“Take a break tomorrow.” I turn back to the table, scowling. “You’re no use to Maeve if you’re collapsing from the salt exposure.” It’s been a while since I’ve been near a salt barrier, but I still remember how oppressive it can feel. To try and pass one is like stepping into a fire. “Once you’re recovered, continue scouting the woods. There must be some way she passed through.”
“Tauren,” Kennix manages, “if I may speak freely?”
Jaw tight, I nod.
“There were discussions during the patrol tonight that perhaps Princess Dahlia was not entirely truthful about what she saw at the inn.”
My hands turn to fists against the table. “Elaborate.”
“There is of course the possibility that she was mistaken. Perhaps she just saw a human girl with features similar to yours?”
“A human girl with horns?” I scoff. Pushing away from the table, I march towards him. “My wife is not stupid. If she claimsto have seen a demon with a strong resemblance to me, then that is what she saw.”
“Of course, sire.” He nods. “But, there is another possibility…”
I don’t like the nervousness in his gaze. “Go on.”
“She may be lying about Maeve being her handmaid in the hopes that we would send her to Elheart’s palace to retrieve her.”
My throat constricts. “What are you suggesting?”
“It’s not unreasonable to believe, sire. She already escaped from here once before unsuccessfully,” Kennix continues. “This may be a last ditch effort to have us release her to her true betrothed. He may have contacted her somehow, given her information about Maeve so she could claim to have an easy way to find her should she ever be sent to Elheart’s palace.”
The thought feels like thorns around my heart, and my voice turns lethal. “Tell me you are not implying thatmy wifehas been conspiring with my greatest enemy.”
“Even if she hasn’t been, I would still advise you to send her to him.”
I almost strangle him. “What?”
“Thobas and I were talking,” he starts. “If it were somehow Maeve that Dahlia saw at the inn, then our best chance of bringing her home would be to stage Dahlia escaping from here and fleeing to Elheart’s. Then assuming we can trust her, she can find Maeve, learn how she passed through the barrier, and bring her back to us.”
“Absolutely not?—”
“And if she is lying, then there is no point in keeping a traitor to our court in your bed.”
“My wife is not a traitor.”
“That’s not how your court will view it.” His words make my shoulders stiffen. “There is already talk amongst the nobles, Tauren. Rumours are spreading through the castle that you arefavouring the human princess over your sister. We must show them that your loyalties are still with us.”
My teeth grind together. Early morning light spills in through the slit windows of the chamber, lighting up the exhaustion in Kennix’s gaze. He’s been punishing himself all week next to that wall. What have I been doing for Maeve, for my people?
“We must send her to him,” Kennix insists. “If she returns to us with Maeve, then what better way would there be to earn her trust from the demons than by bringing home their lord’s precious sister.”
I know he’s right. But the thought of sending her into that fortress unguarded feels like fire under my skin. “I cannot allow it.”
“She escaped from here before,” Kennix reminds me.
“Unsuccessfully,” I add. “And our court is not protected by a thirty-foot salt wall. That’s not to mention the forest beyond it.” Unease prickles through me at the memory of Dahlia’s bruised body under that pack of wolves. Her wedding corset and bloomers soaked with?—
My lips part. “I need a rider dispatched to the night market.”
Kennix’s brow lowers. “The night market? Why?”
“If I am to send Dahlia to Elheart’s – and I am not agreeing to anything yet,” I add when Kennix’s eyes glitter with hope, “then she will be outfitted with clothes that will give her the best protection.”
“I don’t understand,” he murmurs. “How could clothes…”
“Have Girabalt at the castle by moonrise. Pay him double whatever he asks for.” Storming past Kennix, I head towards the door. “I have duties to attend to.”
