“What is it you’re hiding, Aelia?” I sneer.
A shake begins to take over her form. “I-I?—”
“Answer me!” I withdraw my dagger.
She lifts her hands up and blurts, “She can’t kill you if you’re blood bound to Lyra. It’s all a bluff.”
My face drops, shoulders sagging. “What? How did you—did Lyra tell you?”
“No. You both began to wear those gloves all the time. And during the trials it was odd. But what gave it away was the fact that Lyra no longer favored using her right hand. Early on I caught her wincing when something would touch her palm. So I suspected it and reported it to Lady Bethany.”
“You didwhat?” I growl, snatching the collar of her nightgown.
“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t know what else to do! It felt dangerous playing with magic like that. Do you not understand how serious a blood bond is? Then I became worried that neither of you told me. That you didn’t trust me. After that, you two began to have your own private, separate conversations. To the point that I felt like an outsider watching you two. And then when Willow disappeared…I was scared. I thought maybe you had killed her.”
My fist wrapped in her gown, I jerk her closer to me. “You could have asked us about it!”
“You wouldn’t have told me even if I had!” she spits back.
I lean away, surprised by her shaken demeanor. Letting go of her collar, I push away from her and head for the window. Sheathing my dagger. “Doesn’t matter now. You either come and help me save the other women, or stay here and risk your end. But for me and Lyra, we’ve decided to capture our own fate.”
I climb out of the window, and as I turn to latch back onto the ledge, Aelia appears at the sill.
“Wait. I-…I have a better idea.”
I narrow my eyes. “What? We’ve been wasting a lot of precious time, and we need to move.”
“Well, if you had keys to each room, it would be much quicker than if you scaled the castle walls tapping on every window.”
I pop my head back into her room. “And how is it we would get keys to every room?”
“Lady Bethany has them locked in her nightstand.”
“Alright, well, I have no idea where she stays.”
“It’s a good thing I do, then,” she counters.
“And how would you know about her keys? Or where she’s staying?”
She dips her head sheepishly. “Well, you see…I’m…quite familiar with her.”
“Excuseme?”
“I’m her daughter.”
I jerk back as if she’s slapped me. Then shake my head before hopping back into her room. “You couldn’t have led with that? For someone who scolds us for not sharing the truth about our blood oath, you’ve been hiding the fact you’rerelatedto that woman? Why would she even entertain involving her daughter in such a precarious situation?”
“Because we had a plan…” she admits quietly.
“Wait,” I laugh cynically. “Wait, wait, wait. Lady Bethany, as you mentioned in one of our lessons, studied dragon breeding. Which means—” My face drops. “Youknewabout Cyrus? You knew we would be hunted by the dragon shifter?”
Her eyes fall to the floor in shame. “My mother had me drinking his blood, hoping it would be enough to lure him to me. She thought it would be effective enough that we wouldn't have to progress in the trials. That the creature would select me as his mate, and Cyrus would have his Queen.”
“She led you like a lamb to the slaughter,” I whisper, shaking my head.
She looks back up to me, eyes soft and sorrowful. “It could’ve finally been enough to make her proud of me. Her daughter as Queen.”
“And were all the women who died in the meantime worth it?” I spit.
