As soon as I do, I see everyone gathered around the kitchen table. Slade’s eyes immediately flick up to me when I appear through the doorway, and I see the stress on his face a second before he wipes it away.
“Auren.”
Everyone else at the table turns to look at me, as does Ryatt, who was standing in the kitchen doorway with his back to me.
None of them quite have the poker face that Slade does. But even if they did, I’d still be able to sense something was wrong from their stinted silence. Even Hojat, whose presence is always so calm, has strained lines of worry creasing his face.
My eyes fall to the scroll that’s been rolled out on the table. It looks like it’s been passed hand to hand, crinkles marring the scrawled words.
“What’s going on?” I ask, my eyes dragging back up.
Lu and Judd look to Slade, and even Digby cocks a brow at him, like he’s waiting for Slade to come clean.
When Slade hesitates, Judd cuts in with an easygoing grin. “Hey there, Gildy. Heard you found out why we really call him Rip. Bit of a show-off, making a whole-ass rip into the world, don’t you think? Personally, I preferred all the rumors thatwecame up with to explain his nickname,” he tells me. “It was fun spreading them.”
Lu smirks. “Like he got the name for ripping people’s heads off in battles.”
Judd nods. “Or having ripped muscles—the women liked that one.”
“Rest In Peace.”
“Ripping people a new one.”
“Being a rip-off.”
“Ripping through lives.”
Judd’s eyes light up. “Or ripping some nasty ass far—”
“Enough,” Slade says with a sigh. Judd snickers.
“Thanks for that,” I tell them. “And yes, it was quite the surprise. But I really just want to know what’s happening now.” My eyes look around the room. “There’s something that’s been going on since we’ve been here, right?”
To my surprise, Ryatt is the one who answers. “Yes, there has been.”
“Ryatt,” Slade growls.
“What?” he snaps back. “She’s up. She’s healed. And now, she’sasking. You’re wasting time—time that’s not only yours to waste. It’s nothersto waste.”
“What does that mean?” I ask, unease churning through my stomach. “Is this about...Midas?”
Hojat shifts in his seat. Judd’s eyes move to Slade again. Lu flicks her wooden lip piercing with her tongue.
“What does the letter say?” I ask warily.
It’s the look on Slade’s face that makes my chest tighten, that makes cold dread flood my veins.
“What does it say, Slade?”
Instead of answering, he gets to his feet, digs a hand into his pocket, and pulls out a handful of scrolls. My eyes widen when they spill onto the table. “The monarchs have demanded that you answer for the death of Midas—that you stand trial at a royal Conflux. They claim…”
My heart crashes against my chest. “They claim what?”
He lets out a weary sigh. “They’re claiming that you stole Midas’s gold-touch. That you became jealous when he announced his betrothal to Queen Kaila, and you killed him in a fit of rage. And…that you’ve seduced me.”
My mouth parts in shock, ribs cracking with the force of my heartbeat. “And that...that’s what those letters are? A kind of summons?”
“Some of them.”
