Lex swallowed. They were outnumbered, trapped, and the king knew far more than they hoped. Not to mention, he’d somehow managed to enter the cavern without anyone the wiser, including Camille or Amund, who should have sensed him.
The Dark King grinned. “Don’t you know by now, son? My alchemists are very talented. There is nowhere you can hide in my land.”
Garrin’s eyes darkened. “I never thought I needed to.”
“Oh, you don’t, son, you don’t.” Casone stepped several paces forward and gripped Garrin’s shoulder awkwardly.
Garrin didn’t flinch, but there was something going on. A silent exchange.
Camille grabbed Lex’s hand. “We must go,” she said under her breath.
“Go?” The Dark King looked straight at Camille. “I heard you’d returned.” He clicked his tongue. “You should have taken the gift of escaping Dark Kingdom for what it was. Something never to be repeated. I don’t know how you accomplished leaving our land and surviving, but I will find out. And you will never know such freedom again.”
Lex’s mind raced. The kingwantedthem trapped in Dark Kingdom.
Camille’s eyes glowed with fury. “I returned for my son.”
“You have no son,” the king said, his voice hard.
“You know that I do. He was taken from me during the night not long after his birth.”
“And yet you left Dark Kingdom without this precious child?”
Camille vibrated next to Lex, her anger sizzling. “I sensed the soldiers coming and fled. But not before I saw my infant son in your wife’s arms.”
The king’s eyes narrowed. “My heir, you mean.”
Camille looked at Garrin. “Not if I bore him. Garrin is my child—conceived after you forced yourself on me.”
Garrin’s dark head swung to Camille, his lips parted in shock.
* * *
It couldn’t be…Garrin turned to his father. “What is she talking about?”
Camille was older than Garrin, by more than a hundred years, if he had to guess. Enough for her to have given birth to him. And she had Garrin’s exact coloring, with bright blue eyes and black hair. Coloring neither of his parents possessed.
The king shrugged one shoulder. “I hardly know her.”
That wasn’t an answer.
This was madness, yet itwaspossible. Anything was possible after what Garrin had learned about his father. After what he’d learned of Lex’s lineage.
They were outnumbered by his father’s legion. “Let us leave here and talk somewhere else, Father.”
He had to get the king away from Lex, and he had to get Lex away from Dark Kingdom. And now his backup plan was his real mother?
Casone looked around and raised his arms, palms up. “But this is the place you chose. We will talk here. Besides, this woman is confused about her role in my kingdom.” He glared at Camille.
Garrin had seen that look on his father’s face before. Camille was in grave danger.
His father made a sharp motion with his hand, and Garrin cried out, “No!”
But it was too late.
Camille was gone. Though not captured by the king. Camille had disappeared, which meant she’d escaped through one of her portals.
Only she’d left without Lex.
