The looming door to the council chambers comes into view, the sigil of the Mortal Kingdom carved into it forcefully drawing my eye as I will myself not to react to his words—his threat. Alaric, another member of the King’s Guard, opens the doors, allowing Simon to enter. The king stops short, turning to look at me.
We’re nearly the same height, my few inches on him something I know he loathes. But that’s where the similarities between us end, and thank the gods for it.
“Tell the maids to prepare a large room in the royal wing. It needs to be spotless upon my inspection, or I’ll replace them permanently.”
My throat tightens as I give a curt nod. “Anything else, Your Majesty?”What are your fucking plans?
He smiles, if the ghastly twist of his lips can even be called that. “Patience and persistence always pay off, Xander. Remember that.” Then he turns and walks into the council chambers, my stare boring into his back as if it were a dagger. Gods, do I wish it fucking was. My fists tighten at my side as Alaric closes the door.
When the time comes to kill him, it won’t be a knife to the back. I may have been forced to take a blood oath that swears I will not harm the king with my own hand, the scar raised on my palm proof of it, but I’ll make suremyface is the last one he sees when a sharpened blade is plunged into his heart. It’s the face of a man he thought he could trust. The face of the man whose mother he killed.
It’s the face of hisson.
Blowing out a breath, I meet Alaric’s stare, breaking my own rules to ask him a question. “What ships are docked and ready to leave before the day’s end?”
His blue eyes flare widely for a second before he relaxes his expression. “Only one ship is docked that I’m aware of. It’s a supply ship from the Shifter Kingdom, and it leaves within the hour.”
Shit.
Spinning on my heel, I make my way to the guard’s quarters. I’ve never acted without a plan before, the nature of what I’ve been building these past few years is too important to risk getting caught. But Siyala’s face flashes in my mind, her amber eyes bright withlifedespite what she’s been through.There is no fucking way I’m letting my father, or that bastard Simon, add to that list of hurts. She’ll be pissed that the ship is going to take her back to her home island and not to where Rhea is, but maybe that’s for the best.
Regardless of what the king has planned, a revolution is knocking on his doorstep. One that is likely to bring chaos untilit ushers in peace. So, even though it makes a longing I’ve only ever felt aroundherrush through my veins, I throw open the door to my room and begin grabbing items Siyala will need to make her journey back to her true home.
Chapter Sixty-Five: Rhea
Dust motes float infront of my face in the light given off by my magic. While I hold one hand wreathed in glowing white out in front of me, the other is pressed against the damp cold of the stone wall. The staircase down to Nox’s hidden garden has been a small thorn in my side ever since he showed it to me.
I understand well enough that this staircase is different from the one that twisted away from my room at the top of the tower. There are no guards in shining golden armor waiting to take me back. There are no maniacal kings to surprise me when I reachthe bottom. There is only a special place that Nox wants to share with me; one that he had only told me a small amount about because he insists it’s better that I see it.
And I wanted to.Gods,did I want to run down these stairs and burst out into a space that only he and I could access. Something that was special to mebecauseit was special to him. Yet my feet remain frozen on the tenth step.
It’s progress. Healing isn’t linear. You’re doing great.I can hear Nox and even Cass’s encouragement in my mind, and if those were the only voices I heard, I might be able to continue down into the darkness until I reached its bottom. It’s the other voice—bitter and malicious—that roots me in place.You are mine. You always have been. I will always find you.It’s like an evil songbird’s trill stuck on repeat, his words drilling into me until they’re all that I can focus on.Come back home where you belong.
I inhale deeply, dust tickling my nose until I sneeze. My lack of concentration on my magic makes the light sputter, plunging me into darkness for a few seconds. My heart kicks up, soundly hitting against my ribcage as I blink my eyes rapidly and try to refocus my attention. Each inhale is a gasp followed by a hard swallow, my nails digging into the stone walls. I take a step backward, and though my magic finally glows brightly on my palm again, I’m already retreating up the stairs. The door closes softly before I lean my back against it, the light from the hallway calming my nerves as I draw in another breath.
“Damn it,” I whisper to no one before I push off the door and walk to Nox’s room.
He’s already left for the day, the council calling him to an early session. He expressed over dinner together the night before that there has been a disturbing increase in guards going missing in towns near the Fae Kingdom’s border. Even though it was on the opposite side of the kingdom from King Dolian,I couldn’t help but replay the final words he spoke through the Mirror.Enjoy the safety of your people while you have it, King Sadryn. One can never be too sure when such a thing might be ripped away.I wondered if this was my uncle somehow making good on his threat. Based on the look Nox gave me, somewhere between rage and concern, I think he felt the same.
“Honestly, you’re embarrassing yourself,” Cass shouts at Nox.
Sitting on the grassy field between Elora and Daje, I watch the two men spar. Heckling from Haylee and a man with a broad jaw and a deep voice I had just met named Max add to the sound of clashing metal.
Daje’s fingers twitch restlessly where his arm is draped over his knee, almost as if he is itching to spar as well. Nox had spoken with him a few days after our argument. It had been quick as I observed them from a distance, both men standing with their arms crossed and serious expressions on their faces until Daje’s softened imperceptibly at whatever Nox told him. They shook hands, and though I wouldn’t call their interactions overtly friendly since, neither one seems to be harboring ill-will towards the other.
Cass unsheathes one of the daggers from what I learned is called a bandolier, a row of shining hilts still waiting for their turn. I’ve watched him and Nox spar in the past, and it never ceases to make my heart leap into my throat. He twirls the dagger over his knuckles in the blink of an eye and flings it at Nox. Somehow, the latter spins out of its path, obtaining nothing more than a small cut in the fabric of his black training clothes.
“See?Embarrassing.”
Nox’s brows draw low as he adjusts his grip on the hilt of his sword. “Do you just like the sound of your own voice?”
“Who wouldn’t?”
Elora and I laugh, Nox shooting an incredulous look my way. “You’re not supposed to encourage him.”
I shrug as I lean back on my hands, my braid sliding over my shoulder and down my back. Nox tracks its movement and somehow still blocks an advance from Cass. “I thought that you were the strongest mage the kingdom had seen in over two hundred years,” I tease. Elora chokes on her next breath, her cheeks turning red from her silent laughter.
“Blondie makes a good point, Your Highness,” Cass says, flipping a different dagger hilt over tip in the air and catching it without even looking.
