I was drafting contingency plans for the families who lost their breadwinners when Khatri suddenly linked me, his anxious tone yanking me to my feet.
That’s how I find myself heading for the dungeons at the ass-crack of dawn.
Warriorhead Khatri has been my anchor these past two weeks. Even with a mate and two kids waiting at home, he hasn’t once complained about the extra weight I’ve dumped on his shoulders.
When I finally reach the dungeon, I find him pacing back and forth with a subtle limp, tension radiating from him. I just know whatever he found will cost me another sleepless night.
“Why are you limping?”
“Apologies, Horseman. I know it’s early, but I figured you’d want to know immediately.”
Being cryptic at five in the morning should be a crime.
“The leg, Khatri. I asked why you’re limping.”
He only gestures for me to follow. Huffing, I nod at the guards outside the dungeon, and they swing open the heavy metal doors before sealing them shut behind us.
The air inside is thick with cries of prisoners and the stench of betrayal.
Hazel needs to accelerate the punishment process before I lose my patience and take matters into my own hands.
Khatri rounds the corner and steps aside, revealing who he’s shoved into our worst cell. Whoever it is, they’ve clearly managed to piss him off, which is a feat in itself considering Khatri is usually soZen.
A disbelieving grunt escapes me when I take in the two figures perched stiffly on the concrete bench in the middle of the cell. The sound jolts them out of their self-pity, and they scramble to their feet, fussing at their outrageously expensive clothes as if that would erase the filth on them.
“You ungrateful child.” Anger rises in my mother’s eyes as she stalks toward the bars. “How dare you allow these guardsto treat us like lowly delinquents? I am the Queen of Conquer. Get me out of this filthy cage this instant, Anxo.”
The audacity isastonishing.
My parents are in a dungeon. In a cell reserved for those who plotted against the kingdom and my mate, and theystillthink they can order me around.
The mysterious puppeteers are finally within my reach. The ones who fed our enemies our locations. The reason every traitor babbles about loyalty to thering, even as they confess their plans to assassinate my mate.
“We caught them a mile south of the cabin Princess Nevaeh is staying in,” Khatri explains, his voice hard. “Thanks to thegem of elixirGrace gave us, his shield of fabricated reality dropped just long enough to give us an edge.”
And now I know where his limp came from.
My mother meets my stare without a hint of guilt or shame. I have to bite my tongue before I say something that would end the interrogation before it even begins.
But I can’t swallow my scoff filled with disgust. It didn’t take me long to accept their betrayal. When it comes to my parents, I always expect to be disappointed.
Now, all I want is the reason behind their heinous deception before I can order their well-earned punishment.
“Get us out of here, son.” My father commands as if he has some kind of authority over me.
Son.That word scrapes raw against my nerves.
I can’t let my resentment cloud my judgment. I’m not here as their son. That boy died a long time ago. They made sure of it.
I lock eyes with the people I no longer consider family and ask, “Why?”
Kiarahas the audacity to look baffled, like she has no idea what I’m asking.
“Your faithful followers failed. Again and again, yet you never stopped trying. Why? Why is hurting my mate worth crossing every line and sacrificing every moral?”
“What are you talking about, son… I would never—”
I cut off my father before he could spit out any more nonsense. “Lie, and I’ll leave you here to rot for eternity.”
