Witchy Indiscretion

People Cora had never seen filled the grand ballroom. She had tried to remain hidden from the public eye while she was living here, but now every gaze turned to view the female who was being led on the prince's arm. The gazes were not warm or welcoming.

There were audible gasps as those whom they passed realized who she was. And if they did not know her by rumor or by appearance, the beating heart that was surely echoing against every vampiric ear drum was enough to give her identity away.

Had those invited not realized what it was exactly that they were being invited to? Was this believed to just be an ordinary, if spur of the moment, ball?

"It's the witch," she heard someone whisper followed by a swell of similar murmurs that passed in ripples around the room.

"Prince Rayth escorts the witch," someone hissed nearby.

Witch, witch, witch. It was the word on everyone's lips as they passed by.

How odd that they were referring to her as a witch now. A witch? Really? From the mouths of vampires? When they lived in this ominous gray place with a river of blood running through it and bats or demons swarming around the palace? Who knows what kind of dark sacrifices they were hiding up the mouth of that river.

What did the term witch mean to these people exactly? Why wouldn't they just call Cora fae? Apparently 'fae' was slander enough here as it was. Did they consider all of the fae to be witches?

If there was a vampire she could trust with these questions, she would ask them. She hadn't thought to raise these issues when her father was around.

Perhaps there was someone here she could befriend. Although, looking around at this room full of vampires who stared back in hatred and suspicion and fear, it wasn't exactly promising. These were quite possibly the same individuals who had set fire to her home in the hopes that she was in there.

When she and Rayth finally waded through the last of the scandalized crowd and arrived before the throne where Ambrosia was seated, he bowed and she curtsied in what was probably a poor example of the proper form. But honestly, Ambrosia should be happy that Cora remembered to curtsy at all at this point and didn't instead shoot her with life-giving lasers or send vines of flowers covering the interior of the room to really terrorize the people here.

Ambrosia had threatened her mother. Maybe the death by desire could go haywire and give everyone here beating hearts. What would Ambrosia do then? Witnessing the look on Her Majesty's face might actually be worth whatever horrifying punishment she would receive in return.

While Cora was fantasizing about giving the Queen a life, Ambrosia nodded in stone-faced acceptance of her and Rayth's submission to the throne. Rayth then spun her around to face the ballroom of strangers once again.

"Presenting Prince Rayth of Gray Vale and his betrothed, Cora Winter," a male voice announced from behind them.

Glares turned to openly shocked expressions as everyone gasped at once this time. Their gazes flitted between Rayth and Cora and then to the Queen. But Ambrosia must have fixed them all with quite the terrifying look, because the jaws that had dropped quickly snapped shut leaving only the wide eyes left to gawk in surprise at the announcement.

While Cora wanted no part of this sham engagement to Rayth, she couldn't deny how satisfying it was to see that reaction. The outcast was suddenly the soon-to-be princess of Gray Vale. And that would make Cora the only princess of Gray Vale, of course—a highly unusual honor indeed.

The Queen had taken no daughters in name, and she had never considered the need to have her sons marry. The three of them had all the power. There was no need to share.

"Tonight we celebrate my first son's engagement to a most unique addition to the vampire race," Ambrosia's voice suddenly boomed. "Cora is a precious resource for Gray Vale, and tonight you will all witness firsthand the power she holds. Make no mistake, she is one of us. And from this moment on, you will treat her as you do each member of the royal family."

Every face that was turned their way froze, and for a moment Cora wondered if she wasn't staring at a room full of statues. None of them moved. None of them blinked. None of them moved even the smallest muscle.

If Rayth really were her fiancé in truth, she would have wished for him to squeeze her hand or give her some kind of reassurance at this point, because the chill that went through the air was like nothing that Cora had ever experienced.

Were they all communicating? Were they downloading orders like some kind of hive mind? Was there a glitch in a central processor that controlled them all? What the hell was happening?

It was just like the times when she had spoken to Grayson and he had suddenly become immobile, only following her with his eyes. And suddenly she felt like a meal waiting to be gobbled up.

The Veiled around them gave no hints. They all just looked like a mass of black, scattering the energy around them and concentrating it all toward the vaulted ceiling where the beautiful glistening evidence of the universe danced for her eyes alone.

'Fuck this,' she thought, and with a small twitch of her fingers an explosion of red blooms erupted out of the large chandelier that hung in the center of the room, cascading down in a beautiful display. The petals remained suspended in the air above their heads, cycling back up toward the center of the chandelier only to fall once again. If they wanted a witch, she would give them a witch.

The blood red blooms were not threatening in any way, but they snapped the frozen vampire bodies back into movement. The room became reanimated with people slowly raising their chins to view the flower petals floating above them. A shimmer of fear reflected in their eyes until, one by one, each individual in the ballroom bowed low until the entire room had submitted to the Queen, the prince, and the witch by his side.

A small smile curved on Cora's lips when out of the corner of her eye she saw Rayth glance at her uncomfortably. But then she realized Grayson and her mother were not in the ballroom to witness this slight indiscretion of hers. Had they not followed them in? Where was her mother?