CHAPTER 12
Since I’d enjoyed an extensive tour of the palace with Alec right before we’d left for Leafton on the royal ship, I was vaguely familiar with the royal residence’s layout.
“I’ll make sure you’re properly oriented to the entire palace in the coming weeks,” Jax said to me as he led me through his wing.
This area was entirely quiet and completely new to me. I followed him closely, soaking up the feel of our bond humming pleasantly from him into me.
The palace was so huge that I knew it would likely take me months to fully learn each turn. And since all of the rooms, corridors, and passageways that Alec had shown me were in common areas, I hadn’t seen many places of the palace.
Of course, at that time, the purpose of Alec’s tour had been to reveal my face, which was why we’d only visited places that House nobles and a multitude of servants frequented. All of that was to ensure I was recognizable, so it wouldn’t be a shock if I began turning up at court events with the Dark Raider and his band since I was to be his indefinite captive. However, things had now changed. I was no longer Jax’s captive. I was his mate, and someday he wanted me to be Stonewild’s queen.
As my feet swished through the carpet, I said, “Before I forget, will you remove the bargain Saramel and I agreed to about Bastian?”
He arched an eyebrow. “I suppose I could. You do seem fairly trustworthy,” he added teasingly.
I pinched him playfully, and we stopped in the silent hall. Jax took my hands and ran a thumb over my inner wrist, a common area the gods used to seal their bargain marks.
“Elowen Emerson, lorafin of Faewood Kingdom, and mate of my heart, as by my right according to the terms you agreed to in the bargain created with Saramel Highcrest, siltenite of Stonewild Kingdom, I—Prince Adarian Willip Jackson Stagthorn, crown prince of Stonewild Kingdom, and heir to one of the mighty four thrones on the Silten continent—hereby abolish the bargain you both agreed to, rendering you both free of its consequences.”
A clash of magic clapped the hall, gone as swiftly as a distant boom of thunder. A searing flash lit up my wrist, and the wintercrisp fern that the gods had branded me with fizzled out of existence.
I ran a hand over my skin, smooth once more, and felt a moment of relief I was no longer tied to the gods in a bargain.
Jax chuckled. “I bet that took Saramel by surprise.”
I made a face. “Hopefully, it didn’t scare Cassim when her bargain mark flared.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine. And now that that’s done...” Jax entwined his fingers through mine and led me down the hall, moving even farther away from Bastian’s chambers. We passed several closed doors, and Jax nodded at one. “That’s where your guardian’s being kept.”
I listened intently but didn’t hear a thing. “Are his senses still gone?”
“Only his voice, and we forced a potion in him to cage his fire element, but he can still see, hear, taste, touch, and smell.”
No movement came from behind my guardian’s closed door, and I wondered if he was sleeping.
My brow furrowed, and I tallied how many days my guardian had been caged within that chambers. But given all that he’d done to me, I once again found that I didn’t care and stopped trying to add it up.
Jax kept walking and led me to the very end of the wing. We went past the staircase that I’d used in my initial escape. And when we reached the hall’s end, Jax stopped in front of a wall in which a long banner hung. “You enter my upper tower this way.”
I frowned. There were no doors anywhere, but with a sly smile, Jax swept the banner to the side.
I gasped when an arched entryway to another stairwell appeared. The banner hid it completely, and I would have never known it was there if Jax hadn’t shown me.
“So clandestine,” I commented in amusement.
He smirked. “I like my privacy, and in this palace, I’m awarded very little of that.”
I stepped into the circular stone staircase, and a wash of powerful magic prickled my skin. “Is this stairwell warded too?”
“Indeed. Wards encircle my entire tower in various places, which keeps certain fae out of areas I don’t want them in. Only a few of my most trusted staff have access to the upper floors.”
“Do all of the palace’s servants have access to this floor and the lower ones?” I distinctly remembered the feel of his wards when he’d initially brought me into the palace, when I’d still been blinded, and the feel of another ward when I’d done my mad dash down the stairs in my attempts to escape.
Jax shook his head. “No, very few servants are able to cross my wards at all. Even fewer can access this stairwell.”
I began following him up the steps. “Where exactly are we?”
“Still in the west tower. This entire area is mine.”
