But perhaps Pharis was.
Perhapsthatwas why he’d done such shocking and unexplainable things when it had come to Raewyn.
Sorcha had conducted a virginity test on me at my father’s request. Maybe Earthwives could also detect when a person had been spelled.
A knowing smile spread across Caitriona’s face.
“Would His Majesty like for me to test him?”
“Oh no, not me,” I clarified. “Someone else. I may call upon you at a time in the future and ask you to perform such a test.”
“It would be my pleasure. One good turn deserves another after all.”
She dipped her head and continued backing away until she was out of sight through the throne room doors.
I told my herald and the other attendants that would be all for the day and went to my chambers to change into riding gear. Now I had more than one purpose in going to Pharis’ castle.
Not only would I bring Raewyn back, I’d bringhimback as well—and have the Earthwife test him.
If itwasa love spell that had caused him to betray me, I might be able to have it removed and get my best friend and brother back.
Maybe that way I wouldn’t have to kill him.
After the witches removed the spell from Pharis, perhaps they could give Raewyn something to help her get over her newfound discomfort around me, something that wouldmakeher remember how much she loved me and feel that way again.
Nowthat—would be worth any price.
Arriving at Stormcrest with my personal guard, I encountered the troops I’d sent ahead. They sat on their horses at the end of the carriage path to Pharis’ castle.
“Have you found her?” I asked.
“No, Your Majesty,” the captain answered.
“Well, have you demanded entry into the house? Have you searched it?”
“We haven’t been able to… find it, Your Majesty,” the captain told me.
“What? The castle? You haven’t been able to find an enormous castle?” I asked, incredulous.
He pointed down the lane, where a wall of dark cloud protruded just above the crest of a hill.
“There is some sort of cloaking glamour protecting it, Your Majesty,” the captain explained. “My men keep getting lost in the darkness and wandering in circles.”
The young woman disappeared from our awareness some time ago, cloaked by a force our locator spells could not penetrate.
The witch’s words came back to me in a rush, along with a memory from the arena on the day Pharis and Raewyn both disappeared. A cloud of black smoke shrouding the viewing platform where my family had been sitting.
At the time, I’d naturally assumed it was the result of the dragon’s fire. Now I suspected it had been something else.
Shadow glamour.
That was why the Earthwives hadn’t been able to locate Raewyn with their spells. She’d been hidden by Pharis’ shadow glamour, only reappearing when she wasn’t with him.
And Caitriona said she’d disappeared from their “sights” once again.
Which meant she was in there with him.
“I know where the castle is,” I told my soldiers. “Follow me—and stay close when we get into the fog.”
