I hadn’t done anything like this before, and I didn’t know if it would work, but I didn’t feel anyone nearby. It would have to do.
Returning to Reyla, I nodded. “I think we can safely talk here as long as we’re quiet and careful about what we say.”
“Finish telling me what’s happening here.”
I shared what I could, leaving out the plan to kill the king. I trusted her, but I still wanted to protect her. The less she knew, the safer she’d be.
Another thing that reminded me of Vexxion. He’d done this with me, and while I was upset at the time, I understood, especially now. When you love someone, you’d do almost anything to protect them, even lie or hold things back.
“You said you were looking into something?” I asked. “Something related to Kinart’s last words.”
Her eyes shimmered with tears. “It’s so weird. I feel like everything since the Claiming is a blur. So much was stolen from me, even my chance to mourn, to think of him, to dream of what might’ve been. To remember how much he loved me.”
Being claimed sucked.
“I’ll love him forever,” she said. “He was special.”
“He was the best. No one will ever take his place.”
She swiped the tears from her face and sniffed. “I wanted to come here to finish what he started.”
“What did he discover?” It felt like ages ago since she said Kinart told her to expose the secrets of the fae. There were a lot of secrets in faerie to expose.
“Remember how he’d just returned from a training mission in the city before we went on that final raid? While he was there, a bunch of palace staff got sick. Since riders are trusted all over the realm, they asked his team leader if riders could fillin until their guards were better. Kinart was one of those selected, and he was assigned to the king’s detail.”
“Wow. He didn’t mention that.”
“He did to me and he probably would’ve said something about it to you eventually. I’m sure he shared it with Brodine. Anyway, he overheard something that shocked him.”
I couldn’t imagine what it might be.
She peered around before leaning close enough to whisper by my ear. “The dregs were created from Nullens.”
48
TEMPEST
“Ithink Kinart was purposefully killed during the raid,” Reyla said with tears in her eyes.
My body sagged but I stiffened my spine, making myself remain upright. “Because he discovered this?”
“I think he was investigating, and someone didn’t like it.”
Another reason to make sure Ivenrail died a painful death.
“It can’t be true,” I said. “The dregs are born from the wasteland. They told us that many times during classes at the fortress.”
“Because that’s what they want us to believe. Or what the fae king wants us to believe.”
“Maybe Kinart misheard.” My mind was spinning, dragging me from one thought to another. I couldn’t fathom even a bit of what this might mean.
“He heard right. The fae king himself confirmed it to me recently.”
“How in the world did Ivenrail do that?” I leaned away from Reyla, unable to comprehend what I was hearing. “It’s not possible.”
She shrugged. “No one pays attention to us Nullens, and for good reason. We’re the perfect staff because we’re easily trained, and we rarely talk, let alone about what we might overhear. I barely remember arriving here after the Claiming, let alone everything that may have happened since I got here. I told you that I’ve been pretending I’m still drained, and it paid off.”
“How?”
