“Three.”
A low growl of frustration left his throat, and he pushed his hands through his hair. Aydra watched him a moment, and for the briefest of seconds, the memory of past Venari betrayals entered her mind. She pushed past him and followed Lex from the room.
Their quick footsteps echoed in the silent hall. Aydra couldn’t stop turning her ring over and over on her finger, a knot forming in her stomach as the thoughts of betrayal invaded her consciousness and core.
Her raven screeched over her head.
She was wrong… right?
“Is there something you should be telling me?” Aydra asked as they reached the next hall.
“Like what?” he asked.
Her jaw tightened. “I think you know.”
“Like telling you as in you think I’ve unleashed these creatures on your kingdom?” Draven knew.
“Have you?” she dared to ask.
“There was once such a plan, yes—”
Aydra stalled in her steps and rounded on him. “Excuse me?”
His jaw tightened, and his eyes flickered to the ground. And when he didn’t speak, her heart began to throb in her ears.
“You speak about such a plan so causally,” she hissed. “Has this all been a rouse? Our entire relationship? A trick to take over the Promised crown?”
His gaze met hers, and the sadness resting in his pupils made her chest constrict. “Is that what you think of me?” he said in a voice barely audible.
Her weight shifted. “It’s not what Iwantto think—”
“Then why would you say it?”
“For the same reason you once asked me if I’d called my brother to invade your realm,” she spat. Her gaze washed over his figure, and she pressed her hands to her hips. “Given our own history and the history of our races, I have to ask.”
He straightened, and a blank expression filled his shadowed features. “So ask it.”
Her arms crossed over her chest, and the words she was forced to speak broke her heart. “Have you allowed Infi to live and brought them here? To invade our towns and my kingdom in an attempt to take over this realm as kings of your past have done?”
“Not during my reign,” he answered.
“But there was a plan?”
“We don’t have time for this,” Lex interjected.
“A plan I abandoned,” Draven continued. “I have not let any Infi live during my time as king. You saw me the morning after during the Deads.”
“And are there any of his old supporters in your ranks? Anyone who would—”
“The people now in my kingdom would not go against my leadership,” he insisted. “You know them. You have spent time with them.”
She wanted to believe him. She wanted to take his words as truth.
“Drae!”
Dorian was running at them down the hall. She reached out as he caught up, and he nearly bounded into her. “What’s happened? Where are they?”
“A few of the smiths cornered them, locked them up,” said Lex.
