Ambrose stared at me with wide eyes. “You mean you’re going to teach me?”

  I nodded at him, my heart swelling with a mixture of excitement and hesitation. “I did it once before, but you were never the best student,” I said, a small laugh escaping my lips.

  He looked down at his feet, shame etched across his face. “I wish I remembered,” he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.

  Seeing his sorrow-filled expression sent a sharp jab straight into my heart. I knelt next to him, grasping his small, calloused hand. As I stared into his dark brown eyes, I plastered a soft smile onto my face, hoping to reassure him. “It doesn’t matter if you remember. That was who you were, but you have the chance to be the real you in this life.” I traced my finger along the back of his hand, hoping to convey the warmth of my words.

  “Were our lives that bad?”

  I shook my head at him. “I had you. How could my life have been bad when I got to be there for you?”

  Without warning, he wrapped his arms around me. I froze, unfamiliar with the strange feeling. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had hugged me. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had someone I didn’t have to leave.

  “She was cruel, the woman with purple eyes,” I stated as he pulled away.

  -------

  I was staring into those bewitching purple eyes. They were mesmerizing. I had always thought violet eyes would be terrifying, like the stories I had read, but they were beautiful—sharp and gleaming like polished amethyst. “My name is Lady Nerezza, and we will be quite acquainted for a while.”

  My gaze wandered to the strange black leather rod in her hand. She held it like a conductor’s baton—or a weapon. A devilish grin spread across her face as she noticed my stare.

  “Follow my rules, learn quickly, and I won’t need this,” she said, her tone dripping with menace.

  I glued my eyes to the floor, too afraid to meet her piercing gaze. But even that choice was taken from me as she gripped my chin and forced me to look at her. “Proper ladies keep their heads held high. You will do well to remember that,” she barked, her faint foreign accent sharpening with her displeasure.

  A chill swept through my body, rendering me immobile. My limbs refused to obey. It wasn’t painful—but it was terrifying. My lungs fluttered with shallow panic, unsure if they were allowed to breathe.

  “That feeling is me shutting down your body. I can control when you breathe, when you move, and when you feel. Don’t test my patience, for there isn’t any,” she said, her voice as cold as shadowed stone.

  I nearly collapsed when her magic released its hold, but I held firm, unwilling to give her the satisfaction.

  A sly smile replaced her icy scowl. “The Queen has assigned me to train you as a proper lady until your gift emerges. You will train with me in the mornings and have other lessons in the afternoons. Is that clear?”

  I nodded.

  The whistling crack came before I even registered it. My leg stung sharply, and my knees wobbled, but I managed to stay upright.

  “A lady uses her words. Is that clear?”

  With a shaky voice, I raised my head. “Y-yes, Lady Nerezza.”

  She sighed, clearly unimpressed. “How could Gaia have chosen such a weak, pathetic little girl to be her heiress?”

  She turned toward a towering wardrobe at the edge of the room. “Your first lesson may very well be the most important: how to dress like a proper lady. A lady needn’t know what she is doing, but if she looks the part, the mob will believe she does. Appearance is everything, my dear Juniper.”

  I stood frozen. Any movement might provoke her. I watched as she sorted through rows of elegant gowns, her expression caught somewhere between disdain and pride.

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  “A lady will attend many events, each of which requires a different style. Each season demands different fabrics. Most must worry about color—but you represent the crown. You’ll wear the royal palette.”

  She turned to me, her voice sharper now. “Do you even know what the royal colors are?”

  “I—I think so. Green, gold, and… pink?”

  The next strike came to my side, just under the ribs. My breath caught, but I didn’t cry out.

  “Pitiful,” she scoffed. “The correct answer is Castleton green, orchid pink, and gold. At least you managed to remember one.”

  She pulled a gown from the wardrobe—deep Castleton green, with orchid pink flowers cascading down a long train. Layers of tulle filled the skirt, light as air. “Dresses like this are worn for balls or coronations,” she said.

  She hung it up and pulled out a more modest tea-length dress, also green, with ruffled straps and a soft A-line cut. “And this one—for teas, strolls, and public appearances.”

  She was still holding the dress when a voice interrupted.

  “Lady Nerezza, how is our newest student doing?”

  Lady Nerezza turned and bowed. The woman in the doorway had cascading white hair and a gaze that cut through silence. Queen Terra.

  “My Queen, she is learning rather quickly, but we’ve only just begun,” Lady Nerezza mumbled, clearly rattled.

