I pretended he hadn’t hit a mark.
He cocked his head. “Oh, you thought I didn’t know? That I was too stupid to realize you touched what was supposed to be mine?”
“We never meant to hurt you, brother.”
His expression twisted, and I realized, too late, it was the wrong thing to say. “I don’t have a brother anymore.”
I didn’t bother to argue for myself. There was too much history between us. And too much of our father in the male who stood before me now.
“Her role is far more important than whatever you think you feel for her,” I told him.
His eyes closed a fraction, and for a second, I wondered if I’d finally talked reason into him. When he opened them, the king had returned.
“You’re banished,” he said—each syllable deceptively soft. “From Grey Oak. From Autumn’s borders. If you’re seen inside them again, I’ll make good on every threat I’ve just spared you. Same goes for her. If she’s caught, she’ll be charged with murder and treason and dealt with accordingly.”
“Will you turn your back on an alliance with the Chosen One then? Risk your kingdom’s destruction over your own broken ego?”
The muscle along his jaw worked, then eased. A dozen answers moved behind his eyes. “You always hated me,” he said finally, but there was no bite left in it. “From the first day you arrived in this hall, dripping with your stupid shadows.”
“I never hated you,” I said. “I hated him for what he did to you. And who you became.”
His breath shuddered out. It almost sounded like a laugh. Almost. “I should have killed you in the yard when we were twelve,” he said, voice hoarse.
“You couldn’t then,” I said sadly. “You can’t now.”
“Get out,” he spat with enough force that I turned to go.
The guards closed around me like a tide, releasing me only once I’d exited the castle and reachedthe outer gate.
Outside, the rain had eased to a mist that made the lamps gutter. The courtyard smelled of wet stone, wet iron, wet leaves—everything washed, but nothing clean.
My eye and hip both throbbed in time with my steps. I couldn’t bring myself to feel relieved that he’d let me go. That I’d see her again after all. To be banished from Grey Oak, to be at odds with its king, only meant this would be harder in the end.
Outside the gates, I did not turn toward the road that led to my townhouse in the city. Instead, I turned my feet toward the only place in this realm that didn’t require a blood oath from me for entry. Frithhold was a hidden hinge in the crook of a mountain made from ancient midnight magic. In a place where time stood still. Where Fate waited for a choice from us all.
Chapter Six
Callan
The bruise on my knuckles bloomed before the one on his face would. Still, I consoled myself with the fact that I’d left him damaged. And laced with a little magic, it would last long enough forherto see it. To be forced to think of me when she looked at him.
It was a small comfort.
The great hall was empty, though I felt anything but alone among the ghosts that clung to this place. The echo of the door closing behind my half-brother still vibrated through the stone. It sounded like laughter. His, probably. He’d looked almost satisfied when I struck him—like he’d been waiting years for proof that I was exactly the vile creature he thought I was.
Or maybe my father’s spirit taunted me from the Afterlife.
I flexed my hand. The pain was small, sharp, mercifully quick to heal. It wouldn’t do for a king to be wounded that easily.
Outside, Grey Oak groaned under another cold wind. The vines on the outer walls were dying, leaves crisping to ash instead of amber. A sign of the Winter queen’s reach, the advisorssaid. Another reminder that everything my father built was rotting faster than I could pretend to save it. Even with the donation centers operating at full volume, it would not be enough. My father must have known it and had done nothing about it except try to trap a Summer heir to drain instead.
Now, for better or worse, I had no plan at all.
“Majesty.”
Lemuel’s voice could sour wine. My father’s advisor appeared in the doorway, already mid-bow, already displeased. Thin, gray, smelling faintly of mildew and superiority, he looked at me like I was the runner-up.
“What?” I demanded flatly.
