“The Oracle lied,” Varian whispered, his golden eyes pleading with me to believe him. “She was never executed. I know, because I watched the gallows every day. I bribed a couple of guards from the dungeons, but she wasn’t down there, either. Kept an eye on the southern road for months afterwards. I never saw Ariel again, but she wasn’t executed, of that, I’m sure.”
I’d known Varian since we could walk. I’d memorized every subtle facial expression, that dimple in his chin, every shade of his brown eyes. And as much as I wanted to continue hating him, Varian was telling the truth, at least what he thought was the truth.
And if Ariel was still alive, then all these years I’d held a grudge against the wrong person.
I rubbed my belly, all that hoarded anger forming a cold, hard pit at my center. For too long hate had given me focus, a sense of purpose. I’d driven myself harder, because I’d lost my sister. Fought without mercy, because she’d been taken away.
Getting revenge against Varian Kronos consumed years of my life.
But what…what if I’d been wrong.
What if, for whatever reason, the Oracle set her sights on me, using my sister to blackmail me into her service. Unfortunately, the old witch was dead and there’d be no vengeance had against her.
And no answers, either.
“Anyway, we knew you weren’t telling us anything, but I can hardly blame you, since you had good reason to hate us.” Varian’s smile lit up his entire face with wicked glee. “To be fair, Ryland bet me it would take three days for you to come clean. I wagered one. Wait till I tell him he owes me fifty gilder.”
“You bet on how long it would take me to admit where the prince was?” I didn’t know why I was surprised, since that was such a Ryland thing to do. “Then why did he bother talking to those males this morning?”
“Smoke and mirrors, love.” Another of those wicked winks. “But also, to ask how long the ward has been this bad and who’s controlling all that magic.” Varian’s face shuttered closed. “They said it’s been growing for six months.”
“That tracks with my reports,” I murmured. “How far to this Frostveil Keep? And what do you know about it?”
“I’ll walk and talk.” He jerked his head at the bread and cheese clutched in my hand. “You eat and walk, and whenwe catch up to Ry, we’ll tell you all about the many horrors surrounding that island.”
“Let me guess. More ways to die?”
“Oh, definitely.” Varian’s grin almost looked…happy. “And they’re all absolutely terrible.”
13
LYRAE
Ryland Storme was many things.
A liar, a selfish bastard, cleverer with his fucking tongue than any male should be, but most of all, the stubbornest ass I’d ever met in my entire life.
“We’ve been walking for hours and not a word. This has to be some kind of record,” I muttered to Varian, who hadn’t stopped talking the entire day.
I’d learned more about the Shadowlands than I ever cared to know, and thanks to Varian’s keen eye for detail, I now knew which berries would kill me and which leaves would rot my skin from my bones. There were two major cities—Ebonhollow was the biggest, but Bleakheart was the richest, given that’s where they mined heartstone—this realm’s only export.
As promised, now that we’d reached the sand, the terrain was treacherous.
Uneven ground strewn with rocks, pockmarked with sinkholes and thorny vines sharp enough to pierce my thick leather boots, Ryland guiding us mile after mile without a single incident.
I sighed.
Or a single word.
When his wide shoulders disappearedover the next ridge, I sighed. “He’s pissed I lied to him about the island, isn’t he?” I sucked in an aching breath as we climbed, my thighs burning with every step.
“More likely because he lost fifty gilder,” Varian wheezed, feet sinking deep into the sand as he powered up the hill beside me.
“No, he’s pissed off I lied to him, even though he expected me to, because he’s got the biggest fucking ego of anyone I’ve ever met. Just so you know, he fucked me over first. So I’m just getting even, really.”
“If you say so,” Varian said, gasping as he stopped, bracing his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. “I still think he’s sore because he lost our bet, but you can make this all about you, if that makes you feel better.”
“Gods, you are such an asshole,” I rolled my eyes. “Even after all these years.”
