“These to Princess Daneiris and her companion.” The woman continued. Of course, the man got called acompanion. Typical. I could feel my rage rise at the disrespect they showed my friend, but I shook it off. They weren’t at fault here, not really. It was this system we lived in that kept humans beneath the Fae’s boot, that forced women into situations like mine and Emmie’s. It was broken—more like completely fucked, honestly—and it needed to be stopped.
Anything cracked could be repaired, but if we found a way to blow this whole system to smithereens, we could create something new, something extraordinary, from the ashes.
“This goes to Prince Kian, he’s requested his meal in the library today.” One of the maids smiled widely and eagerly stepped forward, patting down her hair and readjusting her dress so it was pulled down low, putting her breasts on display. I rolled my eyes, but followed the maid to the library, and once she was gone, slinked into the large space like I was here for a book. Which now that I thought about it, wasn’t a bad idea. I needed toresearch blood magic and find out what Cyrus would be able to achieve with it. I needed to understand where the iron came into play, because my intuition told me it was all connected.
Looking at the large library, I sighed wistfully, wishing I was here to grab a new book. Cyrus’s collection was small enough that I’d already finished most of the interesting books, and I was sure this library would have plenty of adventures and romances I could dive into, but no—the research had to come first.
The library was incredibly dark, the colors normally infused within the black marble were muted in the stone used to build this room. There were no windows anywhere in the space, likely to protect the books, but it left the area feeling musty and slightly dank. Dark wooden chairs and plum colored velvet sofas littered the space, along with some tables that had small lights on them so one could actually see the words on the page.
I looked up to find Prince Kian sitting at one of the tables, watching me with an amused smirk. I looked around quickly before I sped over to him, pulling out the chair across from him and taking a seat.
“How can I help you today?” Kian asked, raising a brow and trying to come across as serious, but his amusement seeped through.
“Two things. One, I need Eris to come with us when it’s time. Can you make that happen?” I demanded, getting right to the point. Cyrus would expect me back soon, and I’d already spent a lot of time looking for Kian.
“Whose Eris?” He inquired, tilting his head to the side. I sighed in frustration as I explained who she was and what she looked like. Prince Kian looked uncertain, and I could only plead with him to do this for me.
“Please.” I begged, and I hated begging, but the only way to get Emmie out of here was going to be with Eris’s help.
Kian stared at me, his jaw working back and forth, before he finally sighed, and hanging his head forward. “It’ll be complicated. There’s a lot of you to get out. Including Aibek and Siria, now. But we’ll figure something out.”
I perked up at his words, not only insanely relieved that he would attempt to get all of us out, but I’d not heard anything about Lord and Lady Acheron since they were arrested.
“Are they…” I trailed off for a moment, feeling like it was a sincerely stupid question. “Are they okay?” Kian looked up at me, but once I’d opened my mouth, I apparently couldn’t stop. “Why would they work with Night Kingdom? Why would you? They’re slaughtering us!” I hissed at him.
Kian laughed wryly, with a profoundly agonized look in his eyes. “My family are the real monsters here, Asteria.”
The silvery-white haired Fae soldier, and that conversation we had, ran through my mind again. He’d said the same thing, but I didn’t understand how Night Kingdom could be anything but awful, not when they cut through cities killing people left and right.
“I can’t explain right now.” Kian continued. “But I promise you’ll have an explanation soon. In the meantime, Aibek and Siria are being held in the dungeons. Getting them out is a high priority. They haven’t broken yet, but my father and brother can be—’’’’ He swallowed hard, “Inventive. We must get them out before the cause is completely exposed.”
“The cause?” I pushed, tilting my head to the side, as my brows furrowed, but Kian just shook his head in response. I sighed in frustration, but jolted when he placed his hand lightly on top of mine.
“I’ll do my best to get you all out. You have my word.” Kian promised, his face creased in sincerity.
“Thank you.” I whispered, feeling a bit unsettled by the show of genuine kindness. I cleared my throat. “The second thing I wanted to ask you about. Blood magic.”
“What?” Kian pulled back, a perplexed look on his face. “What about it? Where did you even hear of such a thing?” His voice grew increasingly alarmed, and I glanced around to ensure we were still alone.
“Cyrus.” I blurted out, and Kian’s eyes widened. “I overheard him and your mother talking, and he’s planning to use it. He said it was forbidden, and I know he’s planning to sacrifice humans for it, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Fuck.” Kian swore, running a hand through his hair as he sat back heavily. “This is bad. Blood magic is—Shalim, he could use it to increase his own power, make wards, create weapons. Blood is powerful, Asteria, it’s what gives us all life, and that—” He paused, looking me right in the eye. “That kind of magic, the kind coming from the lifeblood of a human or Fae, rarely has limits.”
“What do we do?” I beseeched him, my shoulders heaving as I let out a strangled breath.
“When you’re out, you’re going to tell—” Kian cut himself off. “You’re going to tell the people you go with. I won’t see them directly, we only pass messages, and this is too important to pass in a message that may be intercepted. You must tell them, and together, come up with a way to stop him.”
My heart felt heavy when I left the library. I hadn’t thought overly much of what I would do once I was free. Freedom itself was enough to drive me ever forward, but now…I realized this wouldn’t be over once I was out of here. Too many were at risk, and what Cyrus was planning was an evil that should never be.
I couldn’t just walk away from that. It sounded like Kian believed whoever was going to help us get free, was also going to be able to help stop Cyrus. I would have to wait and trust untilthen, when we could figure out what came next. Two things I didn’t do very well with.
I stopped shortupon entering the solar of Cyrus’s suite. Princess Zerlina was here, in Cyrus’s lap, their mouths meeting as they kissed hungrily. I went to back out of the room when Cyrus spotted me.
“Asteria, wait.” He called, and I froze in place, half turned back to the door.
“My apologies.” Cyrus chuckled, lifting a scowling Zerlina off his lap. “Zerlina got a bit carried away.”
Ah, she was trying to seduce him before the wedding. How scandalous of her. The royals were strange about sex, they could sleep with humans without consequence both before marriage and after, but a Fae? That was highly improper and would be a huge scandal if it got out. Ridiculous, but the Fae had bizarre rules.
