That was it. The one thing that could hurt him.
I shouldn’t. It was cruel. But he’d dragged me here, and now they discussed my future while I sat silent.
Screw it.
I met his eyes. “Tell me how a king ends up chained in a foreign court, doing the bidding of another.”
“Because I made a deal.”
I frowned. “A faerie deal?”
Kairos’s jaw worked like he was chewing glass. When he finally spoke, his voice was rough, stripped of its usual arrogance.
“A rune bound me to Skaldir. You broke it.”
“So the rune I destroyed?—”
“Shattered more than my chains.” He cut me off, his tone making it clear the subject was closed.
A sick silence rippled between us.
He’d been a prisoner for decades, and he wasn’t what the realm remembered. I glanced at his sister. How did she feel about this? Were his subjects loyal to him?
“Trust me, human. You’re safe here,” he said, gesturing to the food. “You’ll eat like this every day. Sleep on soft sheets. Bathe in hot water. Wear all the pretty dresses you could ever want.”
I hated how my heart pounded.
He smiled slowly. “If you don’t run, it’s all yours.”
“For how long?”
“Forever. I swear it. All I ask for is loyalty.”
He made it sound so simple. As if pledging myself to him was another transaction.
“A message came from your prince this morning.”Kairos dragged out a crumpled note and tossed it onto the table. “Delivered by hawk.”
I leaned forward. The wax seal bore the Skaldir crest, cracked down the middle. The parchment looked like it had been crushed in someone’s fist. I reached for it, carefully unfolding the letter. It contained a single rune.
Kairos pressed his finger onto the inked lines. They shimmered, reforming across the page into letters.
Kairos,
Return what belongs to me. Force my hand, and your realm will bleed. You know how this ends.
—V
My stomach clenched.
He lifted his finger, and the ink vanished. “Touch the rune.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
I touched the mark. The ink swirled, looping into new words.
Aelie,
