We stop, and he shoots a glance at the King’s door.
“I’ll stay out here. Try to make it quick,” Kiernan warns, pushing the handle down on the door to open it for me. I slip inside quietly, and he pulls it shut behind me without a sound.
The suite is cloaked in shadows, the heavy curtains closed at the windows, a thin thread of light seeping through a gap where they don’t quite meet. Stale air hangs thick in the darkness.
“Quinn,” I hiss, my eyes still trying to adjust to the dark.
“Alaya, is that you?” His voice is low and wary.
He creeps in from what I presume is the bedroom, his bare feet silent against the cold stone floor. His blue eyes, wide and searching like a hunted animal, dart between the shadows.
“Have you been like this since you arrived?” I ask, my gaze now taking in the sparseness of the furniture – just a wooden chair and a small round table, dirty plates and glasses scattered on its surface.
“I need to get back to Heartwood, Alaya. I can’t stay here.” He is frantic, his eyes darting wildly, fingers trembling as they claw through his messy brown hair. The acrid scent of his fear rises from his skin and sweat clings to his furrowed brow. Gone is the easy-going Fae that I previously met.
“Calm down, talk to me, Quinn. Did you know that you’re my brother?” I lunge forwards and seize his forearms, my fingers digging into his skin, halting his relentless back-and-forth movement across the worn stone floor.
“When we talked in Heartwood, I didn’t. I’ve never known how I came to be in Heartwood. Then the day before we left, Reth thought it was time I knew and told me about my mother—our mother I suppose—and how Reth was asked to keep me safe due to my Gift. That’s why I need to get out of here. He’s trying to use my Gift against them.”
“The King? How?”
“The most dangerous part of a Horse Whisperer’s Gift is the ability to make and hold a Shift. Although my Gift is weak, the King is insisting I help him. I’ve never used it; I don’t want to use it. But your King can be very persuasive.” He holds out his hands, red and raw, with cuts that have bled and dried over his knuckles.
“Bastard,” I say, seething with rage “Reth mentioned how dangerous you could be in the wrong hands, and King Malaxor is definitely that. I’ll try and get word to Reth.”
The sharp angles of his jaw tighten as his brows draw together. Those blue eyes, usually glinting with mischief, now widen with unmistakable vulnerability.
“No! Don’t bring the Equitae here. There’s more I need to tell you, Alaya,” he says, his voice rising in panic.
The main door crashes against the stone wall, and Kiernan bursts into the suite. His eyes dart frantically around the room to find me, pupils dilated with alarm.
“We need to leave, NOW!”
I turn back to Quinn, his face a mask of anguish that makes my chest tighten. The space between us crackles with unspoken words.
“I stalled the King for now, but he could be back any second. Come on, Alaya!” Kiernan shouts, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the door.
“What did you need to tell me?” I cry out to Quinn.
“The King—he’s planning something. I heard—”
“NOW, Alaya!” Kiernan yanks me through the doorway.
“I promise, I’ll get you out of here somehow,” I call back as the door slams shut between us.
Kiernan grabs my hand, and we run. My heart hammers against my ribs. Sweat slicks my palms as I stumble, each ragged breath burning in my lungs. At the grand staircase, instead of going down, Kiernan guides us straight ahead, into the Upper East Wing and through a door halfway down the hall.
The slam of the door echoes through the room.
We stand there, chests heaving, the silence suddenly deafening after our frantic escape. My pulse pounds in my ears. Kiernan’s hand is still gripping mine, his palm slick with sweat.
“Gods, that was close.” He lets out a breath.
The adrenaline coursing through me has nowhere to go. My hands are shaking. Quinn’s tortured face flashes through mymind—his raw, bleeding knuckles, his desperate plea. The King is planning something. What?
I should be thinking about Quinn, about what he was trying to tell me, about the danger closing in around us.
But all I can focus on is Kiernan’s ragged breathing beside me, the heat radiating from his body, the way his eyes are burning into mine with an intensity that makes my stomach clench.
