While still pissedoff about Slate stopping Gray from going into devolution, I basked in the high that Leo’s soul provided me while I lazed on the sofa in my chambers’ living room. A quick knock came from the other side of my door. I rolled my eyes at the disturbance. It could only be one person, considering everyone but him and Celanea avoided me like the plague. Leo’s dead body in the Great Hall was further proof of that. And Celanea would never lower herself to coming to me. If she wanted to speak, she simply summoned me through the Syphon Bond.
“What do you want?” I called out, knowing Forest could hear me.
The door opened, and he stepped inside, pristine in his usual suit, though the corners of his eyes were creased with stress lines, while half-moons hung beneath them, suggesting he wasn’t sleeping as much as he probably should.
Closing the door behind him, Forest crossed the distance between us. “I see you’ve met Brecken.”
I lashed out my shadows, directing them to infiltrate his chest and latch on to his heart. “What do you want?” I seethed through a clenched jaw.
Forest gasped, his mouth opening wide and eyes bulging from his skull. His face morphed into a dark shade of red. “Celanea’s pissed with you. Killing me will only earn more of her wrath, boy,” he wheezed. “Down, dog.”
“I can’t wait until the day I can look into your lifeless eyes and spit on your cold face,” I said with a thick layer of wishfulness. I studied his verdant beard. It looked less than perfect these days. With a defeated sigh, I released my shadows from his heart, stepping away from the tormentor of my past.
“You can’t kill me. Imadeyou. Even without a soul, you’re still ungrateful,” Forest scoffed, brushing his suit off and settling his hair back down.
“Oh, I can. But it’s not me you have to worry about. It’s my queen.”
Forest narrowed his eyes, the corners forming slight lines as his jaw clenched. “My daughter is many things. But a person capable of committing patricide is not one of them. She doesn’t have it in her.” The slight quaver in his voice didn’t match his words. He shifted his stance, straightening his posture to appear taller.
I chuckled. “You really don’t know her at all. Which is surprising, considering youmadeher, right?” Once again, that deep yearning for Gray struck my heart. The kind that felt right, yet made meuncomfortable. But the thought of her standing over Forest’s corpse had me smiling like a fool.
“Enough of this,” Forest clipped. “As we speak, Celanea is currently torturing some Endarkened since you just killed one of her original Infernals. Unless you want that to be you, then I suggest you and I take a little trip.”
My mouth wrinkled in disgust. “I think I’ll take my chances with her torture, thanks.”
“I don’t think you will,” Forest mused. “You see, first, she’ll nullify your magic, leaving you powerless. Then she’ll hang you by your arms in chains, flay you bit by bit with her curses. She’ll plant memories in your mind that never existed, make you forget who you were altogether. And once she’s satisfied with the person you believe yourself to be, possibly someone scared, weak, and frail, then she’ll set you free into a pit of Endarkened, letting their starved and depraved states drive them to mutilate you alive. And since you’re Infernal, you can’t die unless you lose your head, so the torture will drag on for however long it takes.”
“And she would risk her only chance of taking control of the aether in Arcadia? She needs me, dickhead.” I crossed my arms, not buying his threat.
“I don’t know if you’ve realized this yet or not, but Celanea is a bit…impulsive with her anger. A man can only temper a woman’s rage so much. Especially her. She’s older than either of us can imagine. So she’d no doubt find another way. Possibly by turning to Gray.”
I wanted nothing more than to carve the smug expression off his face. But the mere threat of Gray’s well-being at Celanea’s hands had my spine locking up and the breath halting in my lungs. I couldn’t risk it.
“She needs the true High King and Queen united and turned Infernal. She needs the Seraphite Stone. And I just discovered why she needs me to find it. It seems the Wind Kingdom has quite thefortified protections that are designed to keep her out,” I countered hopefully, waiting for him to cave on his bluff.
Forest laced his fingers together, poising his hands across his torso before taking a calculated step forward. “Perhaps I misled you all those years into believing that you weren’t expendable. Because rest assured, you are. You are a tool. Always have been and always will be. I don’t know how you’re able to beat Celanea’s bond, but you’re proving that you are more of a liability than an investment. I should’ve never let you live when you fled the Royal Domain. That was my mistake. But I naively believed that with enough pressure, you could be tamed and managed. And yet, here you are, defying the odds once again. You have one more opportunity to prove to me that your existence is salvageable. If not, then I’ll have you put down like the collared dog that you are.”
My fists clenched and my nostrils flared. The shadows begged me to let them free and do their bidding. Instead, I forced a tight smile, not breaking my stare as Forest’s dark gaze bore into me. If it weren’t for our past, I might’ve allied with him. If it weren’t for what he’d done to Gray, I wouldn’t have an issue with him. But he hurt her. And that couldn’t be overlooked, regardless of the stakes.
“You can’t control me with your words anymore, Forest. I’m not your personal weapon to wield. Your biggest mistake wasn’t being naïve. It was believing that you could ever command me to begin with. I’ve been plotting your death for longer than I could form memories. Perhaps you should fault your own lack of intelligence for missing the clues. I might’ve failed, but I promise you, your death isn’t mine. It’s your daughter’s.” I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. “As for my ability to evade Celanea’s total mind control shit… Like I said, nobody gets to have that kind of power over me. Not even an ancient witch like her. I’ll do what I must, but make no mistake, the moment I’ve done what she needs of me, I’ll be free to watch you die a slow death at Gray’s hands.”
The former king’s eyes widened a fraction, a momentary lapse of fear rising to the surface. I let my promise sink in, knowing he wasalready concocting ways to prevent that from happening. But it didn’t matter; I didn’t fear him. I didn’t fear Celanea. I feared no one and nothing.
“Now.” I retreated a step, creating some space between us to end the topic. “What is it you came to me for? Or was it just another failed attempt totameme once again?”
Forest cleared his throat, shifting his stance once more. I smirked at his discomfort.
“You and I need to pay a visit to someone,” Forest said. “It’s time to bring them here.”
“Who?” I lowered my brows.
Forest chuckled. “My daughter.”
Chapter Seventeen
Cotton
“Show me, Cotton.” Nell’s encouraging voice unlocked the door leading to my worst memory. The one that altered my life forever. Before I realized what was happening, I tumbled through a maelstrom of past events in my life, Nell’s wise and old spirit attached to me until I slammed to a stop, landing in the King’s Palace as my nine-year-old self.
