Beneaththe anger, something inside me splintered.
“I’m going to bed,” I announced.
Rydian didn’t try to stop me.
Chapter Eleven
Rydian
Abiting wind whipped across the ridgeline where I stood, stirring the frost and bringing the scent of pine resin and woodsmoke. Beneath it, I could still scent her—embers and sunlight and fury barely contained.
She had asked me to let her open the gates.
And I had told her no.
Not because I thought her weak. She’d proven the power she possessed the night she’d rendered Duron to dust. I told her no because I knew the ancient, otherworldly magic that slept inside those gates would devour her whole. And because some part of me—coward or lover, I couldn’t tell which—would rather damn the realm than risk anything hurting that woman.
The bruise beneath my eye pulsed in rhythm with my thoughts, a dull reminder of the king who’d given it to me and the woman we’d both lost in the same night. It should have healed by now, which meant Callan had used magic to make sure it lingered. As punishment. For me or for Aurelia, I wasn’t sure. Or maybe just for sport.
Below the ledge where I stood, the Trolech Forest spreadlike an ocean of wet ink. Down in the valley, the wall that encircled my kingdom gleamed faintly—dark stone and silver wards that caught the moonlight and reflected like scales. The Midnight Court slumbered beneath that shimmer; my mother locked inside its powerful ring of protection.
A protection that hadn’t always been there for her. Back when I’d taken the blood oath to Duron, the gates had been wide open. And she’d been exposed. Vulnerable. With only me standing between them.
Now, at least, she was safe, even if she was being stubborn about using her gifts to visit this side of the wall. To meet Aurelia.
When I finally went back inside, the air shifted—from knife-edge cold to the heavy warmth of fire and pine smoke. The hearth burned low, its light catching on the walls and weapons, the steel edges gleaming like teeth.
Amanti sat near the flames, her injured arm tucked into a sling, her right wing spread wide to catch the heat. The left one trembled faintly where it lay tucked against her back, the torn membranes glinting with scar tissue that crisscrossed Keres dark sutures. The others were nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t mean they weren’t listening.
Busybodies, the lot of them.
Daegel especially, though surprisingly, it had been Thorne who seemed most amused by Aurelia’s ire aimed at me.
Amanti didn’t look at me when she spoke. “You told her.”
I leaned against the doorframe, dragging a hand through my hair. “She deserved the truth.”
“She deserved it long before tonight.” Her tone wasn’t cruel, just tired. “But I suppose late is better than never.”
“She wants to open the gates.” I crossed the room, the floorboards creaking under my boots. “She thinks it’s the only way to reach Lesha.”
“And you told her no.”
I sank into the chair opposite hers. “I told her what would happen if she tried.”
Amanti shifted, and the firelight revealed the hollow beneath her cheekbones. “You’re afraid.”
“Yes,” I said. “But not for me.
If my aunt was surprised by the admission, she didn’t show it. But I knew she missed nothing, which meant she’d already likely guessed there was more between Aurelia and me than there should be.
She adjusted the sling, her gaze never leaving the fire. “Your mother is afraid too.”
“Don’t,” I said, shaking my head at what already felt like a fight.
“Cadira doesn’t want to lose you to this, Rydian. She believes you can find another way.”
I exhaled hard through my nose. “That doesn’t make me forgive her for snubbing Aurelia.”
