And who? How many? Fear for my mother was building by the second and stilled only when Ratha shook her head.
“Never. In a way that only our kind can understand, we are bonded, your mother and I.” She licked her lips. “And then there’s the matter of our blood bond.”
My spine straightened, and I took her in again. The blue eyes. They’d seemed so motherly because they were the same shade as my mother’s. This female had black hair too.
Her wings lifted, spread, answering my unspoken question. Black as night. Black as my own.
Vagle wings.
“Who are you?”
“A bastard of House Vagle. One hidden for my mother’s treachery and then hidden again when my magic manifested. There are many of us bastards of nobles. Fae who want a better life and a better kingdom. When your father first took the throne, I was happy. I thought he’d give us that, but he failed.”
“He’s not my real father,” I admitted, surprised that she’d not seen the truth that burned within.
“I wondered if you’d speak it.”
“I plan to speak it more. After my mate makes her claim public.”
Ratha’s face went blank, and she pushed her chair back. “The guards waiting in the hall will show you to your annex. They’ll retrieve your mate and friends too.”
“Thank you,” I said, somewhat at a loss over her reaction. At so much. I looked around at the empty, vast room. “Might I ask where we are?”
Ratha chuckled. “This, Prince Vale, is what’s left of Castle Valrun.”
Had a band of orcs burst through the door at that moment, I wouldn’t have been able to move, let alone fight. My feet froze to the floor in shock. In fear. “Val—Valrun! It’s cursed!”
“That’s what they say.”
“But then, why are the rebels here?!”
“Where else could we be certain that we would not be found?” Ratha shuffled to the door. “If you’re going to join us and survive, you’d better start thinking more like a mouse than a bear.”
Chapter 24
NEVE
“Vale!” I gasped as I walked through the door of our new quarters. The annex, or so the rebels called it. Whatever this place was, one glance assured me it was far better than those horrible cages.
My mate took me in his arms, and the worry that had filled my chest deflated. It felt so good to touch him again. To smell him and taste him.
“Where in the bleeding skies are we, Vale?” Thantrel asked after allowing us a few precious seconds together.
My mate pulled away from me, kissed my forehead, and then turned to the group, which now included Anna. Since we’d reunited in the corridors, my friend had been crying and saying she’d done all she could to make them believe the truth.
I didn’t blame Anna in the slightest. Fae had a difficult time taking humans seriously, and the rebels were predisposed to dislike us. Though now, they might not?
I studied the interior of the building. It was large buthumble, made of wood, unlike the stone castle. A newer portion, though why it wasn’t stone as well was beyond my understanding. Fabrics, I knew. Castle craftsmanship, not so much.
“We’re in Valrun Castle,” Vale answered.
“Valrun!” Duran’s hands went to his mouth.
“Indeed.”
I was missing something. “What’s wrong with Valrun Castle?”
“The place, the entire town around it too, is cursed, Neve,” Clemencia, with her teacher’s heart, was always quick to offer information.
