‘Tell him technically I’m still queen.’
Val’s voice was dry with sarcasm, but I didn’t repeat the words.
Instead, I reached out and grasped his fingers. His hands were callused, rough from years of training and war; mine were smaller, softer, almost fragile against his.
“Since the day I met Kaelric, he’s treated me like I was made of glass. Yet this power I wield—” I eyed the sword on my hip, the metal catching the faint glow “—is greater than anything even he can do. If we want to defeat this imposter king, we need intel. Intel only Val can give us by seeing Mind Render’s spell first-hand.”
He dropped my hands, dragging both palms up over his face as if physically trying to scrub away what I’d said.
“We’ll tell Kaelric, and have him agree to it.”
I shook my head. “He’ll never let me go. Would you let your mate go?”
He froze, just a breath, and then frowned deeply. The answer showed in his eyes long before he spoke.
“No.”
The truth sat heavily between us.
“We could sneak out tonight, and you could tell him the truth come morning when he wakes, but then he will come for me with his army, and people would die.”
He growled, turning away, pacing a short line between two trees. Leaves crunched beneath his boots.
“Lying to my alpha? I’ve never done it.”
I nodded, heart twisting. “I understand. Then I will go alone, and come morning, you tell him where I went, but restrain him so that he can’t come after me.”
He barked a humorless laugh. “Restrain Kaelric? I don’t want to die, and I’d never let you go alone.”
“Then what are we doing?” I asked, arms limp at my sides. The question hung there like cold mist.
He chewed the inside of his cheek, thoughtful, torn.
“I’m going to reason with Kaelric. Show him this is a good idea and that I will go with you. Pack your bag and be ready to move out.”
My eyebrows shot up. Was he serious? I loved the idea of not having to leave Kaelric a note that would break his heart. I preferred the truth.
“Okay.”
This was totally happening.
An hour later, I sat in my tent with my bag packed and my stomach a ball of nerves.
The air felt tight, humming with tension; every sound outside made me flinch. Canvas walls rustled gently in the wind; the flame in my lantern flickered, throwing restless shadows across the floor.
Kaelric had been talking to Godric for the past hour in his tent and parroting things to me inside my head.
Are you insane?
There’s no way.
I love you. I would never allow this.
I forbid it.
Does my mother really think this is necessary?
Does she think that if she does this, she could free Maelis?
