It didn’t matter; she knew.
“Thorne…” The soft way she said my name made my entire body hinge on the words coming from her lips. “Has he killed anyone?”
I swallowed hard and turned away from her. “That’s not a question for me to answer, Empress.”
Her softness immediately solidified into steel. “Then tell me where he is.”
“What?”
She began walking back the way we came. “Galen. Show me what room he’s in. This conversation is overdue, anyway.”
I blinked back my surprise, nearly stumbling as I tried to follow her. “Clarissa, you can’t go barging into his room in the dead of night. He’s the King of Mysthelm.”
She whirled on me. Her dark eyes burned gold, a snarl ripping from her. “And I’m the Empress of the Veridian Empire. I’m done waiting for answers.”
20
Clarissa
Istormed through the winding maze and back up the path to Silenus Manor. Thorne’s heavy footsteps sounded behind me, but he didn’t make any effort to stop me.
My mind reeled with everything I’d learned. The fact that Mysthelm had magic in any form was something I hadn’t expected in my wildest dreams, much less this vengeful curse the Fates had placed on the Grimaldis.
It made sense, though. The way Galen was so careful not to touch me with his bare skin, how his hands and arms were covered at all times. That one moment in the garden when I reached out to touch him and he got so angry.
What would happen if Ididtouch him?
How many people had discovered the hard way?
And what Thorne said about it becoming uncontrollable and spreading to the rest of the kingdom… If nobody could figure out a way to stop his curse, how much longer would his people withstand it? How much longer until his subjects began to fall prey to this deadly rot too? Till their crops and livestock died off, and they were left with nothing?
This was more than I’d been prepared to handle. And they’d played me for a fool.
I gritted my teeth. I should have beentold. I shouldn’t be having to force secrets from the king’s advisor and charge into Galen’s bedchamber like a raging lion.
But here I was.
I stopped at the intersection of two corridors, glancing down each one. Thorne chose that moment to finally speak. “Clarissa, think about?—”
“Where is he?” I hissed.
Pursing his lips, the muscles at his jaw clenched as he pointed a resigned finger to the left. I marched down the hall until I came across a pair of wide double doors with two guards stationed in front.
“Let me in,” I ordered.
The guards exchanged a wary glance with each other. “Your Majesty, it’s the middle of the night.”
“I’m aware, thank you. I need to see King Grimaldi.”
One of them eyed Thorne, who simply looked at me as if to say,you got yourself into this.
I sighed. “I just need to speak with him for a moment. If you could please tell him that?—”
The door opened, and Galen’s head peeked out, his brown hair mussed from sleep. “What’s going on?” His eyes sharpened when he spotted Thorne and me. “Clarissa? What’s the matter?”
I leveled him with a stare. “We need to talk.”
His face paled. He searched Thorne’s features for a moment before his shoulders fell and he opened the door wider. “Come in.”
