Chapter Twelve: Secrets Shed

CHAPTER TWELVE

Secrets Shed

I waited for Salem in the entrance hall for hours, sitting on a divan, too restless to read. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried, in spite of things.

I still didn’t know what to think about our attackers. They’d been killing demons, whom I might have considered my enemies . . . but I’d been running for my life as well. And how did I know that all the demons in that room were truly loyal? Some may have been merely hiding their protests, as I had been.

Still, the memory of the mysterious rebels did not unsettle me nearly so much as that of Queen Isabelle. Though I was no longer in her presence, the dark queen had left a mark on me, and her glamour was not easily shaken away.

I found myself staring into a glass, debating whether I was beautiful enough to compete against Isabelle. The longer I gazed, the less alluring my reflection seemed, until I felt no more confident than I had as a mortal. My breasts were too large, my hips were too w