“What?”
“Your father’s Djinn. I think one of them may have been turned.” Lexa’s eyes blazed, and Ellie blinked at the flare of light.
“Sorry.” Lexa shuttered her focus. “The fact that I can’t see who has been turned tells me Sin Garu is definitely involved. His spells are painstakingly complex, and this one more so. I saw Remir spying on us the other night. And I think I saw…”
“Saw what?”
“I’m not sure yet. But Ellie, you can’t tell anyone, especially not Arim or Cadmus. If you do, all the good work the Sarqua have done thus far will be for nothing. And your relationship to Cadmus may not survive.”
“No, Alex, I mean Lexa. Cadmus loves me. He would know I have nothing to do with a Sarqua traitor.”
“Are you so sure he’d believe you?” Lexa asked quietly. “I hate to say it, Ellie. But I know what I’m talking about. As much as your Light Bringer says he loves and trusts you, in the end you’re still Dark, and he’s still Light.” Lexa radiated a sadness Ellie could feel. “I once loved and thought I was loved in return, until something horrible happened. Everything I believed, everything I had ever cared for, came crashing down around me. I don’t want to see that happen to you, Ellie. You’re worlds better than I am, and you deserve to be happy.”
“But Lexa?—”
“Let me find and take care of Remir and this threat. At least give me a chance to trace the problem. When I do, you can tell Cadmus what I suspect. Hell, maybe you’re right and he’ll listen to you. I just wanted to warn you that not everyone is what they seem.”
Ellie nodded, wishing she could deny Lexa’s warning as necessary. As much as Cadmus claimed his love, they hadn’t known one another all that long. His father had been killed by a Djinn, by her people. Family is everything to me, she recalled him saying, and strengthened her resolve.
“Lexa, Jonas heard something. Maybe it was Remir?”
“Jonas? I hadn’t realized he’d arrived already. Hold on.” Lexa shimmered out of sight and returned with Jonas in tow. “Two lords battling over an unrequited love for another.”
“Idiots,” Lexa and Jonas said together.
Ellie grinned at the pair of them. Her humor faded when she thought about the danger Lexa had warned her about. “Jonas, Lexa told me something--”
“I know. She told me on the way back.” He bowed his head at Lexa, and Lexa gave him a kiss on the cheek that had him blushing. “But I still think she has to be wrong. Not Remir.”
Lexa shook her head. “Everyone’s suspect, I’m afraid. I know you can handle yourself, Jonas. But Ellie’s vulnerable. She’s a weakness to not just Ethim, but to Cadmus as well. Should anything happen to you, Ellie, Cadmus will never be what he needs to be in order to rule in Tanselm.”
“Or to help defeat Sin Garu,” Jonas added quietly.
Concerned for Cadmus, Ellie agreed to stick to Jonas at all times. Then she wished Lexa good luck and watched her shimmered out of sight.
Jonas blew out a breath. “No offence, Ellie, but this castle is like a maze, and I feel like the mouse getting no closer to the cheese.” His stomach grumbled, and he cursed. “The hell with this.”
Ellie opened her mouth to ask what he thought to do, then closed it when she looked around her at the dining hall.
“Ellie, how nice of you to join us.” Queen Ravyn didn’t miss a beat. She smiled and motioned for Ellie to join the gathering at the table with the rest of her family. Cadmus and Arim remained conspicuously absent.
Ellie glanced at her future mother-in-law. The freaking queen. Hell. Where was Cadmus?
“Here, sit by me.” Ravyn motioned to the empty chair between her and Samantha.
“I’ve been demoted,” Samantha teased, grinning at Ellie. “But at least it’s by someone I like.”
Ellie grinned, relieved she had Samantha for comfort. And next to her, Darius, who smiled as well. Across from them sat Tessa and Marcus, and farther down the table, Alandra and Aerolus. Oddly enough, Ellie she didn’t feel as out of place as she’d thought she would.
“Cadmus said you’d probably beat him to the table. He had to see my brother about something important.” Ravyn scoffed her last words and grabbed a sweet roll from her plate. “Men.”
“I’m with you there,” Ellie agreed, watching her cousin leave the main dining area. Glancing around, she saw several smaller tables filled with well-dressed men and women, probably royalty or important people to the queen. Everywhere the mood seemed upbeat, chatter and laughter filling the room.
“It’s wonderful to have family and joy to balance the misery of war,” Ravyn noted, following Ellie’s gaze. She pointed to the stone archway above them. “Normally, we’d dine in the open.A spell transports the dining hall so that we float in the clouds. A lovely way to enjoy one’s repast.” Ravyn sighed. “Now it’s just too dangerous, what with the Netharat hovering everywhere.”
And where you least expect it. Ellie gave those around them a hard glance, searching with the Darkness within her as well. But to her disappointment, and relief, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just tons of Light and harried servants. Since Lexa’s warning, Ellie felt a responsibility towards her new family to keep them safe, especially since the threat came from one of her own.
Saddened, she tried to shake off the feeling and dwell in the here and now. A glance down at her plate showed it now covered with sweets and fruit.
