Drask landed on the back of a tall chair, watching.
“We’ve been through this already.” The king rose and strolled around the table to stand in front of me. His fingers snapped out and latched onto my jaw, and he jerked my head back, forcing me to meet his eyes. His heavy gaze studied my features. “I don’t see why you bother with her. Why you care. She’s pretty. I’ll give you that. But not worth the time it would take to train her.”
A wisp of movement on my left dragged my attention to the Wraithweave gameboard—where pieces were moving all on their own. The master had added another game piece, an enforcer.
Fuck. I couldn’t help but compare what was happening on the board to the situation inside the castle. While I didn’t know who the king—the master’s—defenders were, Kerune had been assigned the role of the king’s enforcer.
Brenna was the high lady and . . . My gaze met Vexxion’s.
He washershield. The knowledge ripped through me like jagged wire.
The high lady had also added an enforcer. If this game mirrored real life, who could that be?
The dragon had moved closer to stand behind her, but I didn’t know what that meant either. Brenna had never visited the aerie. When I met her in the city, she rode in a pretty carriage. She’d only been on a dragon once and never wanted to ride again.
Perhaps the dragon was symbolic of an additional protector.
She’d need it.
And I swore I saw . . . I focused on a bit of mist floating at the high lady’s side, but when I blinked it was gone. I must be mistaken.
It could not be a wraith.
The game had been named for the wraith, though as far as I knew, no one had ever played with the piece. It chose the game. The gamers did not choose it.
“Come closer, Vexxion,” the king said, drawing my attention his way. He released my chin, and I dragged my gaze to the floor, doing all I could to appear passive. Partly drained.
Compliant.
No—controlled.
When Vexxion reached the king, he purposefully placed his body between mine and Ivenrail’s, forcing the king to take a step backward.
The high advisor cackled, and I looked his way, wondering what was driving his humor.
Ivenrail latched onto Vexxion’s arm and jerked it up into the light coming in from the window on my left. A flick of his finger and a swirling pattern appeared on Vexxion’s wrist.
His mating mark.
It was different from Brenna’s, yet similar enough to suggest the male match to the female.
“Tell me, son,” Ivenrail said in a deadly voice. “When were you going to mention that you’ve bonded with your fated mate?”
51
TEMPEST
Using magic, I snapped the vines pinning me to the chair. But before I could bolt or pull a knife to stab the king, the high advisor flitted to my side and grabbed me. He pivoted and thrust me against the wall.
Drask screeched and flapped his wings but remained perched on the back of the chair.
The high advisor’s face flamed, and his sharp breath blasted my face. “What did you do to my daughter?”
I smirked. “Which one?”
“Delaine.” His hand locked on my throat, the other holding me in place with a gouge into my shoulder. I could feel his torturous magic slither over me. He would stun me and then it would be over.
Locking down my guards, I shot power at him, feeling the two duel before his gave way.Yes.
