I nibbled along her jawline. “I missed you.”
Her fingers latched onto my upper arms. “You saw me not long ago.”
I adored how she melted into my embrace. How she loved me in a way no one else ever had or ever would.
Because it would be unwise to kiss her here, even with my threads surrounding us, I released her, gently lowering her to the wooden floor.
She turned back to the painting. “It’s sad.”
“What in particular?”
“That they’re trapped here. Someone told me they were.”
“Who?”
“One of the stable hands.” She gestured to the marscapoles who had started to creep out from the woods. “Why does the king do this? What’s the point?” She kept her voice low, but anyone could be listening.
He does it because he can. Because he takes pleasure in hurting others. Because he can sip from their power if he feels the need.
Even tiny creatures like this?she said.They look sweet. Innocent.
Marscapoles are anything but innocent. They can be vicious.
That’s still not enough reason for the king to do something like this to them. You’re saying he’s trapped them here to serve as snacks?
An apt description.
Can I free them?
Only a beast master can release them from the king’s spell,I said.
Where can we find one?
Not here.During her Awakening, I’d sensed she had the potential, but it took years of training for anyone to achieve the level of master.
I feel bad for them. The dragons in the front door. The creatures he’s torturing in his living area. They’re all over the castle, aren’t they?
Yes.
Her gaze turned to the picture where the marscapoles tiptoed through the grass to the place where they must’ve initially been placed. They could move a short distance away, but they’d be compelled to return within moments.
Even someone as powerful as you can’t free them?she said.
Ivenrail stole the core of Weldsbane’s power. I only wield a fraction of it now.The knowledge burned through me today as sharply as it had when he sucked it up after murdering my mother.
He took more than your mother’s life.
Much too easily.I struggled to hold on to what was rightfully mine, but at such a young age, I wasn’t powerful enough to claim the core power as my own. Under other circumstances, an elder would’ve guided me in how to slowly absorb my court’s power. He’s hunted down and killed all the elders, so there will be no one instructing me even if I ever reached the point that I could grab onto the reins and slow the mythical beast’s fall.
Can we take the power back from him?
I’d stolen all I dared take. She’d help me regain the rest. That was my plan I’d put into place when I felt her presence at the fortress. Two games had begun that day. In one, I was her shield; in the other, the master. She would always play the high lady.There may be a way.
Then we’ll find it.
I loved how certain she sounded. She’d need to hold ontothat strength of will if she was going to survive what was coming. The storm that had gathered at sea loomed over the city, ready to wreak havoc on this world.
And she’d control it all.
