I shrugged. “I broke into your desk and stole it, but let’s go withfound.”
“You’ve read it?”
“Not yet.”
“Yet you could?”
“Are you saying that you, the glorious king of Syllavar Court couldn’t read it? I can’t believe you’d ever admit to something like that.”
His lips curled up sweetly. “There are lots of things I can’t do.”
“Like what?” I watched his face, wondering what he’d reveal.
“Find a way to your heart.”
“I keep that locked securely behind my ribcage.”
“I noticed. I don’t want your submission, Minx. I want your surrender.”
Something I’d give to no man.
I pulled in a breath and the raw ache of my sister’s death scraped up my throat. “Addie was more than a sister to me. I raised her after our mother died. She taught me how to lie to the guards, how to bluff in dice games, and how to slip out of the castle without anyone knowing.” My voice broke, and I pressed my lips together until they steadied. “She showed me how to be brave. And then I saw her body dropped in the middle of our ballroom like…like she was nothing.”
His arms tightened around me.
“All the evidence points here, to your court,” I said. “Yours is the only court who wields magic. One of your bonded subjects killed Addie and dumped her like she was nothing but refuse.”
He went still, like a predator catching scent of something unexpected. For a long moment, he said nothing. “Tell me what you saw again.”
I told him about it all. The bird, the cloth bag, the pendant, the blood. So much blood.
When I finished, he sat back, studying me. “And you believe we’re responsible?”
“I believe you have more enemies than you admit,” I said. “And I believe someone in your court wanted to send a message to mine.”
He reached up and brushed a tear from my cheek with the backs of hisfingers, a gesture so unexpectedly gentle I almost forgot to breathe. “We’ll find out who did.”
“Addie and Fenmark were sent on a mission,” I said, my voice still raw from crying. “What kind of mission? Where?”
His expression shuttered, a door slamming closed. His hand stilled on my face. “That’s…complicated.”
“How?” I pulled back enough to look up at him. “You told me you didn’t kill her. That you want to find who did. But you won’t tell me why she left your court?”
His jaw worked for a moment, tension radiating through the muscles of his shoulders. “There are things I can’t?—”
“Can’t orwon’t?” Heat flared in my chest, anger burning through the last of my tears. “She’s dead, Trew. Whatever mission you sent them on got her killed.”
“You think I don’t know that?” The words stabbed through me. His hand dropped from my face, and he looked away, pain flickering across his features. “You think I won’t see her face every time I close my eyes? That I won’t wonder if I made the wrong choice?”
The honesty in his voice stopped my next accusation cold.
“Then tell me,” I whispered. “Help me understand.”
For a long moment, he said nothing. Then he sighed, the sound heavy with exhaustion. “There are forces moving against both our courts. Things that go deeper than border disputes or old grudges. Addie wanted to help. She volunteered.”
“Volunteered for what?”
“To gather intelligence. To help us understand what we’re truly facing.” His gaze met mine again, and I saw the weight he carried there. “I should’ve said no. Should not have let her stay here.”
