She went silent again, her expression unreadable, her green eyes glittering.
“This man your father sold you into marriage to. What was his name again?” I remembered his name. It was imprinted in my brain. For if ever I laid eyes on him, I planned to rip his head from his body. Still, I asked for his name, not wanting her to know how absolutely intently I had memorized every word she said at the kella’mir.
“Lord Gael.”
There was disdain in her voice when she said it. Good.
“Who did he want you to harm for him?”
She gulped nervously. “I am afraid to tell you.”
I stepped closer, basking in her sweet scent now, and crossed my arms. “Why?”
“What if you tell him? And he becomes angry because my family wishes him dead? Then he might target me to get back at them.”
“Do I know this male?” My voice had dropped, my tail twitching behind me.
“Everyone does.” She dropped her gaze.
“You will tell me, Jessamine. As I have promised to protect you from these Mevians, I will do the same from anyone else who would wish you harm while you are with my clan. Besides, I would not tell this secret. But I am the lord of this clan, and I must have all of the information in order to protect them as well.”
“You promise you will not share this information?” She met my gaze again, a plea in her worried eyes.
“Of course. Who is it?”
She blew out a shaky breath. “He wanted me to kill the wraith king. King Gollaya Verbane.”
If she’d slapped me, I wouldn’t have been more stunned. “Goll?”
She blinked nervously. “Do you know him well?”
I scoffed. “Yes. He is the wraith king. I am a beast fae lord. Of course I know him well. How does this magick of yours work exactly? How would you get close enough to kill a warrior like Goll?”
“I am not telling you,” she snapped, her voice rising. “Besides, it doesn’t matter. As soon as Lord Gael professed what he intended for me to do for him, I left him in my family’s garden. Then I packed my bags and fled that night.”
I stared, openly fascinated. “Did this Lord Gael promise nothing in return for you agreeing to murder the King of Northgall.”
She turned away, wringing her hands. “He did. He promised me a castle of my own near the Nemian Sea. A staff so that I could live independently of him. That I’d only have to do my wifely duty to bear him an heir then I could live my own life freely.”
My frame locked up again, a rumble of disapproval vibrating in my chest, an itch to seek out thisLordGael. But I managed to keep calm, stating evenly, “Instead, you chose a life as an outcast from your own family, a life on the run.”
She was royalty, and yet she’d been working in a tavern, living like a commoner to earn her daily bread and shelter. It was rather shocking to discover.
“What else could I do?” She scoffed, turning back to face me. “I wasn’t going to actually attempt to kill the wraith king.”
“No. You wouldn’t have been successful, anyway.”
“My magick is very powerful,” she stated with confidence.
“I’m sure that it is. Even though you won’t tell me what this gift from the gods is.”
“Are you laughing at me?”
I was indeed smiling. “Only at the thought of you getting anywhere near King Goll and thinking you could do him any harm.” I mused for a moment, wondering why she was sosecretive about this gift of hers. Following my instinct, I asked, “Does this gift of yours involve seduction?”
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say a word. I chuckled. “If that is so, then you needn’t worry. You’d never have gotten near King Goll. He would never be alone with any woman but his queen.”
She blinked, her brow pinching. “I’ve been told that wraith kings often have many women. Concubines.”
