I saw them, from the library windows—the nobles and lords come to pay their respects to Queen Gwenore.

Or more like, to come and see her, to find out what all the fuss was about. Who this woman was, what she was worth, and whether or not she could be manipulated like her father.

Many knew her from her youth. She was the stiff-backed, adventurous eldest daughter of King Hendry, who no one thought would ever step up to the plate and accept her responsibilities.

Not that she was immature or unqualified; but as an adult, she never wanted this, never wanted to be here.

And since she'd changed her mind, all of Acewood Kingdom was curious, wondering what happened to make her views shift. What happened to convince her to take the throne that belonged to her.

I had no doubt some were in attendance the day she declared her intentions, when she told everyone about the truth behind the rebellions and her father's failures. But many lived too far to witness that speech and had heard it all through the grapevine.

Today, they'd come to discover it for themselves.

They weren't here for fealty, for loyalty; they were here to get their questions answered.

The instant I spotted their banners and sigils, I retreated to my room, locking the door behind me. I paced, back and forth, back and forth, only pausing to change into my glittered gray evening dress, crafted by Tilda for tonight's occasion.

I'd been so busy with other tasks that I'd omitted this aspect of the events. Them. The guests.

They'd showed up. I wasn't certain they would, in truth, considering their attitude towards King Hendry in the past few years. Their disregard for his needs—he was their king!—and the way they'd turned a blind eye to the chaos in Acewood proper. How they'd left him and his own to fend for themselves, to figure out their disputes.

But they came today. They traveled from far, leagues away for some. Their reasons were varied, most of them not so positive, I presumed; but their presence was all that mattered, for now.

What they'd say was of no importance. Their actions, however, would mean a lot.

What counted was who was here. Why they were here. What their deeper motives were, and whether they truly had the realm's best interests at heart. Their flashy, fancy carriages and elaborate signs meant nothing to me. If they brought gifts for our queen, swell; if they didn't, I didn't care.

The true gift would be being able to see into their minds and gauge their intentions.

I imagined all their faces and positions in my head. Counts, marquesses, viscounts, lords. Widowed ladies with money and power. Lesser nobles with position and pride. Peasants who'd received the invitation and accepted with excitement.

Would any of them suffice for Sym and I's plans? Would any of them fit the bill?

My nerves were jittery. Even as I caught my reflection in the mirror—my dark skin coated with sparkles, my dress clinging to my svelte silhouette in ways I usually didn't let it—I felt insufficient. Unsure.

Loading with nervousness at the tasks to come.

Tonight, the world gathered to honor Gwenore, to welcome her as monarch, to offer well-wishes and loyalties. But also, they came to be inspected by Sym and I.

But they didn't know that part.

We were tasked with selecting a new Arden tonight. And it had to be tonight; with such a high concentration of emissaries and aristocrats all in one place, it was the perfect time.

What made me so nervous, however, were the power shifts I'd been sensing throughout the day. They'd started after Nedra—the fake Arden—left, but since the arrivals this morning, they'd gotten more intense. More earth-shaking, more soul-rattling. Impossible to ignore, to pretend like they weren't happening.

I detected many things, some of which I recognized, some I didn't. But ultimately, I knew one thing for certain: something nefarious was in the atmosphere.

I couldn't tell where it'd strike. If it would strike. When. I didn't know if it hid amidst the coronation attendees, or kept itself at a distance, waiting for the opportune moment. If it was a guard, a cupbearer, a lady literally in waiting. I had no clue if it was already in the castle, or looming in the shadows, preparing.

And I didn't know what it was. Who it was.

Which conflicted with what Sym and I had to do tonight.

These energies scared me. These negative waves that had entered the atmosphere, that were indecipherable, troubled me deeply. Because what if we mistook them for the type of power required to become Arden? What if we mistakenly chose someone who harbored a massive grudge against us, and would enable Otho's and Luned's plots to assassinate us all?

Not all the shifts I sensed were bad, but they were all mixed, making it impossible to tell which was which. Impossible to discern whether they were staying in town or at the castle.

And if they were staying in town...that meant they were even more powerful, if I was able to sense them from my quarters.

I finally stopped my pacing and sat on the edge of my bed, closing my eyes. Concentrate, I said to myself, into my own mind. Filter out the bad, separate it.

It was no use. It was too strong; all these powers mingling in the air made me nauseous, and I couldn't piece them together or split them apart.

I needed Sym, but to summon him here, to my room, would be a horrible idea. With how fidgety I was, he'd want to soothe me. He'd want to lift my skirts up and taste me, relax me. One glance at my dress and he'd want to rip it off me. Poor Tilda, all the work she'd put in this...she'd be devastated.

In any case, we didn't have time.

But I needed him; needed his patience, his calm aura to settle my anxieties. Needed his insight on what this power was and who it belonged to. Surely he'd sensed it, too; while I was the most attune to the atmosphere's shifts, Sym picked up on certain things, like all mages did.

Some of these energies were...familiar. I couldn't quite place them, couldn't recall their names, but it was like I'd been around them before. Like they'd been near before, swirling around me, sneaking under my skin.

All the more reason for Sym to help me clarify everything pounding under my scalp.

Could any of these beings be a good fit for the role of Arden? Or were they not worth considering at all?

The knock on my door was distant, but it tore me from my panic. "Yes?" I stood up, pressing down on my gown, bracing for the door to open.

