“Your hair?” There’s a note of amusement in Dax’s tone. “No wonder it has a glow to it. Now it makes sense.”
Rapunzel gives him an ardent nod. “Sybil never understood why the magic settled there, but it did. She uses small amounts to keep herself young and healthy so she can protect me.”
I let out a vile curse hearing her finally say this aloud. It sends liquid rage through my veins and brings me back to the days when I sat at my father’s bedside and watched his body rot from the poison the king fed him.
Goddamn you, John.
The king once told me his kingdom has its secrets. Secrets he might one day call on me to protect. I hadn’t realized then that my father may have already known those secrets. Perhaps he got too close. Saw too much, and John murdered him for it.
Maybe my father discovered John’s obsession with finding Rapunzel.
If he had control over her healing abilities, the king could render himself damn near immortal. He could use it to keep his soldiers fit on the battlefield. John could rule Rygard—and beyond—indefinitely.
“Wren.” Rapunzel’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts, but I don’t look at her. I can’t. “Your father… I’m sorry. If I had saved him—”
“Don’t you dare say it, Rapunzel.” Jaw locked, I grind my molars against a surge of fury. “One more goddamn word about him, and I swear on all that’s holy, I’ll cut out your fucking tongue.”
We fall silent and stay that way for a long while, trotting into Harlow, the southernmost region in Rygard. Another hour and we’ll arrive at Dyhurst. Finally. Feels like we haven’t been home in ages.
But leave it to Dax to ruin a perfectly good quiet by posing a question to Rapunzel. “What happened to your father?”
She slides me a cautious look before answering. “Sybil told me he eventually died of a broken heart.” Rapunzel’s soft but emotionless reply catches on the summer breeze. “He couldn’t live without his wife, nor with the knowledge his daughter killed her.”
“The fuck. He blamed you?” Quinn snarls.
Rapunzel bows her head. “I’m blamed for many things beyond my control.”
Her barb strikes true, but it’s not the same. She chose to stay in her precious tower. Then she decided against saving my father. Rapunzel didn’t murder her mother. Her father was obviously a sick bastard. If he wasn’t already dead, I’d find him and kill him myself.
“What do you believe?”
Rapunzel’s silence at Quinn’s question speaks volumes.
I hope that piece of shit is rotting in hell...
...even as I tell myself I don’t care about Rapunzel.
Not at all.
“I’d offer my condolences, but you don’t sound broken up over the loss,” Dax remarks, breaking the tension.
She lets out a sad little sigh. “I never knew the man, and I don’t think I would like him if I did.”
“Where was this witch when Wren was visiting you for years?” Quinn demands.
“Secrets are funny things. They thrive no matter how hard one works to keep them contained.” She lifts her head, and although she answers Quinn, she turns to the left and nails me with those wistful green eyes. “To thwart anyone who might know I exist, Sybil travels relentlessly across Rygard, spreading false information about my location.”
“Smart.” Quinn sounds impressed by Sybil’s tactic.
“Must have been lonely in that tower,” Dax adds.
“It was, for many years.” A tear slips down Rapunzel’s cheek. She wipes it away and stares off at the mountains. “Until it wasn’t.”
16
QUINN
The best thing about Dyhurst Castle is that its roof and walls are intact.
