Maybe Gideon was right.
After the way the fae treated me, I didn't know if they would ever truly accept me as their queen. Maybe they would be happy if I was gone.
If I didn't escape, then Crispin had died for nothing. His bloodied face flickered through my mind. He’d want me to survive, to find a way to be safe.
And was I safe?
After today, the danger had become more apparent. Prophecy or not, a portion of the fae were not happy with me as their queen.
I had to keep fighting, regardless of what transpired between Kane and me.
Even when Kane showed a gentler side, it didn’t erase hiscruelty. He hadn’t hesitated to stab that young priest who’d done nothing wrong other than to be in a hallway at the wrong time.
If he could easily slay his own court, how long before I became an obstacle he needed to remove?
What about the prophecy?
You were born with a purpose.
Ignoring my inner thoughts that were starting to blur my wants and needs, I decided to at least see what Gideon needed me for.
“When we get to my aunt’s chambers, I’ll unlock it. Not a word,” he said and put a finger to his lips.
I nodded, then suddenly he was gone. But I knew he was still holding my hand. And then I looked at myself and I wasn’t there either.
“What is this?”
He squeezed my hand. “It’s all right. I created a reflection around us, making us invisible.”
He opened the door, and then we stepped out into the hallway. The two guards who normally stood outside weren’t there, and I was too terrified to ask why. Did Gideon do something to them?
With his hand grasping mine,keeping the illusion in tact, we walked down the hall to the other royal wing. Was this where Kane’s family had lived?
My bare feet barely made any noise, but every creak, every distant sound made me panic. What would happen if we got caught?
An eerie silence filled this wing of the castle and not one that was just quiet, but a silence of abandonment. Dust covered most of the paintings hanging on the walls, the faces obscured by time. We passed a table with a golden statue of a stag. Cobwebs weaved in and out of the horns. The dust and cobwebs increased the farther we went down the hallway.
Why wouldn’t the servants clean this area? Were they instructed not to?
Did Kane ever come this way or had the horror of what happened been too difficult to face?
He lost three sisters and his father with no explanation why.
Gideon stopped at a door on our right. I couldn't see what he was doing, but I could hear the clicks of a lock followed by a soft creak. My palm warmed and tingled the way it always did near my chambers. No visible rune glowed, just the familiar, unsettling buzz beneath my skin.
The door opened, and Gideon pulled me into the room.
Moonlight poured in through the arched window, the curtains drawn back. Dust motes drifted in the air. A large cobweb draped from the corner of the room all the way to the fireplace mantel.
Dust coated everything—the bookshelves, the wardrobe, even the large mirror above the dresser. Dust even covered the floor, revealing our footprints. They had left the washroom with nothing but a few soaps, and it was obvious no one had stepped in here in decades.
Gideon gave a small wave of his hand, and our footprints vanished. Strangely, the illusion held, revealing no new tracks.
“Search everywhere,” he said.
“What are we looking for?”
“Anything that may tell us what happened the night King Kyros died.”
