The mirror had been mocking me for three days. It sat on my vanity like an accusation, its black-silver surface catching the light whenever I moved through my chambers.
Three days. Three days since Rios had placed it there with those impossibly steady hands, his silver eyes never wavering from mine as he delivered his assignment.
I hadn't touched it since. Hadn't even gotten close enough to see my reflection in its polished depths. Every time I glanced in its direction, my chest constricted and my palms grew damp.
I told myself it was just a task, a simple assignment to complete before I could move forward with this nightmare they called training.
But the thought of actually doing what he'd asked, exploring at myself, made my skin crawl with shame I couldn't name.
The day dragged on with suffocating slowness. I found myself avoiding the common areas where the other candidates gathered, but their voices carried through the palace corridors anyway.
Their easy laughter and excited whispers felt like salt in an open wound.
"I heard Lady Catherine was assigned to Adept Elias," one voice drifted past my partially open door. "He's supposed to be gentle with first-timers."
"Lucky her," another replied with a giggle. "I'm hoping for Adept Julian. Did you see those hands?"
"Better than being stuck with the Head Adept," a third voice added, and my breath caught.
"Head Adept Rios?" The first girl's voice dropped to a whisper. "So cold and controlled. They say he once trained Queen Seraphina herself!"
"Who says that?"
"Everyone, darling. Before her marriage, she was nobody special. But after her time with Head Adept Rios..." Her voice died for a moment. "She became utterly irresistible."
"They say he can see straight into your soul," whispered one of the nameless girls. "That he knows your deepest hungers before you do.”
"Quite... enlightening," one of the others murmured.
"Liberating, once you surrender to the process," the first one added, her voice thick with remembered pleasure.
I stood frozen in the center of my violated chamber as their laughter echoed down the corridor.
What exactly did that preparation entail?
The question haunted me through dinner, through evening prayers, through the endless hours until the palace finally settled into quiet. My ladies retired to their chambers, leaving me alone with my thoughts and that damned mirror.
I paced my room like a caged animal, shooting glances at the vanity every few minutes. It was such a simple thing, just looking at myself. Why did it feel impossible?
Finally, when the clock struck midnight, I approached the mirror with leaden feet.
"It's just a task," I whispered to myself. "Just something to check off the list."
My robe fell away with trembling fingers. Silk pooled around my feet as I forced myself onto the small cushioned stool. The candlelight painted my skin in gold and shadow, and for a moment, I felt almost ethereal. Then I lifted my eyes to the mirror.
The mirror showed everything—bare shoulders gleaming in the flickering light, the rapid rise and fall of my chest, the flush spreading down my neck.
The woman staring back at me was a stranger. Pale skin that had never seen sunlight, curves that had been hidden beneath layers of proper clothing my entire life, chestnut hair tumbling over shoulders I'd been taught to keep covered.
This was me, the real me, stripped of titles and expectations and careful propriety. The shame hit like a physical blow.
Modest, pure, and untouched.
The words my governess had drilled into me since childhood crashed over me in waves. A princess' body belonged to God, to her future husband, to her kingdom's political needs.
Never to herself, never for her own eyes, her own curiosity, her own... pleasure.
I tried to see what Rios might see in me. Tried to understand what he wanted me to discover. But shame crashed over me like ice water.
This exposed creature in the glass couldn't be me—couldn't be the proper princess of Veridia, future queen.
I grabbed my silk robe and wrapped it around myself, turning away from the mirror so quickly I nearly stumbled. My heart hammered against my ribs as I sank into the chair by the fireplace, as far from that reflection as I could get.
"I can't," I whispered to the empty room. "I can't do this."
But even as the words left my lips, another voice whispered in my mind, calm, infuriatingly knowing: You've been taught your body belongs to everyone but you.
Memory struck like lightning with Rios's words guiding mine hands, voice cutting through defenses like silk over steel. The way my pulse had quickened under his silver stare, how my breath had caught when he stepped closer.
The truth blazed through me now. With him, I'd felt powerful. Awakened. Desired in ways that terrified and thrilled me.
Was that his magic? Some Fae enchantment that made desire bloom where none existed before?
Or had it been there all along, waiting for the right touch to bring it screaming to life?
***
The morning sun carved harsh shadows across the Gardens of Pleasure when I found Rios waiting by the marble fountain. His black hair caught the light like spun metal, and those damned eyes assessed me with surgical precision as I approached.
"You look tired, Princess." His voice carried no warmth, only observation.
"I slept poorly."
"Guilt has that effect." He turned from the fountain, hands clasped behind his back. "Tell me about your progress."
The demand hit like a physical blow and heat flooded my cheeks as I struggled for words that wouldn't come.
"I see." His smile was as sharp as winter when he stepped closer, and I caught that intoxicating scent of cedar and starlight. "The mirror remains untouched, doesn't it?"
My silence condemned me.
"Unfortunate." He began walking deeper into the gardens, forcing me to follow. "Because circumstances have accelerated our timeline considerably."
"What do you mean?"
"The Grand Royal Ball." His pace never slowed as we passed beneath flowering archways. "Three days hence. Every candidate will be formally presented to His Highness Crown Prince Luka."
My steps faltered. "Three days?"
"Your opportunity to capture his interest. To prove yourself worthy of consideration." He stopped beside a secluded alcove draped in jasmine vines. "Or to fail spectacularly."
"I won't fail."
"Won't you?" He turned, and suddenly we were inches apart. "You can't even look at yourself in a mirror. How exactly do you plan to seduce a prince?"
The words struck like lightning. "I'm not trying to seduce anyone."
"Is that so?" His laugh was dark silk. "Every gesture, every glance, every breath you take in his presence will be an act of seduction. The question is whether it will be conscious or accidental."
"That's not—"
"The other candidates understand this." He moved closer, backing me against the jasmine-covered wall. "They've mastered their reflections, their desires, their power. While you cower from your own shadow."
Fury blazed through me. "How dare you—"
"How dare I what, Princess? Tell you the truth?" His hands braced against the wall on either side of my head, trapping me. "You have three days. Three days to transform from frightened virgin to confident woman."
"I'm not frightened."
"Then prove it." The challenge burned in his silver eyes. "Tonight. Complete the mirror assignment, or I withdraw my instruction."
"You can't do that."
"I can do whatever I choose." His voice dropped to a whisper that sent fire through my veins. "The question is whether you're brave enough to do what must be done."
I stared up at him, trapped between the jasmine-scented wall and his overwhelming presence.
The morning light caught the sharp angles of his face, the predatory grace that marked him as something far more dangerous than human.
"Three days…" I whispered.
"Three days," he confirmed. "Choose wisely, Princess."