‘Talking to you is risking my life. Tell Godric to stay. I’m fine. Now, be quiet, my love.’
Kaelric went silent then, but his fear beat at the back of my skull, fast and frantic. I knew if I told him I was in danger by talking to him, he’d be quiet.
The king’s men were checking the waist and back and thighs of everyone present. Looking for weapons? Their hands moved like machines, rough and without pause, fingers pushing into cloth and leather.
‘He’s looking for me,’Val said.
‘How can you be sure?’
‘I feel it, I see it. His tentacles are scanning the entire city. And had you kept me on your hip, they would have found me.’
The image of invisible tendrils sweeping the streets like long shadows flickered across my mind, cold and invasive.
Before I knew it, the king had gotten to me. I focused behind him a little, not meeting his eyes, trying to look uninterested as his men felt my lower back, sides, and thighs for weapons. Theirhands were impersonal, like they were searching sacks of grain, not living people.
When they stepped back and moved to the next person, the king didn’t move with them. He lingered, still staring at me. The weight of his attention burned like a brand.
My heart raced in my chest. Was Mind Render trying to get me to do something, and Val was blocking it? I didn’t know if that would out me with the king. My skin prickled, too tight, too aware of every breath.
The king cocked his head to the side and stepped closer to me, and I felt so very human in that moment. No Valkaryn to protect me. Not even a butter knife. His breath smelled faintly of metal, sharp, like blood exposed to the sun.
“I thought I knew all of the humans in my city,” the king said, and my stomach dropped.
His words rolled out smoothly and confident, like he was accustomed to playing with his prey before the first bite.
I had completely forgotten he could probably smell my lack of magic or wolf. A single sniff would tell him I was nothing.
“You may speak,” he said.
“I’m visiting my uncle, my king.” I prayed to the Creator that it was the right thing to say. I’d seen some people going in and out of the front gate after checking in with the guards there, so I knew travelers did come here. Though it looked like most would want to stay away unless they had family here.
“You should come to dinner at the castle as my guest. Six o'clock?” he asked, looking me up and down with a slight grin on his face. His smile did not reach his eyes, which glittered like polished amber over tar.
My stomach recoiled, but I smiled sheepishly. “If that would please you, my king.”
My tongue felt dry, thick against my teeth.
“Oh, it would please me very much,” he said.
His voice purred, a mockery of kindness. The guards behind him stiffened as if readying for orders.
Then the king moved to the next person, and the next, and I released the breath I’d been holding. My knees trembled once I allowed myself to feel them.
When he got to the last person, he peered around the courtyard. “Everyone out. I want four guards at the entrance and exit of this place. I can feel her. She’s here.”
Crap. Panic gripped me.
‘He’ll never find me. Just relax,’Val said.
‘I’m safe,’I told Kaelric.‘Tell Godric to exit quietly and meet me in the street. Everyone is leaving the tavern.’
I moved with the crowd, slow, casual, and once we were on the street, it was like the hold he had over everyone dropped at once. People sagged against the wall, slumping their uptight posture, looking left and right frantically to make sure they could move their bodies. Their hands shook, touching their own faces and arms as if verifying they were real.
A woman who had been standing next to me in line when the king was examining us walked over to me. Her eyes darted around as though every shadow carried a voice.
“Don’t go,” she whispered.
I frowned. “What?”
