The Dark God…the damned Dark God… had implied that I might not be welcome. But coming back was exactly what the king wanted. He’d never state that goal aloud. But every move he made was meant to control me.
He’d summoned my mother and me to Velora from across the Southern Fate when his wife passed yet another decade unable to produce a male heir. I’d been feted as the heir presumptive. When that wife died, he’d taken another. She’d failed in her duty, as well. The king beheaded her for it, leaving Alize an orphan and me the lone male heir, once again.
But his third wife had done the job.
My mother and I were finally free.
Except… what if the child did not thrive? What if Alize succeeded in her attempts to murder our brother in the cradle?
Best to keep the halfling prince close, just in case.
I did not learn about my mother’s bargain until much later. And it took me another two decades after that before I figured out how to break it.
I reached the courtyard. If the king was going to deny me entrance, this was where he would do it. The presence chamber was for verbal sparring. The courtyard was for bloodshed. If he let me over the threshold into the Court of Lies, the battle would be one of wills and wits. It was why the Seven Gates never scared me. I’d been living in emotional hell my entire life.
Had not scared me, I amended. Until I had some reason to worry beyond myself.
I stopped short of stepping into the courtyard, keeping my feet on the white granite stairs. The red bricks were difficult todiscern through the thick snow and ice, but I knew they were there.
I tugged the sleeve of my surcoat up, exposing my wrist and the tattoo inked there. It disappeared in my raven form, obscured by thick black feathers. Every time I shifted back, my first instinct was to check my wrist, to ensure the Lifebind was still there. Koryn might hate me, but she could not escape me. I would not allow it.
The Dark God was on our side. I did not trust his motives, but I believed he wanted Koryn free. That had to count for something in this dangerous game I was about to join.
I lifted my wrist to my mouth and pressed my lips against it. Koryn could not feel it. But if the Dark God was watching, if any of the other gods were… let Ramkael observe my devotion. Let Seraxa see how I honored the bond she’d gifted to us. Make the Dark God see that he was not the only one who understood and saw Koryn for all that she was.
I loved her. And I would not leave this palace without her, whatever awaited.
I stepped into the courtyard.
CHAPTER 7
KORYN
You will bepowerful enough to do anything.
What was that supposed to mean? How could my power grow when it was meant to ebb away to nothing? Maura had either lied to me about what would happen, or she did not know. Was I an aberration, even amongst my own kind? I’d never been able to control my power with the same ease as my sister witches. But I was also the only one among us to ever be chosen by a familiar. And by the Dark God himself.
I banished the thought as if it might summon him. As if he could not invade my mind any time he wanted. At least with Garrick, I knew?—
What did I know, really?
The man I’d almost given my heart to had betrayed it. The one to whom I’d promised my afterlife taunted me to the edges of my sanity. Fuck all men—fae, god, and otherwise. I would be the plaything of no man.
Nor witch.
What did Maura want?
Power. The answer was simple because it was true, even if Alize dismissed it. But power took many shapes. As head witch, Maura commanded not just her own fire power and bind, but thebinds of the others within the coven. Aurienna was a green witch—earth-bound. Elodie of the many faces—earth-bound. My frost was water-bound. McKean was dead, her foresight and air bind with it.
Maura had used Elodie or Aurienna’s blood and bind to modify the power of the salt that created my cell.
Realization crystallized in my veins. I knew how to break the spell.
Patience had never beena virtue used to describe me, even before my resurrection. But I forced myself to wait. A nondescript servant delivered my evening meal. I pretended to be asleep. No doubt even the servants reported on my movements. If it was truly a servant at all.
I was not familiar with fae customs, but I knew the way of the witches. My coven slept during the day. They would expect me to try to escape then, when they were most vulnerable. I waited for nightfall instead. If my power could be boosted even a fractional amount by the cold night, I’d take that advantage. Getting free was only the first step. Then I had to find Isanara.
When the moon appeared through the fractured windowpanes, I made my first move.
