Chapter 63. Like a Queen

Venus POV

The noise coming from the floor below discouraged me from going downstairs. But no one was to be in the palace building when the festival events were about to begin. This was to protect the identity of the Alpha King.

One whom you have seen and slept with, Bly joked, feeling good about herself. It was still a thing of equal joy and surprise to hear her speaking within me. It was like she had never left, and I was no longer alone.

Nevertheless, I gathered the skirt of my red dress and took the stairs gingerly, one after the other, to keep from falling on my face. The heels I had chosen added four inches to my height, but they were unfamiliar. I was used to running in flip-flops or sandals and considered heels to be a source of self-inflicted pain.

Yet I was wearing them—dainty silver shoes with encrus