Everything was spiraling.
And I was beginning to think I shouldn't trust Gideon.
But it was too late.
The wheels were in motion, and I had to pray that whatever happened next wouldn't get me killed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Kane
I stoodin the center of my father’s chambers. It was the first time I had been in here since he died in my arms two hundred years ago.
The blood on the floor had been cleaned, and any remnants of that day had been wiped away.
Ella fluttered in the air in front of me. “Are you okay, Your Majesty?”
“I haven’t been here since that night.”
Rubbing the scar on my left arm, I thought of Tallis and his last words to me.
“Be a righteous king and don't believe the lies that you're about to hear. Everything your mother has done has been to protect you.”
Tallis had been my mother’s head guard and a friend. He’d always protected her and us.
Decades had passed, and I was no closer to the truth of what happened to my father and why my mother killed him. Nomatter what any of my pixies said in her defense, none of it made sense.
The only truth any of us knew was that my mother had removed the Lich King’s exile in exchange for something. It had to tie into my father, but I had never figured out why.
“Seal the room,” I said. “Once this passageway is closed, we can go back to my mother’s chambers and seal her entrance from inside the room. We should have finished this last night…”
“You’re the one who wanted to take a snack break. Do you really think one of the twisted will sneak in?”
“I don’t know, but these corridors all have an exit to the outside. I don’t want to enact the defense system yet, but I may have no choice.”
“Have you told the queen about what the vampyre said?”
“No, and I’m not going to.”
“Do you think that’s wise?”
I moved back into the passageway and pressed the button to close the door. “She needs to trust me first.”
“How is that going?”
Unlike her very passionate sisters, Ella was the levelheaded pixie. “I’m not sure.”
“You two have more in common than she knows. If she understood more of your past, she would find that you two are alike.”
“I’m trying.”
Ella held up a wand, lighting the dark hallway. “I know, and you’re doing great.”
“I wouldn’t say great, but… I think we had a moment.”
My mind went back to yesterday, Deirdre and me in the rain, drenched. How her touch seemed to warm me. Even now I could smell her vanilla rose scent. Then later in the kitchens when she hugged me. I didn’t think it was possible after everything we had been through, but there was something between us.
“I’m taking her to the royal courtyard today.”
