Brodine left with the others, shuffling out through the door behind the king while the rest of the guests hurried through the door to the sitting room.
Fear prickled across my skin. I slid my hand toward the dinner knife on the table, but the moment I touched it, Ivenrail ripped it from my hand with magic and sent it flying into the wall. Impacting, it remained there, quivering.
I thought of reaching for the dagger strapped to my thigh, but I might need it for whatever was coming next.
“I will, of course, stay,” a fae man with a lined face, sitting farther down the table, said. I’d noted him looking my way a few times during the meal, his white-blond hair gleaming in the light. There was nothing unusual about someone staring at me. They knew Vexxion had claimed me. They knew he was protective of me. But they didn’t know why.
“Leave, brother,” Ivenrail said, his gaze remaining on me.
Brother?
Adored younger half-brother,Vexxion said in my mind.Newlyarrived for the wedding.My Uncle Camus led my training from the time I was five.
Then I hated him.
“You’re sure?” Camus stood, his chair screeching when he rose. His pale blue tunic heavily gilded with silver hugged his lean frame.
Ivenrail’s gaze flicked to him. “I’ll speak with you later. Join me in my living area in, say, an hour or so? I’m eager to hear what you’ve discovered.”
What was Camus up to? Nothing good would come from anything Ivenraildiscovered.
“I look forward to it.” Pivoting, Camus strode from the room.
Zayde stood at the opposite end of the table from Ivenrail, a frown cratering his face. “What’s going on, Father?”
Ivenrail’s scowl deepened. “I told you to leave.”
“But . . .” Zayde’s gaze shot to Reyla, and I was grateful she was protected by Vexxion’s ward.
Did Zayde finally see his father clearly?
Reyla’s fingers snaked out, scrambling across my lap to take my hand and squeeze.
Shewasthere—somewhere. I wanted to shout the words. What was left of her might be buried deep inside, covered up with a bunch of fae crap and magic, but I was going to find her and drag her back to me. Then I’d hide her where no one would ever find her.
What should I do?I asked Vexxion. I gnawed on my lower lip with my teeth.
Remember what you agreed to.
Avoiding questions and behaving wasn’t going to get me outof this, though I wasn’t worried about myself. I doubted the king would blame me tonight. He’d place all the blame on Vexxion.
Tension pulsed inside me, threatening to knock me off my chair. I gathered power from my well, though I had no idea what to do with it. My spellcasting abilities were limited, a deficiency I needed to rectify as fast as I could. There was only so much time for training and practicing. Vexxion had to hold up the façade of the king’s controller; he couldn’t work with me all the time. We needed to sleep. Be with each other. If I didn’t escape to the aerie every now and then, I’d go out of my mind.
“What did you do?” Ivenrail asked Vexxion calmly, though from the sharpness in his eyes, he seethed.
“Do?” Rising, Vexxion strolled over to drop into Brenna’s seat. This, of course, put his body between the king and me and Reyla. He did this on purpose. As always, he’d take any blow intended for us. How could I do the same for him?
“I enjoy how willful you can be,” Ivenrail sighed. “But you cannot keep killing whenever you please. My lords and ladies are complaining.”
“When did complaints from your lords and ladies start to matter?”
“When they start grumbling about joining together to defy me!”
“And when did you care about a few paltry fae defying you?” Vexxion drawled. “I’m surprised you haven’t already squished the potential rebellion beneath your thumb. Call them to the throne room and have Madrood burn them.”
“I can’t keep behaving like that.”
What had changed?
