“Oh, I’m amazing!” Emmie sighed happily, and twirled around, laughing as she threw her arms out to both sides. “Look at all this, I couldn’t believe it was all for me!”
I forced a laugh for her sake, but looked her over critically, checking for—and praying not to see—any signs of abuse. Cyrus’s ringing slap still rang in my ears.
“And he treats you well?” I inquired with a raised brow, needing to double check.
“Of course he does!” Emmie gushed as she ushered me over to a tea table by the windows, pouring two cups of tea as I sat down across from her.
“He’s so good to me, Asteria. He’s much sweeter in private than public, of course, the king must maintain his authority. But he’s interested in my life, my likes and dislikes, my friends.”
Emmie paused to sip her tea, smiling at me when she put her cup down. “He asked about you, you know. He’s more concerned about his heir than most would think. Astraeus is trying to push him to be better, and he wanted to know about those he keeps close—I sang your praises of course, and Astra seemed satisfied.”
“Oh.” I replied, unsure what to make of the king asking about me. He’d already tried to get me moved out of Cyrus’s service, thinking he was too close to me. “Does he have any plans to push him further?” I asked her carefully, wondering if he was just telling her what she wanted to hear, but it did line up with what I’d been theorizing: that the king did want Cyrus as his heir, he just wanted him to do things his way. Having Weylin replace him as heir was a smokescreen to make him think his father had other options in mind, but in truth, he was merely a catalyst to push Cyrus in a certain direction.
Was the queen aware of this, or was she in the dark like the rest of the court seemed to be? The king played a dangerous game, turning half the court against his son—a very stupid game, really. He likely thought he could do whatever he wanted with no repercussions, not realizing the damage he was doing—not only to Cyrus’s reputation and credibility, but to his son and his kingdom as well.
“Oh, yes! But—” Emmie paused and looked at me. “You can’t tell him, Astra would be furious if it got out!”
I forced a smile, fighting back a wince at her familiarity with the king.
“Of course!” I promised, feeling awful about having to lie to her, but maybe it wasn’t a total lie. I might not tell Cyrus if that ended up being better for my own plans. Still, I wasn’t happy about the way Emmie and I were being dragged into this game among royals.
“He has plans for after the wedding.” Emmie continued, smiling. “He wants to stop Night Kingdom and their continued attacks, and the only way to do that? Alliances.” Emmie brightened, excited about the gossip she had to share. “Once Dawn and Dusk are tied together, he wants Cyrus to get Day on board. He’ll treat with King Aelius. He doesn’t have a daughter he could have married, of course, only a son, and Prince Arien wasn’t chosen by the gods.” Emmie’s voice dropped to a hush as she spoke about the foreign Prince.
“He wants Cyrus to convince King Aelius to ally, with the promise of helping him figure out where the magic went thatshouldhave chosen Prince Arien. Apparently, King Aelius was told by the Oracle that Queen Aurelia carried his heir—only for him not to be chosen!” Emmie smiled excitedly, leaning towards me. “Can you imagine? Tracking down all those with royal blood in Day until he finds the one Aelius seeks? Oh.” She clapped her hands together. “I can’t wait!”
Shock ran through me, but I was practiced enough at this point that I could smile and nod to hide my reaction. If an heir had indeed been chosen, they had to be in hiding if Aelius knew nothing of them. Of course, that was if they existed at all. King Aelius was likely to kill any not of his own blood who were blessed by the gods, so hiding would make the most sense. I knew Aelius had kept trying for more children, but the gods had never granted him another child, and that resulted in onefrustrated king. One who was apparently positive that his heir had already been chosen.
Emmie didn’t seem to care about the Fae heir who’d be killed by Aelius when he found them, and I couldn’t help thinking Aelius was going down a dangerous path, one against the very gods who granted him power.
Would the gods really choose Prince Arien if his father killed the heir they had personally chosen for Day Kingdom?
Or would Aelius try for another wife if his current one couldn’t grant him more children? I couldn’t imagine he would get rid of her, not when she was his mate. Either way, I knew Cyrus getting involved in that mess would not mean anything good.
After finishing mytea, I made my excuses to Emmie and left, the information she gave me sitting heavily in my heart. I couldn’t decide if I should tell Cyrus or not, and I was so distracted with my spiraling thoughts that I didn’t notice Prince Kian until he was practically on top of me.
“Oh!” I yelped, leaping backwards before I bowed my head. “Forgive me, my Prince.” My head whipped up to look at him when he grabbed my arm.
“Come with me.” Prince Kian instructed, grabbing my hand and pulling me down the hall, into the dark secret passageways.
“Prince Kian? What is—” I tried to ask what was going on. His conversation from the feast looming in my mind.
“Hold on.” He demanded, and I shut my mouth, keeping silent as he seemed to wish. My nerves churned, fearing that Kian discovered I’d overheard him, and now he planned to silence me permanently—but equally hoping I might get insight on what exactly he was up to.
I followed him down stair after winding stair, spiraling downwards. This passage wasn’t made of marble like the restof the palace, but a dark, weathered stone that made the hall appear even darker, sucking all surrounding light into the stone itself. We finally came to the bottom of the stairs, and I blinked in shock.
An iron door loomed ahead. The very forbidden material was supposed to have all been melted down and sunk to the bottoms of the oceans. Some bits still illegally remained, like my dagger, but nothing this size should have survived the culling.
I looked at the prince warily. I’d never interacted with him before now, and only knew minimal bits of info from Cyrus. Was he bringing me down here to lock me up or kill me?
He took a deep breath, turning to look me in the eyes, and I was taken aback by the sympathy, the compassion, displayed so clearly on his face.
“You hate my brother.” Prince Kian stated placidly, and I flinched, opening my mouth to automatically deny his claim, but he raised a hand to stop me. My mouth felt as dry as a sandpit, and I struggled to swallow as I worked to control my panic—before it could control me.
“I can see it, Asteria, and I don’t blame you. Judging by that bruise forming on your cheek,” Prince Kian said softly, looking at my cheek. I raised a hand to try to cover the bruise, but he grabbed my hand—stopping me from hiding it—and squeezed my hand in a strangely supportive gesture. I looked at him with wide eyes, completely confused about what was happening.
“He’s beginning to escalate, isn’t he?” Kian prompted; his tone still gentle as he continued. “Cyrus was fine playing by your rules at first, but the longer it’s gone on, with you continuing to refuse him, the worse he gets.
I wasn’t sure if I could trust he was being authentic, not with his family’s track record, but I tilted my head forward slightly—just enough to confirm his words, but not so obvious I couldn’tdeny it later if needed. Kian breathed in deeply, nodding his understanding.
