“I don’t kn—”
“Spare me the lies, Lady Rhea. The commander believes himself to be impervious to my observational skills, but he, like all others, will eventually crack with time. Did he tell you that King Nox tried to come for you? That he was thwarted?” We reach the bottom of the steps, my legs moving on muscle memory alone as my ears ring. “Stephan is exceptionally skilled in the use of plants to subdue. He knows how much of each to give to make someonejusta little bit numb, both to their surroundings and their predicaments.” The palace doors come into view ahead of us when Simon chuckles, as if in on a joke I’m unaware of. “But greatness is to be expected from any son of mine.”
I’m not sure I’m breathing, the ramifications of what Simon’s just said hitting me harshly enough to rob me of air.
“You want to know why the mage king has not come for you again? How I know he will not come for you? It’s because he has nodesireto. And when my son returns with yet another update for me, you and I will have another of our meetings to discuss it all. Would knowing that King Nox has wed Lady Haylee get youto spill your secrets?” His words deliver the punch they’re meant to, my hand coming to rest on my stomach as if I’ve just been punched there. “After your wedding to His Majesty, I suppose we’ll find out.”
Xander waits outside near the carriage, not bothering to hide his glare for the king’s advisor.
“I’ll see you when you return,” Simon says, perfectly aware of the snare he’s just laid in my chest as he heads back towards the castle.
“What did he say?” Xander asks, his voice hushed. I think about telling him. About asking him if what Simon said is true. If Nox is really married to Haylee. But, in the end, knowing the answers to those questions won’t change anything. Xander and his resistance will still enact their plan on the beach today. I will get away—either freed of the ring or not—and I will leave, not with the intention of being found by the man who will forever hold my heart but with the intention of getting lost. Of disappearing.
“Later,” I murmur to him, just as King Dolian approaches.
Soon, we are in route to meet with the sirens, the king at my side. “Are you okay, darling?” he asks, dragging the back of his knuckles down my cheek. There is no magic behind the question, so I nod without looking at him. “Good. We’ll heal the sirens and then get you back for dinner with the court. By this time tomorrow…” His fingers curl around my chin to turn me towards him. But even as he looks at me, he isn’t reallyseeingme, so he doesn’t recognize the anxiousness I know is showing. He doesn’t see anything but a framework that he can build upon. That he can ruin. “I will finally be wed to you, and we can forget anything that came before. We can start anew as husband and wife. King and queen.”
“Uncle and niece,” I add on. Sunlight pours through the window at our side, making the hazel color of his eyes glow nearly orange. “Mustn’t forget that one.”
King Dolian tightens his grip for a breath, rage rising in his gaze before it suddenly banks and he releases me, sitting back as he looks straight ahead, his hands clasped in his lap. “Yes, thatwilllikely affect how we have children, but I suppose it is a good thing I had the foresight to find women who look like you to fuck when the desire thatyoucause becomes too much to bear.” I stare at him, my fingers gripping the fabric of my dress tightly. “Oh, don’t worry. I will fuck you and have my fill, but considering ourrelation, getting you pregnant is too risky. As such, we will have surrogates, and you will raise the children as ours. Eve is the closest physical match to you, so I think I’ll start with her.”
The carriage slows to a stop, and the king smiles at me, perfectly regal and without any hint of the monster that lies within. And in this moment, with the threat to Eve madeclear, I decide that todaymustgo to plan. That the kingmustdie.
He exits the carriage first, turning to extend his hand. I take it, playing meekness as my eyes meet Xander’s through the gaps in his helmet.
“Let’s get this over with,” King Dolian says, leading the way.
Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen: Rhea
Thesirensarealreadywaiting for us, the queen standing tall with her trident in hand and a crown of diamonds and seashells stark against her dark hair. At her immediate left is a female with bright orange hair, the trident in her hand similar except that it is smaller and made purely of gold. I can’t remember if she has accompanied the queen on past visits, but Iknow the siren next to her has. Her pink hair glows against her dark skin, curls cropped to her shoulders. The final siren stands on the other side of the queen. I recognize her from past visits as well, her round eyes even more so as she meets my gaze head on.
“Queen Amari, it is a pleasure as always to see you,” King Dolian says. I feel Xander’s presence at my back and watch as the siren queen tracks the movement of the other guards behind me.
“I should hope so, considering everything I have done for you.”
King Dolian bristles but quickly hides it with a tight smile. “The first wedding attended by a siren in over two hundred years. That’s quite a thing to celebrate,” he says, a hand sliding into his pocket. “Though I do wonder if it is wise for you to attend.”
“Why wouldn’t it be? We areallies, are we not?” she asks, taking a step forward. Glints of golden armor shine in my peripheral vision, the cold winter breeze brushing more harshly against my back now.
My uncle meets the queen’s stern expression with a glower of his own, and it makes a corner of her mouth lift. “We are, bu—”
“Because I seem to remember that you are in my debt not once buttwice,” she interjects. “Of course, you know that.” The darkness in her eyes expands as she takes in the full extent of the king, dragging her gaze from the crown resting upon his head down to his pristine boots. “It was only, what, twenty-two years ago that you first came to me on this very beach? Dressed very much like you are now, except for the crown.” Her fingers curl around her trident, claws scraping against metal. I shiver at the noise. “I remember the night soclearly. For it’s not every day that I get to bothfucka king and create one.”
Twenty-two years ago…
“Does your fiancée know?” she continues, turning her attention to me. “How it is that you became king? What yousacrificedthat night?”
She smiles broadly at his silence, but my own mind is stuck on her words.Twenty-two years ago…
“It wasn’t the mages,” I murmur, brows furrowing. “Was it?” The queen outright laughs, the sirens at her sides looking just as confused as I feel as their eyes bounce between the three of us.
“Is that what you told her? Told your people?” Queen Amari clicks her tongue as she shakes her head, a melodic hum slipping from her. “All these years, and they don’t know just how connected our two realms are.”
“Queen Amari, this is hardly the time or place to divulge this information. That night, we made a bargain—one I intend to honor to the full extent,” King Dolian growls, lifting his chin as he rolls his shoulders back and gestures with an idle hand towards me. “But it has no bearing on what we will be doingtoday.”
“Oh, but it does, and you know that.” She bites her lip and then releases it, and though we are out in the open, air feels scarce as I try to draw more of it in. “When you called on me to help with yourproblem, I told you I would do it under one condition. Do you remember what that was?
“Rhea, heal the queen,” the king says—commands—my magic rushing up from behind that invisible wall. I inhale sharply as it floods my body, warmth tingling down my arms to my fingertips, where glittering white flares from my palms.
