Gustus forces me to walk at his side through the palace. I want desperately to fall into step behind him; my withering poise isn't exactly up to the standards of royals, but when my strides slouch to the smooth floor, he places a hand on my back and urges me forward.

The two men avoid conversation besides occasional muttering about why Gustus is doing what he is doing. No one behaves that way in front of the Raven Queen, no one goes without dismissal. Facts stated by Theo in a hushed tone that isn't so easy to forget. Gustus comes back with how Theo behaved childishly and risked getting his head cut off by their mother's power. Either that or the potential of losing Theo's job because of his lack of care towards maintaining a professional standard.

Guards maintaining their posts break a hard posture to watch me walk with the prince of Rivian, but no one stops me once they discover his warning glare. The chains remain, so I'm seen as a prisoner until they're removed, but the voice in my throat hides behind a solid wall of stone in fear of saying the wrong thing. Not having any experience with royals or confidence makes it all that more difficult to say my peace.

Gustus stops at a window looking out to the royal gardens, grabbing onto Theo's arm to stop him, too. Involuntarily, I halt in my tracks and give my legs a rest by sitting on the window's ledge. Theo frowns at my indecency and I stand quickly to avoid a scolding.

"Go to our chambers and I'll be there shortly," Gustus orders.

Theo immediately shakes his head and arches a brow like his husband might be slightly insane. "I will do no such thing. She is a prisoner and I am not leaving you here with her—alone."

I stare at my boots when Gustus glances over his shoulder at me.

"I can stand against any threat, my love. You know that."

Theo sighs dramatically through his nose and enters a silent staring match with his husband. In the end, Gustus is the winner, and it's Theo who kisses him on the cheek and urges him to be careful. Rivian possesses secrets in the form of magic, and no one, even a royal, is safe.

We watch him walk down the hall, his hands stuffed in his pockets and his head down, swooping red hair hanging down his forehead. The pillars rise to the ceiling above his head, cresting into a dome, and connect to the large block of stone swimming from one end of the hall to the other. These small details are nothing to Gustus, but everything to someone that has never stepped foot anywhere other than a slimy cottage near the docks.

Once the hall is clear and there isn't a single guard watching us closely, Gustus grabs onto my wrist and tugs me towards a wooden door. The small window barricaded in iron bars sheds a small beam of light into the closet once he shuts the door behind us. My back hits a wall of shelves and I stumble forward, tripping over the chains and nearly falling if it's not for Gustus bracing a hand against my shoulder to steady my wobbly knees.

"For a Luminary, I expected you to be stronger," his voice hisses to me in the dark. The harsh outline of his face catches in the beam of light from the door, but I must squint to see past the bridge of his nose. He shifts his body and his eyes twinkle.

I stumble over my tongue. "Excuse me? I'm not a Luminary, I'm a healer." My heart races in my chest. Confrontation has always been my downfall.

"What precautions did you undergo to hide it?"

Staring at what I believe to be his face, I blink away the confusion and shock. Immortals have better luck in the dark than average humans or mortals, but something hangs over me. Perhaps the chains are snuffing out my ability in the same manner they've pushed down my shoulders into a constant ache.

"I'm—I'm a healer," I repeat, this time with more anger in my tone. Desperation. "I told your mother; you heard everything. The Void Queen's power—"

"Wyetta Terravale," he growls.

I sigh. "Wyetta Terravale's power never resonated within me. My brother put himself in harm's way before the rest of that dark power entered my body." The false truth spills from my mouth like syrup. The more I explain myself, the easier it becomes to fill the dark corners with hints of truth that mold into lies.

"What I really want to know is how you haven't gone insane from the lack of magic activity. Surely, you're bursting at the seams and on the brink of losing control." He waggles a finger at me, a smile crinkling the corners of his sad-turned eyes. When I open my mouth to retort once more, claiming I'm not what he thinks I am, Gustus reaches forward and grabs onto my face. His fingers splay across my cheeks, locking me in that frozen state, and I don't dare attempt to shove myself away. Gustus is still a royal, whether insane or not. Again, that pointed finger finds its way into the light and stops inches from my nose. "And don't say you're not a Luminary."

My stare flattens in annoyance. I've seen Castiel convey the same expression when he doesn't get what he wants. Once he wipes his face with something like distaste, his opposer almost always gives in. Precisely why I'm not surprised when Gustus's hand falls away and he rests his elbow on the shelf at his shoulder.

I can't tell him I'm not a Luminary. If he continues to follow a similar trend, the questions will keep coming rapidly, like fireballs shooting from Chaska's hand. We made the mistake of playing with them once—sometimes, I still feel the slice of flame biting into my arm after failing to dodge what I could easily avoid with a physical shield of water.

Staring down at my boots, I shuffle my feet. Gustus waits for me to slip loose from my shell, but my mind doesn't work as fast as others. Especially not someone born into the business of trickery. "Why...why are you so obsessed with the subject, anyway?" I mumble.

His voice drops, becoming so quiet that I can hardly hear those three stunning words leave his lips. "Luminary recognizes Luminary."

