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Leaving the guards in the hall, she opened her sister’s door It wasn’t locked, and at first Levana expected to find it e of value Surely the servants knew that she never came here, that they could have their pick of all the fine treasures inside

But as Levana stepped into the roolow, it was exactly as she remembered it, even the very faint scent of her sister’s perfu into a museum, every piece encapsulated in tih the tines had been carefully picked clean The unruffled bedcovers There was even the little basinet with its crearee of a tiny coronet on top, where baby Selene had slept, unbeknownst even to Levana She’d assu that first year, not in herat that tiny, beautiful little bed, sweet and innocent and har Reo

But there was nothing She felt nothing but the breaking of her own heart inside her chest

Tearing her gaze away, she spotted what she’d come for Her sister’s lass cast in shadows It was taller than Levana, frae The metal had been crafted into elaborate scrolls with a prominent crown centered at the top On the sides, silver flowers and thorny branches entwined around the fra out froulf it entirely

Levana had stood before a mirror only once since she was six years old Since Channary had forced her into that fireplace--first her hand, then her ar no rip of Channary’s ht back, to run away, to pull herself froht a couple of servants running into the nursery did Channary let her go and told the to help her sister Her stupid, curious baby sister

Her ugly, defored to theirQueen Jannali priala or another, on those rare occasions when she wasn’t annoyed with the presence of her own offspring For the lamour had been Pale as a corpse with platinum hair and those severe violet eyes that seemed to make the rest of her fade away But when she sat in front of this mirror, Jannali had been as she was underneath As she was really And she looked a lot like Channary, with naturally tanned skin and shiny brown hair She’d been pretty Perhaps even prettier than she ith the glaal

Levana could recall being very, very young and having nightmares about her mother and the court and how everyone around her had two faces

Channary clai the assassinations, and Levana hadn’t seen it since Which was fine with her She hated mirrors Hated their reflections, their truths Hated how she seemed to be the only one who hated them as much as she did, even when everyone in the entire court walked around with glamours every bit as fake as her own

Now Levana braced herself and strolled toward the standing monstrosity Her reflection came into view, draped with the sheer white cloth, and she was surprised to find that she didn’t look so host Rather, she looked like a second-era bride Endless happiness could be concealed beneath this veil Boundless joy So es of the drape, she lifted it over her head

She gri away froe again before she could face it, and even then she kept her face partly turned away, so that she could quickly turn back if the sight became too painful

It orse than she’d re to remember

Her left eye was permanently sealed shut, and the scarred tissue on that side of her face was forrooves Half of her face was paralyzed frorow back The scars continued down her neck and shoulder, half of her chest and upper ribs, all the way down to her hand

The doctors had done what they could at the time They saved her life, at least They told her that, when she was older, she would have options A series of skin-grafting surgeries could gradually replace the ruined flesh Hair transplants Modified bone structure They had even said that they could find a neorking eye for her Finding a perfect match would be difficult but they would scour the entire country for a suitable donor, and surely, no one would dare refuse a request from their princess should she ask Even their own eye

But there would always be scars, nosuch transplants had disgusted her Someone else’s eye Soh onto her own face At the tila underneath it at all

By now, so otten what she truly looked like she wouldn’t even consider having the surgeries She couldn’t stand to think of those surgeons hovering over her unconscious, grotesque body, analyzing the best way to disguise her hideousness