My shoulders heaved, the room dimmed as my eyes blackened. I faced the two kings, enjoying how they flinched at the sight of my mesmer. “We have a saying amongst our clans when someone has wronged us: you have been marked, Kings, and we never lose sight of our marks.”
Without another word, I darted from the room straight into Dorsan’s chest.
“Prince Jonas.” He dipped his head.
I nudged him forward. “Hurry, you sod. Skadi has need of us.”
Chapter 40
The Mist Thief
Cara would not stop fussingover my choice of travel attire, insisting it would be quite impressive to my in-laws should I arrive looking more regal, and not like a passenger off a barge.
I mused to myself, my mother and father-in-law would be more impressed if I found a way to win a pouch of coin off Nightseer without him realizing he’d been duped.
“Cara.” I sealed one of the laces on my satchel and faced the woman. “I do hope you’ll try to come see me in alver lands. Perhaps then, you might understand what life is like in the Black Palace.”
She tightened her mouth as she always did, but buried beneath it all was the slightest hint of a grin. The woman knew she was a little ridiculous, but I thought the week with Jonas, his affection toward me, his questions about her life, her folk, her interests, had begun to soften her rigid heart.
A knock came to the door. Cara nearly swatted my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks before I dared answer the door first.
Gods, it would be welcome to return to days where folk did not take note of every damn step I took.
“Hello, Skadinia.”
My heart froze.
I could not draw in a deep enough breath. Slow, like my heels were rusted hinges on a weathered door, I faced the doorway.
Arion.
His face was handsome and sharp in his features. Crimson stubble coated his chin more than it had when he’d overtaken the palace months ago, when he forced me to use my affinity for his benefit, when he threatened to kill my grandfather when he knew the battle was lost to the fae.
His presence was made worse when Cian appeared at his back and closed the door behind them.
Cara kept quiet, occasionally casting me stern looks, mute commands for me to keep my manners. All I wanted to do was run.
“Nothing to say?” Arion approached and reached out one hand, like he might tuck a lock of hair behind my ear.
I jerked my head away.
His grin faltered. “It shouldn’t be this way between us. We’ve known each other so long,chridhe.”
I winced. Gods, how I hated his endearment, spoken as though I mattered. It added ice to my veins, so different than the wayFiresent my heart spinning when spoken from Jonas’s lips.
“You should’ve thought of how I might view you when you kept me as your prisoner here and forced me into the dark.”
Cian clucked, circling around the prince until he managed to crowd me from behind before I could move away. His hands went to my shoulders, holding me still between him and Arion.
Beneath his touch my skin prickled like hundreds of creeping legs crawled under my flesh.
“Did you learn nothing from all our lessons, Princess?” Cian tilted his head closer. “If you did not control your darkness, then the blame falls to you. It shows what you are in the core of your soul.”
I squeezed my eyes, trembling, and shook him away. “Do not touch me.”
Cara took hold of my arm, drawing me nearer, and stared at Cian with her sharp disapproval. “Itisindecent.” She faced Arion. “My Lord,perhaps you would be better suited to speak to My Lady with her husband present.”
“Yes, please do. Perhaps he will cut out your tongue so I do not get blood on my dress!”