My stare raises to his, shock splashing over my cheeks in response to what I believe he's trying to tell me, but something clicks. The weight of the shackles around my wrists falls away, and it's not my mind playing a trick on me to remind of better days. The chains and the shackles clatter to the floor and a gasp releases from my throat as I stumble back, slamming into the shelves that don't allow enough space in such a small closet.

Glass bottles tumble and a roll of sheets clatters to the floor. Gustus clamps a hand over my mouth and shushes any further attempts I might have at ruining the secrecy of this meeting.

The air in the closet suddenly becomes unbearably hot. Gustus removes his hand from my mouth and backs away to the other side of the closet, exposing his palms in warning. "Does your mother know about this?" I blurt.

Gustus frowns at the high volume of my voice. "No, she doesn't know about my abilities, and I advise you not to say a word. Now, tell me, do you have a second form?"

Even if Gustus is a Luminary, I can't trust him. He has every right to turn me over to his mother once he discovers the truth, and I value my life more than what he might think. Someone needs me. Castiel needs me. If telling Gustus about my power gets me killed, I walked right into a trap I could have easily avoided.

The prince is smart. His knowledge stretches over more years than I've been alive, and so many that I may not live to see the amount of experience he has.

I swallow down the truth I want so desperately to tell someone. Squaring my shoulders and staring deeply into his ocean blue eyes, I say, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I do not have a second form, nor am I the Luminary you speak of."

He scoffs, and I have to clench my entire body to keep from showing offense. Compared to the shadowed darkness of the closet, his skin is a beacon of light. "I'll keep your secret as long as you keep mine."

I stare at him for longer than is deemed acceptable. And he stares back. There's something about him I want to trust, and perhaps it's the possibility that anyone with royal blood can be on my side and not searching to kill me for something I can't control. Chaska is the only other Luminary I know, and if Gustus is so willing to give up his secret to a complete stranger, shouldn't I feel obligated to do the same?

The shock of him being a royal member of Rivian slaps me in the face. If he's my ally in these stretched antechambers...

Rolling my eyes, I clench my jaw tight. Staring at the dark shelf at his shoulder instead of a pale, determined face, I release the lock from within my body and a pressured weight wafts off my shoulders. Gustus doesn't move as my hair paints white and my eyes shift to fire's birth. A wave of relief blossoms from within my chest and a deep breath isn't so tight or restricted.

For a moment, all is silent. The palace has disappeared, along with the queen and the rest of the royal family. All my troubles simmer to ash, leaving with my born form. Features given to me by my parents, but they don't belong to me anymore. It's the Luminary, the features that mark me deadly, that I consider to be my own.

"If you're asking for my opinion, I would say it's a good idea to keep that hidden. You're too noticeable with white hair and the eyes of the underworld," he mocks. "Especially after coming face to face with my mother already."

I allow myself to smile, though the effort strains and drowns my strength. Looking down to my chest, I reminisce on the moon white hair hanging against my body, perfectly straight and knotted after lack of care these past few days. I'm not looking forward to cleaning myself after this.

"I've been a Luminary for three years now," I explain to the floor. Gustus's eyes remain on my scalp. "I kept it hidden by only shifting into this form when I'm alone and behind a locked door."

Gustus's cold finger slides underneath my chin and forces my stare to his. "We do not look down on our powers, no matter how ruthless and inconvenient they are," he whispers. "Almost all Luminaries become such against their will, and it's nothing to be ashamed of."

To the best of my ability, I nod in agreement. Though I will continue to look down on this power until the Raven Queen allows us to live another day once she discovers we aren't ordinary beings in her land.

"How did you keep from going insane? Surely, your power requires more exertion than shifting into your Luminary form every time the power boils over."

I must choose my words carefully. Keep Chaska out of it. "I used to lock myself away in my father's basement and used what powers I favored the most. The last time I did was...a few days before the guards caught me trying to heal an ill woman."

"Most Luminaries wish to avoid their powers at all costs." Gustus crosses his arms over his broad chest and tries to get a sense of the situation. "I consider it very smart that you've trained and exerted your powers over the last three years. Those that attempt to ignore it face capture from exploding against control." His warm sigh tickles the bridge of my nose. "If you wish, we can continue your training so my mother doesn't discover the truth."

Holding a finger over his mouth, he urges me not to speak. I hear why a second after he does; the clicking of a servant's heels echo down the hall and into the closet. We hold our breath and wait, looking towards the door to spot the moving figure of a tattered, handwoven gown the shade of winter's mud.

Once the hall outside the door silences once more, I look back to Gustus. He smirks at my hair, at the change in my features, and it occurs to me that I didn't bother to shift back into what the servant might consider normal. Being around the royal family doesn't grant much normalcy, but with a second form thrown into the mix, that lowly servant won't trust anyone at all.

"I greatly appreciate that," I respond to his offer. "And if you keep my secret, I promise to keep yours."

I stick out my hand in the empty space between us, that playful smirk lingering on his lips. There may be more than what he is telling, but I must take my chances here. Giving up such a monumental truth isn't something I expected to do when they loaded me into the prison wagon, let alone to someone I considered my enemy.

Gustus's hand folds around my own. "Deal, Marie. I promise not to utter a word to anyone."

His wink awakens a sickened part of my stomach, but like everything else, I shove it down, down, down, until I can't feel the uncertainty any longer.