Chapter Twenty-Six
The snake
All was quiet in Oscuro. Eerily quiet.
Matthias had winnowed into his room from Adalia’s home, with the promise of returning soon. Bones stayed behind. The hound was too likely to become a target when it came to his father’s wrath. Walking the halls of the castle, he found not a soul. Even the clanging sound from the den was silent. The library was empty; the foyer was empty, the only room that occupied bodies was the kitchen. Busy cooks and maids prepared familiar, enticing, yet pungent food.
But something wasn’t right. Matthias could sense it.
In the throne room, his suspicions were confirmed—a blonde-haired body lounged on his throne.
Snake smirked at Matthias as he entered the room. “If you keep disappearing, I might have to make this throne permanently mine,” he sneered.
Thoughts of the fight night came flooding back and Matthias’s blood boiled. He thought putting Snake in his place that night might have changed how this creature before him carried himself—hewas clearly wrong. And even though Matthias had turned a new leaf, and each day he was trying to react differently than he would have in the past, seeing Snake, the child thief, draped across his place of power, snapped something inside.
Matthias growled and lunged for Snake, wrapping his hands around the pale throat of his enemy. Knocking them both to the slate floor. Matthias hovered above the advisor and clenched his teeth. Snake fought back, but rage overcame the prince, and he squeezed harder. The blond-haired male gasped for air and threw his body around, clawing at the hands that constricted his airways.
As Snake’s movements became less and less, a pair of mossy brown eyes came to his mind.
Adalia.
She was a figment of his imagination, but seeing her in his mind slowly brought him out of the blinding rage that was consuming his body. How would he tell her he’d killed with his bare hands? Would she ever forgive him?
The prince shook his head and glared into the yellow eyes of the man beneath him, loosening his grip. He rose and stood over Snake, who was gasping for oxygen, his lips purple from the lack of it.
“If I find you sitting on my throne ever again, I will break every bone in your pathetic body before tearing both your arms and legs off. Then you will have to move around like the snake that you are.” Matthias spat on the ground beside the cowering male before pulling a single hand back and connecting his fist with Snake’s nose. The sound of it breaking echoed through the room. The advisor groaned as blood poured down his face and onto the floor.
“And that’s for stealing me from my mother.”
Matthias stood and strode from the room, leaving Snake on the floor to recover from his near-True Death experience. He would not waste another moment in his presence.
The king must be in the dens with his minion army, Matthias mused as he walked down a long hall towards the back of the castle. To his surprise, his father hadn’t rained down on Lucius with fire and brimstone since the prince had left. It was concerning. Eitherthe threats that came from his father in regard to killing Adalia and all she loved were empty or . . . his father was very serious, and planning his next move.
Movement in one of the hall windows caught his eye, and Matthias stopped. What lay before him was unlike anything he had seen before. There were rows and rows of armoured thorns. The prince sucked in a breath and scanned the castle grounds, watching as Thorns stepped up to the tables laden with glittering weapons and chose among the swords, halberds, spears, or axes.
It was finally happening; his father was going to declare war against Lucius inside The Grey, and the Shadowkin were none the wiser. If he left now, he could warn them and get them to safety before his father unleashed himself upon the innocent.
A form loomed in the window’s reflection. Too late, he turned. A searing pain struck his head, causing Matthias to wince and collapse unconscious.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The search party
“So, is there anything you’d like to share with me?” Shiloh looked at Adalia over the rim of her glass with a questioning grin.
The girls were in Adalia’s courtyard, sipping on strawberry margaritas and grazing from the charcuterie board Adalia had put together. Laden with an assortment of dried fruits, crackers, cured meats and fresh cheeses.
“What do you want to know?” Adalia smiled as she popped a grape into her mouth.
“I want to know everything about that great hunk of a man you’ve been hiding away from the world.”
“I’m not hiding him . . . well, not intentionally. We’ve just been getting to know one another and obviously he’s not always here, so when he is, we like to spend time together.” Adalia grinned.
Shiloh reached for a slice of manchengo and placed it on a cracker. “I’ve never seen you like this before.”
“Like what?”
“Glowing.”
