We were out of options. My outrageous proposal might just be the thing that saved Raewyn’s life.
Father’s expression curdled.
“You’ve just provedonce againyou arenotking material and never will be. Let us hope your brother gets over this ‘sickness,’ or we are all doomed. The girl is a nuisance. She must be put down.”
“She’s more than a nuisance, she’s dangerous,” Sorcha said, speaking eagerly now. “There’s only one way to break the spell. The girl must die.”
So this had been her aim in helping my father, to eliminate Raewyn and exact her price for the broken bargain while concealing her own involvement in the plot.
Rolling his eyes, my father dismounted and drew his own dagger.
“As my guard is too cowardly to obey my order, I guess I’ll have to do this myself.”
He approached us, and I spun away to hunch my body around Raewyn, giving him my undefended back. He was literally going to have to go through me to get to her.
Behind me, I heard the shift of his armor as he raised the weapon.
“Father, stop,” Stellon yelled. “I’ll give her up. I’ll marry Lady Glenna.”
“I’ve heard that before,” our father said. “Turn away if you don’t want to see it. I’m doing what has to be done. You’ll forgive me when she’s dead and the spell is broken.”
“I won’t forgive you for murdering my brother,” he said. “Neither will Mareth. We’ll both hate you forever, and we’ll make sure everyone in the kingdom knows it. We’ll spread the news far and wide thatbothyour sons were so weak that we were brain-washed by a half-human and a witch’s spell. You’ll lose all respect among the lords and other High Fae.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Father said.
“Oh I would, and I will,” Stellon vowed.
He was desperate now, casting about for anything he could say that would stop this. He’d picked a good one. We both knew how ashamed our sire was of our inferior glamours, and his reputation was everything to him.
The King couldn’t abide the appearance of weakness.
It gave me an idea.
Keeping Raewyn blocked by my body, I turned back around.
“Stellon’s spellbound, but I’m not, and I can prove it,” I said. “You’re missing a golden opportunity here, Father.”
“What are you talking about?” the King asked, dagger still raised and at the ready.
“There are things you still don’t know, butIknow the truth about this woman. The full truth. I gleaned a truth-sayer’s glamour. I know about the assassination plot.”
Sorcha’s face paled, and Stellon’s became frantic.
What are you doing?he demanded silently.
“Assassination plot?” Father echoed. I had his attention now.
“You’re talking about the poison that was discovered?” he asked.
I nodded. “Do you remember meeting Lady Wyn at the ball? The young woman who claimed to hail from Altum?”
Please don’t,Stellon begged mind to mind.You swore not to betray me.
I’m not betraying you. I’m protecting you. I have to dosomethinghere. You’ll get over her,I said.
“I remember,” Father said in a cautious tone, obviously wondering where this was going.
“She’s the one we’ve been looking for—and failing to find—since the poison was discovered,” he said.
