Everyone now held glasses.
Dropping down into his chair, Brodine lifted his own—the only one he hadn’t added the special liquid to. He covered his mouth to hold back a yawn and blinked slowly, peering around the room as if he was as befuddled as everyone else. As his hand flopped on his thigh, his sly smile rose, but he stifled it quickly enough, no one noticed but me. “Everyone. Please drink to Tempest. To our future. To the defeat of the king. Oh, and to her and Vexxion who are . . .” His mouth twisted before smoothing. “Happy and content together.”
I got up, and oh how my legs shook. A tempest raged through me, destroying everything in its path.
And I drove its fury.
I’d found our betrayer, and his name was good friend. Brother. Protector for most of my life.
Brodine.
A flick of my finger drained everyone’s glasses before they could take a sip, refilling them with tinted water.
I walked around the low table to stand beside Brodine’s chair.
He frowned up at me before getting to his feet. “I’m tired. I think all of us should nap after we salute you.” He hefted his glass. “Drink, everyone. To Tempest. Vexxion. All of us!” His hand slickly slid around to the nape of my neck, and he leaned forward to delicately kiss my brow.
“Yes, drink,” I said dully, maintaining the ruse.
My true friends drained their water and placed their glasses on nearby tables. I did the same, glad to be rid of the taint of having that glass in my hand.
“Do you have ideas for how you’ll break the spell on the people in the city?” Brodine asked in such a pleasant voice, it would’ve lulled the old me. New me saw through his flimsy façade. “Now that you have your court’s core, I bet it’ll be easy.” He pressed for a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. No, they shone with a sharp conniving matched only by one man—the fiend sitting on the Bledmire throne.
“I’m sure it will.” I gathered power and linked my arm through his, tugging him against my side. “Bro?”
He smiled indulgently down at me, his sweet brown eyes bubbling with sickening merriment. “Tempest?”
How long has this been going on?
Probably for a very long time, maybe from the moment he arrived at the fortress or a few years after. Perhaps since he “saved” me from a couple of bullies in the open courtyard. Fates, I’d seen him as my hero, my protector, my friend from that moment forward.
I’dtrustedhim.
When had Ivenrail gotten to him?
I supposed it didn’t matter because it happened and here we were now. There was only one thing left to do.
Drask flapped his wings and cawed, a low, mournful sound. This bird had been my friend from the start. I didn’t know what I’d do if I lost him.
Go on, most likely. Like I would after what was coming next.
Each thing Brodine had done for me and each time hepretended to care had all been contrived to win my affection and trust.
To bring me to the king where that monster could consume me.
I smiled sweetly up at him, but oh, how my heart bled from a gaping wound that might never heal. “Would you do something for me?”
“Of course.” He flashed me his same old sweet smile, but now it cut like the sharpest of blades. “What do you need?”
“Walk with me,” I said.
I flitted us from the room.
52
TEMPEST
After it was over, I walked through the city with Drask riding on my shoulder, pecking at my cheek to give me support I no longer needed.
