Vina’s fingers trembled, her eyes huge in her pale face as she tried to speak. “L-Lord Vilderon. I-I…”
He held up a hand, and she immediately fell quiet. “What did my daughter promise you for your loyalty?”
Her eyes darted to me again as I glared at her. I’d kill her myself if I could.
“D-decari enough to l-leave this village and s-set up home in Acrasia, m-my Lord.”
I felt Vilderon nod, his chin brushing my hair. “Indeed. Well, here’s your money.” A bag landed at Edvina’s feet. “It’s a pity you won’t be able to spend it.”
Four quick, brutal stabs ended Edvina’s dreams of leaving Birchbridge behind. Two to each renal artery. Her legs sagged, and I watched as she slumped to the ground, ruby-red blood seeping from underneath her and staining the pale sandy earth. Her eyes slowly found mine, and her mouth opened as she tried to speak, but she didn’t get a chance, not when her life drained away with her blood.
Vilderon waved his hand dismissively like he was brushing away a gnat from the air. Two warriors sprinted from the tree line and dragged her body from view. Within moments, deep violet magic swept dust over the blood, making it appear like it had never been.
Stone’s father.I was still processing what that meant for Stone and me when a huge silver-grey wolf charged from behind the tavern. Stone skidded to a halt, his teeth bared and blood lust in his glowing purple eyes.
Vilderon pulled me closer to his body, and I could only stand mute in his arms.
“Hello, son.”
Chapter 22
Stone.
“Marriage? You can’t be fucking serious.” My boots clicked on the highly polished floor of my father’s office as I paced in front of his desk. I cracked my neck, trying to release my cramping muscles. I was going to kill my father the moment Shannon was safe. My fury was a living, breathing thing under my skin. He needed to stop fucking touching her. My palms stung, and it took all my self-control to force my claws away and unfurl my fists.
Shannon’s gaze was lowered to the floor, her face pale and her hands trembling as she knelt beside my father. My wolf’s rage, combined with mine, was becoming more difficult to control the longer my father kept his hand on the back of her neck.
I shouldn’t have left her. I’d known something was wrong, sensed danger from the moment we’d arrived at that godsdamned cottage. I should have known better. Even if I’d not sensed any life, I’d known something evil was nearby, though I’d not considered it might have anything to do with my father. He’dalways used a significant force when hunting me down, so I’d expected news to reach me through Ventry’s spies. It had been a stupid mistake to ignore that my father’s influence had always exceeded his borders.
“You were the one who always told me I didn’t belong, who didn’t want me tainting the blood of the Fae with my wolf. Now you want to marry me off to some Unseelie female? An enemy we’ve fought for centuries? For what? What do you get out of the deal?”
My father had always been a selfish, power-hungry bastard, but a deal with his enemy was pushing it, even for him. He’d spent hundreds, possibly thousands of years fighting this war, so he had to be getting something vital from them. Unless… Was he reaching the end of his life? Going mad?
Behind him, a pale and yet eerily beautiful creature stood quietly observing. It was Fae, yet not, malicious darkness seeping from it into the air. It said nothing, yet I knew it was taking in everything.
Unseelie, maybe?
It appeared neither obviously male nor female, dressed in dark yet expensive clothes unlike anything I’d seen before, a mix of flowing skirts over the functional fighting leathers of a warrior. But the ancient runes embroidered on them gave me pause. They were a sight I’d not seen since I was a boy in school, and my memory couldn’t pull out the information I wanted that would tell me what they were. The faint scent of death surrounding it was just like what I’d sensed in the forest. I strained my ears but couldn’t hear its heartbeat, which was...strange. As shifters, we could detect the heartbeat of any living thing. But most worrying was a primordial essence of power that put every instinct on alert. It was so very wrong. As if the creature shouldn’t be here, in this reality.
A twitch of its lips was the only outward sign that it knew what effect it had on me, yet its black, fathomless eyes glinted with amusement, giving me the sense it was more dangerous than anyone else in this room. Me included. I snarled, yet it merely looked at me, no sign of fear as those black orbs held my gaze with steady confidence and no small amount of disdain. My wolf rose to the surface as I instinctively wanted to fight this ethereal foe and get Shannon far away from it. My father thought himself the most powerful in the room. He wasn’t. Not by any stretch. This being was.
This was what, or rather who, I’d sensed in the forest. The creeper that had been watching me and Shannon. The chuckle he gave was enough to confirm his gender. And I wanted to slash his eyes from his skull, knowing he’d watched us together, had seen Shannon come as I fucked her within an inch of her life.
“Sit down, Stone.”
My gaze snapped to Vilderon’s, and I snarled at his commanding tone. “Fuck you. I stopped taking orders from you a long time ago.”
His cold smirk sent ice through my veins. “Is that so?” He ran his fingers through Shannon’s hair, letting the silky strands slip through his fingers before grabbing her neck again. My heart skipped a few beats. It was a warning. His gaze held mine as his hold tightened. Shannon’s jaw clenched, her eyes closing. “Sit. Or I’ll hurt her.”
My heart squeezed. Immediately, I took the seat he indicated, my body coiled and tight.
“Just so we’re clear, my informant here is off-limits.”
Informant?That creature wasn’t an informant, and he sure as shit wasn’t under my father’s control. But that kind of arrogance could work in my favour…
“And you, son, have always been under my control. You may not have been in Faery, but that doesn’t mean you were beyondmy reach. Who do you think sold your whereabouts to Doherty? Who do you think gave the order to have your mate killed?”
My spine straightened, my stomach roiling even as ice filled my veins. “What?”
