“I’m sure you’ll be plenty busy,” he retorted.
He forced himself to look back at her and see the hurt. If he was going to be a jackass, he was going to face the result of that. Let the guilt weigh on him. It was just another layer of inadequacy at this point.
So he took in her tear-stained face and hurt-filled eyes before he Traveled, leaving her in his study.
A few days had turned into ten.
That was how long he’d been at his cave. Not the entire time. He’d ventured out at least once a day to fly. Sometimes during the day, but more often at night. Despite not being born in this realm, he’d still acclimated to the schedule of the kingdom, preferring moonlight over daylight.
He hadn’t contacted Wren. He absolutely knew he should. He’d been an utter ass to her, but that was an apology he owed her in person. A simple note wouldn’t do. She knew him, and an actual spoken apology would mean more than anything because he rarely apologized for anything.
As requested, he checked in with Tybalt twice a day, every day. Which is why he knew the creatures of old were stirring again. His uncle was far more gracious than he was, providing updates from his daily reports, as well as letting him know if Kailia left the castle. Razik never acknowledged that part of his reports, but he appreciated them. Despite the queen no longer wanting him around, some part of him was still satisfied to know what she was doing.
He hated that he cared at all.
Now he sat in one of the pools of hot springs that were housed in the network of passages off the main part of his cave. The steaming water lapped around him as he sat on a ledge beneath the water. It allowed him to be submerged nearly to his shoulders, and he rested his head back against the edge.
When he wasn’t flying, he was buried in books. The books he’d brought with him had been useless, and he’d resorted toselecting random books off his shelves. Everything led to a dead-end, so it didn’t seem to matter what book he looked in at this point. He’d hoped to stumble upon something useful. Then again, all knowledge was useful, but nothing for what he needed right now.
He was missing something. There was no way, after spending weeks and weeks with Kailia, he wouldn’t have picked up on what her underlying motives were. She had to have slipped up at some point, even if it was something minor. Something that had seemed unimportant at the time but actually gave her away. These were the types of things she spent her time in her magic watching and listening for. When he looked at it that way, Cethin was probably smart in figuring out a way to keep her from doing so in the castle, especially in the beginning when she very clearly hadn’t wanted to be there.
That had changed at some point. He’d watched it happen slowly over these last months. He’d like to say it was all his own doing, but Cethin had clearly had a bigger impact. Razik could always tell when something significant had transpired between them. She was quieter and more contemplative, likely processing the interaction and how it was affecting her.
It hadn’t all been Cethin though. She’d fought to keep Razik as her personal guard at one point. She hadn’t backed down, pushing back against the king, which made it all the harder to believe this was what she wanted. She didn’t let Cethin push her around. He didn’t know what the terms of their bargain were regarding their marriage, but he knew she would have had her own demands. The one thing he’d heard her repeatedly request, though, was to be queen in more than title.
He sat up straight at the thought.
It couldn’t be that obvious, could it?
But it was.
It absolutely fucking was.
“Motherfucker,” he growled, climbing out of the water and grabbing the nearby towel.
They’d missed it. They all had. She was awkward and a little odd, but she was also a godsdamn Ash Rider. She’d told them she’d been trained in stealth and spying. She’d told them she’d been trained as a mercenary too. Everything. Every bit of information she’d given them and the way she had delivered it had been on purpose. This entire time, she’d been doing the exact thing he had been. She’d been gathering information for her own purposes.
And they’d readily handed it over.
Every fucking conversation.
He could look back on them all and see it. How she asked him to help her get to know the kingdom. How he’d willingly offered to help her figure out her role as queen. The seemingly innocent questions about the markets and the intense studying of the other cities and the continent. All of it would be expected of her, but she’d played her role so godsdamn well. She’d bided her time, keeping her questions about the kingdom simple and superficial for a long while until they got more invasive. When she’d be visibly irritated that Cethin wouldn’t tell her where he went during the latest hours of the night. The increasing desperation to figure out her power. Her asking what in Avonleya would be a threat to the dragons. He ignored every suspicion because after she got her answer, she’d move on to another topic, as if it were merely her curiosity and bid to understand and nothing more.
She’d used him and played them all. If he was right in this, she’d always wanted that crown. Always wanted the throne. That was why she’d agreed to this bargain with Cethin. Which meant?—
None of the stabbings were an accident.
All of them had been on purpose, but Cethin had kept his secrets from her. Almost as if he’d known what she was doing. How much did he tell her the day Razik had handed Kailia that information on a silver fucking platter? So furious with Cethin because he thought he was taking advantage of Kailia, when it had been the other way around this entire time. Did she know what he was now? Did she know why none of her blades or arrows had ended his life? Because that was the only way she was going to have that throne all to herself.
It all fit. Every single memory and discussion that came back to him only furthered his theory.
But why?
What did she have to gain by ruling Avonleya?
Unless she wasn’t working alone.
He uttered more curses as he frantically dressed and threw a few things into a leather bag before Traveling to Tybalt’s estate.
