“So… Xyliria?” I asked, the name scraping out of my throat. I didn’t know how to finish the question.Dead? Gone? Torn to fucking ribbons?
“Yes,” Ashterion said, far too fucking casual. “Her death was… most convenient.” A grin curled across his mouth, wicked and unrepentant. “She was a truly tiresome creature, and I was rather sick of playing to her whims. So, thank you for that.”
I levelled a flat look at him. “Why didn’t you kill her yourself?”
Ashterion twirled the wedding band on his finger. “And here I thought you might be clever after all. But if you can’t figure out the answer to that… perhaps not.”
Merrick snorted from the ground.
I stared at him, refusing to back down from his mocking tone. “You were bound to her somehow. Magically. That’s why you couldn’t stop her.”
His smile thinned, shadows hissing at his feet. “Very good.”
“The marriage contract,” I said, remembering his cryptic words from before. “You said something about reading the fine print.”
Ashterion’s laugh was a low, bitter thing. But he didn’t answer.
Instead, he asked, “How’d you do it?”
I sucked in a breath through my teeth. “Do what?”
“Kill Xyliria.” He flinched as he said her name, but there was no rage in him. No grief. Just a faint trace of amusement mingled with genuine curiosity.
“She was hardly a weak fae,” he mused. “And yet, here we are. So, tell me, how did you manage it?”
I shrugged, folding my arms tightly over my chest. “A dagger to the heart seemed to do the trick.”
Ashterion chuckled. “Mmm.” His expression was far too knowing. “That’s not thewholeanswer, though, is it?”
Whatever had happened in that moment—whateverpowerhad surged through me, whatever hadwrapped around Xyliria’s throat and devoured her magic—I wasn’t about to share it with him.
“Are you planning to keep me here aspunishment, then?”
Ashterion pushed off the pillar, moving with that liquid grace that seemed more pronounced now, more primal. The shadows followed, so much like mine yet not like mine at all.
“No,” he said smoothly. “I’ll return you to your court shortly.”
I scoffed. “Oh, how generous of you.”
He smiled faintly. “But first some advice. You?—”
“I don’t want anything from you.” My voice was filled withlingering rage, withexhaustion, with theweeksof torment that had led to this. “Certainly notadvice.”
“Fair enough.” Ashterion nodded, clearly unsurprised. “I’m giving it anyway.”
I clenched my fists, every muscle in my bodycoiled tight,ready. For what, I didn’t know.
He paused just long enough to let the weight of it settle.
“Be careful.”
I stilled.
“I may be a male who wears the skin of a monster proudly.” A cold smile tugged at his lips. “But there are others who are much more adept athiding what they are.”
My heartbeat pounded against my ribs.
“You’ve placed your trust—yourlife—in another’s hands,” he continued. “But tell me, fireling.” His lips curved, but there was no humour in it. “How well do you truly know him?”