I knew who it was before he even rapped his knuckles on the surface.

"Ossenna," said Sym, appearing in my doorway draped in gold, as usual. He was a vision of sleek strands and glittering skin and gorgeous eyes, and it was hard to pretend my heart didn't want to succumb to him at once. Such a striking man, with such an elaborate mind. A gift, a treasure; one that was forbidden to me.

"Sym," I said, slithering up to him before he could enter and we'd be stuck, slowly absorbed into one another. "Let us speak outside."

I'd detected the sexual tension roiling off him before he even opened the door. It seeped into me and woke me up; all the places I'd begged to remain dormant from now on. All the nooks and crannies he knew how to titillate, to drive me into moaning for him, yearning for him. They were on fire at the simple sight of him.

Not tonight. Not tonight!

He arched an eyebrow, resisting me. "Are you sure?" He peered into my room, his expression darkening. "Are we not safer in our quarters?"

I shook my head, insistent. The sooner we were out in the open, the better. "Not in the state of mind we're both in."

He squinted at me, but seemed to get my meaning as I pushed past him, into the corridor. It was empty, deserted. Only he and I lived on this side of the castle now. We were down two mages.

No one would spy on us here, not tonight. But it was still best that we didn't lock ourselves up in our quarters.

"I assume you felt it?" Sym leaned against my closed door, arms crossed. His sleeves dangled off his wrists, and his tunic was open in the chest area, showing his smooth, hairless skin.

"It?" I scoffed. "As in, a singular power? No. I felt many things tonight, Sym. Including things I never thought I'd experience again."

Those familiar energies—they were a surprise to me. They were hard to describe, even to myself, but I knew them, and they worried me. They weren't the nefarious thing I'd been afraid of; they were something separate, different. But still...

"But it was there too, yes?" He cocked his head, studying me. "One power that was distinguished from the others?"

"Yes." We didn't need to say it out loud to understand one another. We'd both gotten the slight slap in the face upon detecting it.

He knew that familiar energy, too.

"But it doesn't concern me as much as everything else I've noticed tonight." I released a sigh, staring at the door of the room once belonging to Otho. We'd torn it apart, after he left; gathering every last supply he hid in there, every journal, any trace of his plots.

To no avail.

"What else?" Sym adjusted his collar, standing up straight. How handsome he was tonight, all prepped for the ball. Regal, knowledgeable; a true Ace-mage in all his glory.

"Bad." I studied my nails, averting my gaze from his. We were safer from our urges out here, but not fully safe. "I'm not sure if these energies are lurking among the guests, but something's off, and I don't like it."

Sym sucked in his lips, then released them with a pop. "Are any of these energies something we can use? Something that might work as well as Arden? Permanently?"

I shuddered, shook my head. "No. We can't be certain of that."

"Is there a potential Arden out there tonight?" He approached cautiously, not touching me, thank goodness. One touch was all it'd take for us to join our lips and forget all about our assignments.

"I'm...not sure," I said, rubbing my bare arms as a sudden chill breezed down the hall. "There's potential, I think. Possibility. But I won't know until we're close enough to analyze these people more deeply. And I'm afraid that by the time I get close enough...it might be too late."

"Too late for what?" Sym stared at my forehead. "Those energies...are there any mages hiding in plain sight? Any who will attend tonight?"

I winced. "Too late for me to stop whatever those energies might start."

Sym knew as well as I did that pure mages were a dying breed. They rarely came close to the capital, preferring to stay away from us Aces. They feared being recruited, used for purposes they didn't believe in.

"As for the mages, I...can't tell, not for certain." I shivered, and he reached forward on instinct, his soft but large hands over my shoulders. "We need to get closer. I need to get closer. Fast."

"I trust you," he said, daring to brush his knuckles over my cheek. A tender gesture, one that might be too dangerous for us, but I didn't have it in me to stop him. "Your instincts never disappoint."

"But all these power shifts are messing with my head, Sym." I leaned into his caress, against my wishes. He always felt so good, always infused me with such tranquility when I was uneasy. "Our goal tonight..."

He stiffened, backing away from me, reminded of everything at stake. "We will prevail. We promised Gwenore a new Arden, and we will find one."

"But..." I chewed on my lower lip, uncaring of how it'd ruin the lip-stain I wore. "What if all the options are," I whispered, "evil? What if we have no choice but to enlist someone that we're not positive about? Someone we can't fully trust?"

"Then we do so," he said, pursing his lips, "and we warn Gwenore of the consequences. We need an Arden. And to be fair, the Arden role has never been trustworthy, has it? We never knew for sure where they came from, what their motives were."

I nodded; he was right. Many times, I'd doubted our original Arden's purpose and what they did behind their lair's closed doors. But we'd all sworn to heed their council, and they'd never let us astray.

Until they switched spots with Nedra, that was.

"Ossenna," Sym's voice coated my face with warmth, "please, don't get ahead of yourself. Don't overexert yourself or over-analyze things. That familiarity could be anything. We're off our game, as the only remaining Aces. Don't panic. Not yet. Not until we've gotten a good look at what we're up against."

I nodded again, and squeezed his hand for luck before we left the safety of our private corridor. Before we headed into the lion's den; the place where Gwenore wasn't the only one who'd be scrutinized.

We, the Ace-mages, with two of our kind having betrayed the crown—we'd be scrutinized, too.

♥♦♣♠