“I’m sorry.” I shook it off. “I… I’m not feeling like myself.”
Yusilin attempted a smile, but her eyes were dark with worry. “You have been unwell.”
“I have? Unwell how?”
“You… hit your head, and the healers had to work on you for a long time.”
“How did I hit my head?” No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember the incident, although that probably wasn’t uncommon with head injuries.
“You tripped and fell in the gardens. I believe this is why your grandfather wishes to see you this morning. So he can see for himself that you are feeling better.”
I read between those lines. My grandfather may indulge me as his granddaughter, but he had no time or patience for anything he considered to be a weakness. If I couldn’t prove to him that I had gotten past my injury, he would keep me from important meetings. The kind of important meetings that I needed to attend if I would one day rule with Pischiel.
Relief swept through me as I followed Yusilin to the vanity so she could do my hair. That was why I was having issues with my memory. A head injury. But I couldn’t allow my grandfather to learn of those ongoing issues. I needed to convince him I was myself. Healthy, powerful, and once again ready to learn all he had to teach me.
I rolled my shoulders, ignoring the tiny voice that screamed at me.
This is wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
“I wonder if Pischiel will attend court today,” I said instead.
Yusilin beamed at the change of subject. “He never seems to miss an opportunity to woo you,” she sighed. “It’s so romantic.”
Yes.Hewas romantic. So why was I being haunted by molten silver eyes?
I pushed the thought away, anger making my shoulders tight. I wouldn’t allow a head injury to make my grandfather lose faith in me.
After all, all we had was each other.
* * *
SAMAEL
I landed outside Finvarra’s keep, conscious of the unseelie who were watching my every move. I could practically feel the enchanted crossbows trained on my back. If the unseelie king hadn’t agreed to this meeting, I had no doubt that I would have been shot with poisonous arrows as soon as I’d gotten within five hundred feet of the keep.
It wouldn’t have stopped me, but it would have hurt.
Ignoring the guards, I strode up the steps of his keep as if I owned it.
One of them made the mistake of stepping in front of me, his eyes hard.
My hand clamped around his throat, and I squeezed, enjoying the way his face changed color. Another guard leapt toward me, his sword swinging, and I glanced at him, my power sending him flying into the wall.
Cold burrowed into my stomach, arching out toward my limbs until I was encased in it. The violence felt good. I had been forced to suppress all my instincts to kill. Now, I could take the edge off, release some of the tension—
“He will see you,” another guard announced.
I glanced at him. His expression was carefully neutral, but his gaze darted between my face and the hand I had wrapped around the other guard’s throat.
I sighed and released my hand, ignoring the guard as he dropped to his knees. Several of Finvarra’s men jumped forward, one of them calling for a healer as I strolled up the stairs.
I’d always approved of Finvarra’s home. It was easily defensible, with one entire side builtintothe mountain, ensuring enemies had few opportunities to get close.
The same guard who’d told me Finvarra would see me gave me a distrustful look. But he waved his hand, and both of the huge black doors creaked open, revealing the entranceway. “His Majesty is in his office,” he said stiffly. “I will take you to him.”
Agaliarept had been… displeased at the thought of me coming alone, but the unseelie king and I currently needed each other.
Finvarra hated the seelie king almost as much as I hated Lucifer. The enemy of my enemy may not be my friend, but he would do as an ally. For now.
