“Excuse me!?”
“We fought hundreds of ice spiders,” Neve cut in, and I had to chuckle. Her tone made it sound as though the battle was nothing at all. “It’s a long story. One we can tell you later?”
“Seeing as you’re safe and here, I guess so. But Fates alive, I can’t believe all that you’ve been through!” Saga’s teeth dug into her bottom lip.
For the rest of the walk, much of our group fell into silence. We were exhausted in each bone and needed a few hours’ rest to be prepared to travel when dark fell.
We passed by a window, broken at one edge and allowing cold air into the corridor. I inhaled the frost and scent of the thick ice on the lake. Valrun had been an experience, but I was glad we were leaving. No matter how many sentinels kept watch,I’d never felt safe in this rundown castle. Never truly protected, nor sure that I could protect those I loved inside the castle’s crumbling walls.
When I opened the annex door, I allowed my mate to enter first, then waited for my sister. But Saga stopped at my side and cleared her throat, allowing others to pass instead.
“I have more I want to say, Brother. And I don’t want to wait.”
“Of course.” I nodded to Lord Riis as he and Brynhild continued on to wherever Thyra’s advisor would put him up during our last day in Valrun Castle. Luccan swept by us, and I patted his shoulder. “Tell Neve I’ll be a few minutes. Saga wants a word.”
“Will do.”
My friends and family disappeared into the annex for a well-deserved rest. I shut the door and turned to my sister.
Discomfort swept across her delicate features, and not for the first time, it struck me how much Saga looked like both our mother and her father. She had King Magnus’s ice-blue eyes and naturally white hair, which she colored pink. However, Saga’s cheeks, chin, and face shape were from our mother. As were her dark wings. Vagle wings, many in the realm called them. They were nearly black, a rare hue for faeries that were not Shadow Fae. Or so I’d read.
The only Shadow Fae I’d ever seen was King Érebo. We hadn’t been able to see his wings properly because he’d been trapped in the tree, though I imagined they were as black as night. Just like his heart and soul.
A low breath left Saga, bringing me back to the moment. To my sister, who needed me to listen. “Lord Riis said I had to leave Avaldenn because I was in danger, but he didn’t say why. Did you wonder?”
“Of course I did. Still do,” I answered. “I assumed he didn’t offer the information in front of everyone for a good reason.”
“An excellent reason,” Saga affirmed. “I hate to tell you this, even more than I hated to live through it, but you have to know, Vale. Have to know how much he’s changed . . .”
“Father?”
“No. Rhistel.”
My jaw tightened. “What has he done now?”
“Mother told him who his father was. Your father too.” Saga met my gaze. “Who here knows?”
“Only those sleeping in the annex,” I gestured to the door, to those people I trusted with my life. “Thantrel too, obviously. He’s in the healing wing. Caelo and Duran are keeping him company. They know as well.”
“Right.” She looked away before focusing on me once more. “Well, Rhistel didn’t take the truth well. He accepted it, but he also thought of those who could take that truth and use it against him. Take what he sees as his.”
“The Crown of Winter’s Realm?”
“Yes. And obviously, the closest person to him that posed a threat to that future was me. The only trueborn daughter of King Magnus.”
My entire body went rigid.
“He threatened my life, Vale. He said he’d get rid of me and any threat to him taking the throne. Mother felt that she had no choice but to seize control of him. Mentally, that is.”
By the dead gods. Saga had not only learned that Rhistel and I were bastards, but that our mother was a whisperer. My blood ran cold.
Kind and generous, Saga didn’t have an evil bone in her body. She shone, a polished jewel, while the rest of us bore jagged edges and rough faces.
And Rhistel would have killed her. That meant my brother, the one I’d wanted so often to make excuses for and to see the best in, was well and truly gone.
“Lord Riis had been listening to the whole thing. You know, in the place where handmaidens can wait to be called. When I arrived, Mother had a hold of Rhistel and told Lord Riis to take me away. Basically to keep me far from our arsehole of a brother, and to find you.”
“I’m so sorry, Saga.” I folded her into my arms.
