Beautiful Torment *Book One of the Beautiful series*

28) Into the Den

The ride back was more uncomfortable than she imagined, seeing as the prince had brought back more than just the two bags they had brought with them. Sitting on the opposite bench, Sabrina stroked Bea's head which rested on her leg.

After several hours of riding in awkward silence, Lucy watched as her mother shifted to look out the window. Off in the distance, Streatham Palace stood tall in the center of its surrounding city. The woman sucked in a sharp breath, as if seeing the place had brought back memories she had not been prepared for.

"The Kethedrel?" the words were nearly too quiet to hear, but Lucy was just barely able to make it out over the sound of the wheels over the road.

Alexander stiffened beside Lucy, "Condemned and long abandoned."

Sabrina looked over at him after he spoke, her eyebrows lifted in surprise, "Hmm," she returned her eyes to the window, a new outlook on the city, "Definitely thought that place would have been standing long after we were all dead."

"What is so wrong with a church?" Lucy found herself asking out loud, without meaning to, her tone was full of disbelief.

"Not a cathedral," her mother corrected her, "The Kethedrel was a... school of sorts. Funded by the crown so children of the Forged could go to study and learn our enchantments. You would have been sent when you were ten if..." She trailed off, gazing longingly over the city.

"If you had not turned me into a living Flame and abandoned me in a whorehouse." Lucy was all too happy to finish the sentence, not bothering to hide the sarcasm or contempt in her tone.

"Yes," her mother conceded begrudgingly through her teeth before going back to stroking Bea's soft coat.

"Ladies," Alexander chided like a scholar disciplining unruly students. "I understand there is a rift between you, but we have reached the royal city. We cannot forget the act we must keep up. Princess Luciana has taken mercy on a poor beggar woman and wishes to grant her sanctuary in the castle as penitence to the Goddess Asha, defender of the weak. No one must know otherwise. Not Queen Mary nor even my father. I fear if he learns Lucy is the daughter of the Dark God who reeked so much death and havoc upon his land, he would not be the gracious host he has been thus far."

Sabrina scowled darkly at the prince. "Surely, he would not harm her. She is your Flame," she snapped.

Alexander met her darkness evenly matched. Lucy watched the flecks of golden orange stir as embers in his dark irises, unable to keep herself from admiring the beauty of it, even as he spoke unnerving words. "I fear he would take measures to extract the Flame and transfer it into the ring that was it;s original holder."

Sabrina jumped, alarming Bea, her hands curling like claws at the thought of the king attempting such a thing. "The act of drawing out the Flame would kill Lucy! And likely you as well."

"W-what ring?" Lucy stammered, interrupting her mothers promise of wrath.

"A ring my ghastly cousin discovered left behind in your room at Thorish Manor. Stuffed under a loose brick in the hearth. On a supposed whim, he brought it to my father and Woflyn the night of the ball. Woflyn sensed trace essence of magic on it—both dark and Flame. They believed it to be a clue towards my missing Flame."

"You are just now telling me this?" Lucy could not believe that she had forgotten the one precious item she owned in that beast's Manor. She had gotten so used to hiding it away at Granston House for fear of one of the whores thinking it valuable and stealing it. And then after seeing Victoria bruised and beaten, her mind was not right. She had forgotten hiding it in the room and left it behind when they fled.