“He arrived earlier this evening. Bring him here so he can share with Lady Rhea everything he knows.” Xander hesitates before he relents and leaves. I try to comb through my memories, grasping for when I might have heard that name before. But no one comes to mind. The room feels stifling in the presence of the king, trapped between his lascivious stare and the equally horrible one that comes from Simon. “Youdolook just like her,” the king says, lifting his hand to cup the side of my face as I tense. “Do you have any idea of the restraint I possess?”
I pinch my lips together, nails digging into my palms as my chest heaves unsteadily. He stares at my mouth, possession and desire mingling as he leans in even closer. Gods, if he tries to kiss me… He can force me to reciprocate, and the fact that hehasn’tyet leaves me terrified. It doesn’t feel like a question ofifhe will do it butwhen. King Dolian slides his hand from my face to my hair. He opens his mouth as if he is going to say something more, but then the creaking of Xander’s armor sounds in the hallway. It’s followed by a male voice that doesn’t sound particularly thrilled.
“Just remember, you asked for this when you showed me that you did not trust my word. That you did not trust your king.Your future husband.” He removes his hand and backs away, going only far enough that his wine is once more within reach. “Stephan, step forward.”
A man approaches wearing a white short-sleeved tunic and thin dark trousers. His black hair is rumpled as it hangs at his shoulders, as if Xander pulled him directly from bed. At firstglance, I have no idea who he is, but there is something about him that holds my attention. Candlelight from the chandeliers above dances along his high cheekbones, but it’s what it highlights that sends my heart careening into my ribs.Gray. His eyes are gray. There is only one kingdom that eye color originates from.
He folds his arms over his chest, and like slipping a final puzzle piece into place, the act ushers in a memory. My throat grows dry and tight, an invisible hand squeezing it as I stare. The recognition must show on my face because the man dips his chin and offers me a cunning smile. “I’m afraid that the prince was notactuallyat the beach.”
Everything within me deflates, my knees actually buckling this time and sending me collapsing into my chair. This is the man who directed Daje and I away from the palace. He isn’t just a guard for the mages—if he is truly one at all—he is aspy. An informant for King Dolian.
He is the reason I amhere.
Chapter Thirty-Five: Rhea
“You,”Igasp,forgettingeverything in favor of the anger that simmers precariously beneath my skin. At this moment, I don’t care about the trouble it might cause me, all I feel is the rush of that burning fury at the man who had tricked me. Who had put me on a path to more pain and sadness. And for what? What did he gain from doing so?
“Now, darling, be nice to our guest. We do owe our reunion to him, after all.”
I grip the armrests, my upper lip peeling away from my teeth. “I thought you hated mages. I thought they were to be executed if they were ever found in your kingdom.” My uncle blames the mages for my parents’ deaths. I know he hates the fact that Nox is one, that he had been bested by one snooping about his kingdom right under his nose. That I had fallen inlovewith one. That Iamone.
“You are correct,” he answers, holding out his hand for the servant to give him more wine. The man grabs one of the pitchers containing crimson and rushes over to fill his cup. “But when you fled your tower—when you left me—you made meverydesperate.” Despite his drunken stupor, King Dolian’s posture is perfect, the hand not holding his wine slipping into his pocket. “I would doanythingto get you back, even listen to Simon when he suggests that working with a mage to infiltrate their kingdom might be our best bet.”
My attention goes to Simon and the smug arrogance surrounding him as he stands on the other side of Stephan. “The king is wise, and he knows when to keep his enemies close. As luck would have it, we had already captured Stephan entering our kingdom.”
“Lucky, indeed,” I hiss.
Simon’s eyes narrow, but it is King Dolian who continues. “Stephan is smart, in spite of where he was born. He accepted the deal we offered him. In exchange for his life—for his freedom—he would help us get you back home.”
Home. How I hate that word coming from him. As if he could ever know what it is. Turning to Stephan, I ask, “Why?”
He shrugs, the picture of nonchalance. “The Daxel family line has wrongfully been on the throne for far too long. They lack leadership. They lack the gumption to put the people first.” His eyes take on a darker note, pulling from a memory lockedsomewhere deep within him. “They act as if the Mage Kingdom is exempt from any consequences.”
“And which of their actions are so horrible you deem them worthy of stealing the prince’s betrothed?”Careless.I know better than to thoughtlessly throw those words around, so I’m not surprised when the back of the king’s hand cracks across my face. I lay my hand over my stinging cheek, my eyes bouncing to Xander’s for a moment. Bright anger glows there, but I know he can’t act. Neither of us can.
“You wereneverhis, Rhea.”
“You might not have realized it, trapped as you were within their very clutches,” Stephan says, not quite interrupting the king, but close enough to it that Simon sends him a disapproving look. “But for those living outside of Galdr, life is quite different. Sure, King Sadryn doesn’t rule with cruelty. But neither does he rule with a spine. I had already agreed to help King Dolian when I learned that the prince was going to defy the council and marry you—an outsider—anyway. That his parents supported it.” He shakes his head. “Returning you back to your own kingdom was the right thing to do.”
“I am mage!” I shout, slamming my hand onto the table. “That kingdom—”
“Your Majesty, we have an early morning tomorrow,” Xander interrupts, perhaps saving me from myself. From earning yet another slap. The king sighs as he brings his glass to his lips. His face contorts, gaze snapping from the chalice to the pitchers in the corner.
“This wine is…” He looks to the servant in the corner.
“Well, this has been adelight, but I’m exhausted from traveling, and I’d like to get some sleep before I do it all again.” No one says anything as Stephan leaves, but his exit draws the king’s unfocused attention from the servant as he looks instead to Xander.
“Send a note to Commander Valence tomorrow,” he says as he stumbles towards the archway that leads back to the hall, “I want the castle ready for our arrival and the guards on alert should anything happen before then. Simon, walk with me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Xander answers, adding, “I’ll return Lady Rhea back to her room.”
I stand, and catch Simon’s gaze, letting the anger simmering within slip out. “Shouldn’t you be following your king?”
Simon merely smirks, darkness hidden within it. “Enjoy your evening, Lady Rhea. May your night be free of that which haunts you.” He doesn’t even look at Xander as he leaves.
“What the fuck was that supposed to mean?” Xander asks under his breath.
I shake my head, my thoughts tumbling relentlessly as we walk. No part of me believes the things Stephan claimed because none of it makes anysense. The Daxel family is beloved by the people, nothing in all the interactions I had seen proved anything different. Nothing except for the council. But Stephan had also spoken of those who did not live in Galdr, and I had not traveled outside of the spaces that Nox took me to. Gods, and I am supposed to be theirqueen? I had not madeanyeffort to get to know the people that I would be ruling over, either by blood or by marriage. It is another crack in my armor exposed—one that the king, Simon, and Stephan had taken advantage of soeasily.
