we’re leaving. Let’s go,” I shout, not believing a word coming out of Sophia’s lying mouth.

Amber gazes down at the platform.

“Amber?”

Sophia watches like a cat ready to pounce on its prey. “Amber, please bring me one of your flowers.”

Amber sobs and hands one to her.

“Amber?” I say.

“Amber, bow to me.”

Amber drops to her knees.

“Why would you do this?” I say, imploring her to look at me. The words taste sour as they leave my throat.

“Will you be going anywhere?” Sophia asks Amber, cupping her chin. Tears rush down my sister’s reddened face. “So much for sisterly love.” Sophia blows another kiss at me.

“I’ve seen your sister,” I hiss at Sophia.

The crowd bursts again into a frenzy of whispers.

She frowns. “My sister is dead.”

“She is not. She’s alive and well, actually.”

Sophia shrugs. “The gods will welcome her home soon, and I will be crowned queen.”