  I looked up. Her hazel eyes didn’t match her cold, elegant features. Her skin was smooth, almost unreal—no makeup needed. She wore the same gold day gown as before, fitted at the waist and trimmed in soft green embroidery, with sheer green sashes trailing down her arms like vines.

  “If you wouldn’t mind,” Queen Terra said, “I would like dear Juniper to join me in the gardens for the remainder of her lesson today.”

  Lady Nerezza bowed again. “She will be ready right away, my Queen.”

  It was strange—almost frightening—to see Lady Nerezza defer. The Queen hadn’t even glanced at me.

  The moment the Queen left, Lady Nerezza clapped twice. Two young women entered, heads bowed. They didn’t speak. They didn’t ask.

  They worked in practiced silence, dressing me in the tea-length gown, tightening the laces. It was a little loose. I was used to clothes that weren’t made for me.

  They sat me at the vanity, brushing and braiding my wild brown hair into obedient curls. They painted my skin with herbal pastes—subtle, but unfamiliar. My cheeks were tinted, my lips brushed with something red and faintly sweet, like wild berries from the woods.

  I didn’t recognize them. And that unsettled me. I had grown up in this castle. I knew every servant—every name, every story, every laugh snuck in the kitchen at midnight. But these girls? These girls were strangers. Not chosen for their loyalty—but their silence. I wasn’t meant to feel at home here. I was meant to be managed. When they were done, they vanished without a word.

  Lady Nerezza yanked me from the chair. “We needn’t keep the Queen waiting.”

  She dragged me through corridor after corridor. I lost count of the turns. Finally, the air shifted—lighter, green with the scent of summer. A stone archway came into view, draped with vines. I recognized it. The castle gardens.

  I had darted through them so many times before, racing with the other children to the forest beyond. But I had never truly seen them.

  Everything was perfection. Sculpted hedges. Lilac blossoms were arranged perfectly spaced scattered, dangling daintily overhead. The grass appeared to have been trimmed using rulers. Ponds dotted the green like pools of silver, each one adorned with lilies and lotuses that opened in perfect symmetry. My bare feet tapped softly on the stone path as I walked. And there—on a marble bench by the largest pond—sat Queen Terra.

  Lady Nerezza gave me a gentle push. “Go on. Don’t forget to bow and greet her before you speak.”

  Then she turned and disappeared into the hedges, leaving me alone with the most powerful woman in the realm.

  I bowed. “Good morning, Your Majesty.”

  She didn’t look at me. “Sit.”

  I did.

  “You’ll never find a natural place as beautiful as this one,” she said. “Do you know why?”

  “I do not, Your Majesty.”

  “Control,” she replied. “Every flower, every leaf. Nothing is wild. Nothing left to chance. There is no room for rebellion when perfection is enforced.”

  I looked away. I remembered what my mother used to say—that the plants in this garden begged to be freed. I hadn’t believed her. But now? Now I did.

  Queen Terra’s eyes didn’t move from the pond. “You remind me of myself at your age. Too stubborn for your own good. Too full of questions.”

  I didn’t speak. I didn’t know if I was allowed to.

  “My father was a noble. Amatharan by blood and title. My mother…” She trailed off, her voice a notch colder. “The court never approved of her. Too quiet. Too strange. They whispered she was from Arcanum.”

  She turned to me then. “You’ve heard the rumors, haven’t you?”

  I nodded. “They said you couldn’t be from Arcanum because you didn’t have the purple eyes.”

  “Isn’t that how the world works?” she mused. “If you don’t look the part, they pretend it isn’t true. But blood doesn’t lie, Juniper.”

  There was something unspoken in her voice—a sharpness, a memory too bitter to swallow.

  “Power is a dangerous thing,” she said after a pause. “People fear it unless they own it. And if they can’t own it, they’ll try to bury it. Or bend it.” She finally looked at me.

  “That’s why you’ll learn to smile when you’re told, stand when you’re summoned, and speak only when it’s safe. Because whether you want it or not, you are the flower they will try to pluck.”

  Her words did not echo.

  They rooted.

  -------

  “Why is Queen Terra so evil?” Ambrose interrupted.

  “She wasn’t evil,” I said. “She was obsessed with power. I threatened her—because I was a power she could never have. So if she couldn’t possess me…” I looked at him, a quiet sorrow rising in my chest.

  “She wanted to control me instead.”