Moving her head, Lora tracked the fae around her, searching for a familiar face. Frustrated, she headed into the crowd, lifting the hem of her dress. She took in every face. None showed her the incredible shade of ice blue she had imprinted in her mind. The way they could turn stone-cold one second and molten the next…
Lora shook her head as if she could physically shake away her treacherous, pointless thoughts. She needed to focus her energy on surviving.
Something yanked on her arm, and Lora had a split second to catch sight of an arm shooting out between drapes of heavy silver before she was pulled through the opening in the curtains into one of the shadowed alcoves.
Lora lost her grip on the hem of her dress as she tried to pull her other arm back. The hand released her, but the movement made her stumble, and her dress caught on her heel. Reaching out blindly, she tried to grasp something, anything, but then someone pulled her in further, spinning her in a half circle until she came face to face with him.
Eyden.
The molten eyes catching hers sent a flaming shiver from her head to her toes. They were almost chest to chest. Eyden’s hand was clasped around her arm in a steady hold. A promising touch. Lora felt the fire inside her swirling, wanting out, wanting more. Wantinghim.
She yanked her arm back, forcing him to release his hold. There was a flash of hurt on his face, but it was gone so quickly that she could’ve imagined it.
But she hadn’t imaginedhimhere. Somehow, he had made it into the palace. The place where high-level fae disappeared to. Karwyn was here, lurking around, in search of his next victim, his next prey to toy with.
You should be anywhere but here,Lora whispered in her mind.
She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Lora didn’t think she would ever see him again. She hadn’t prepared for this moment. Eyden was staring at her as if she was a figment of his imagination too.
“What are you doing here?” she finally managed to say. It came out accusingly, her tone flat, crushed by the burden of her binding contract with Karwyn. Her bond to Karwyn seemed to slither under her skin.
“I could ask you the same thing,princess.” Her breath caught, and it was the only indication Eyden seemed to need. “It’s true, then. You’re an Adelway.” His voice was strained, plagued by the meaning of his discovery.
“I’m a Whitner,” Lora replied sternly, lifting her chin. “My blood might be half Adelway, but I’ll always be a Whitner.”
“Because your human side will always win out?” Eyden asked, pulling her back in time to that night they’d had their final argument. “Or because you don’t want to be related to a monster?”
Lora bit her lip, avoiding his gaze. She could hear the lively music beyond the small alcove they were hiding in. It was loud enough to drown out everything else, including their conversation from any close-by ears.
“Both,” she whispered. Somehow, her answer didn’t sit right with her.
Eyden stepped closer, tilting her chin up with a finger. His gentle, unexpected touch made her shiver all over. The raw look in his eyes made her unsteady, breathless. “Why are you here, Lora Whitner?”
Tears gathered in her eyes. An ice-cold wave went through her body, and all she wanted was comfort. How easy it would be to step into his arms. She could see that even after everything that had happened, Eyden wanted to see past the façade she’d built. She was so sick of keeping it up.
But he couldn’t. Lora couldn’t allow it. Once again, she’d be forced to lie. There was no other option. The contract forbade her from telling anyone about the pact she’d made with Karwyn and the king’s secrets.
“Being family has apparently put me in the ‘not-to-kill’column,” Lora bit out, pulling out of his grasp to put some much-needed distance between them. Karwyn wasn’t going to kill her. She was basically going to kill herself in the ritual by giving up her powers, depleting her life source. “And before you ask, no, I didn’t know the king was mycousin.I could never have expected that.”
“But he’s keeping you here, isn’t he?” Eyden asked. She could see the wheels in his head turning, trying to figure her out. She couldn’t let that happen. “Why did you have to sneak away? Meet Saydren by yourself?” Frustration sparked in his eyes—maybe pain too.
“I did what I had to do, and it worked in my favour.”
“In yourfavour?Have you lost your mind?” Eyden’s stare was unrelenting. “If you had just waited for me, you’d never be in this fucking situation—whatever it is that’s keeping you here, walking around freely, dressed likefae royalty.”
Lora clenched her teeth, fighting against her instinct to lean into this brewing argument. “I have a purpose here. I’ve been helping create more of the cure.”
“So you’re biding your time, is that it? What does your family think?”
She shrugged, breaking their eye contact. “They were the first to get the cure, and they can’t really argue with the need to cure everyone.”
Eyden took a small step forward again, his gaze dangerously calculating. “Except they don’t know what you’re doing.” Lora looked up again. “How come you haven’t talked to them in a week?”
She sucked in a breath. “How would you know that?”
“When word got around that a cure was distributed across Earth, I got curious. I sent Marcel a letter to ask if he’d gotten it and he asked me where you were. He actually threatened me, said he’d find a way to punish me if I did anything to you.”
Lora had to fight to stay emotionless. Eyden had written Marcel. Why would he do such a thing? Did he care so much that he wanted to make sure her family had gotten the cure even when she wasn’t there anymore? Was there an ulterior motive she was missing?
