“He declared her a traitor to the realm,” she said in a soft whisper. “She was a sea fae. So, of course, no one tried to stop him…”
“Aengus killed my mother.” Thane’s own words sounded foreign in his ears, as if they were coming from someone else, and were about someone else. This couldn’t be happening. His mother could not be dead. Despite the strife between them, he had loved her dearly. And he knew that regardless of what she had done, she had loved him, too.
It was Aengus. He had done this.
Thane’s tears turned to dust, and finally, his aunt’s face became clear before him. Her eyes reflected all of the hate he felt inside. “We will make him pay for this.”
7
Reyna
“Your new chambers, milady,” the small, timid serving girl tiptoed away from Reyna as she took in the spacious rooms that stretched out before her. Now that she had made her vows to the bloody shadow king, her words bound her to her fate. There was no longer any reason for barred windows. Reyna should have felt some relief in that, she knew, but it resulted in the opposite effect.
She felt even more trapped than she had before.
Rather than the one room, she now had three. The first room was a lush, well-furnished bedchamber with silk sheets draped over a feather mattress. The black stone floor twinkled beneath the candles lit in the chandelier hanging overhead. Through one door, Reyna found a sitting room with two lush sofas, a fireplace—not that it was needed in this dreadful heat—and a soft bearskin rug covering the smooth floor. Another door led to her bathing chamber. A small, simple room with a wooden tub and nothing else.
“Thank you,” she said to the serving girl. “You may go.”
The serving girl gave a nod and then vanished into the corridor. Reyna sighed and glanced around. The quarters were nice. Almost too nice, as if the shadow fae expected her toappreciatethem. Did they truly think she could be so easily bought or that she could feel at ease just from a comfortable bed and a sitting room?
They had her sister.
Not even a room fit for a king would make her forget that.
Wingallock settled comfortingly on her shoulder as she moved to the window and pushed open the thin glass. He hooted, though his was not the sound of joy. Her familiar always reflected her own mood. When she was sad, he would curl up mournfully in the corner. And when she felt strong, ready to tackle the world, he would soar through the sky with his magnificent wings outstretched, talons arching toward the enemy like swords.
Now, Reyna did not know quite how to feel. She’d just given herself to the shadow king. Had it been the right thing to do? Did he evenhaveEislyn? They’d put her in an impossible situation, unable to do anything but speak vows that tasted like ash in her mouth.
She would have to follow his every command, do his every bidding, and comply with his every folly. In the wrong king’s hand, that kind of vow could turn cruel very quickly indeed.
But the right king would have never made her take that vow.
She would likely die in this place. But as long as Eislyn did not, that was all that mattered.
Eislyn.Her heart clenched tight. Her little sister would be terrified, captured once again by the enemy.
“How did they get their hands on her, Wingallock?” she whispered to the bird. He was merely silent. Reyna knew the answer, though she did not want to think it.
Lorcan.
A knife sliced through her gut, reopening a wound she’d failed to heal, over and over and over again.
It was one thing for him to capture Reyna. It was quite another for him to take her younger sister. HeknewEislyn. How fragile and troubled she was. He knew how afraid she’d be and how much she’d been through in her life. It pained her to think he would stoop to such a deed. Eislyn. Out of everyone in the entire world, how could he hurtEislyn?
How else would the shadow fae have gotten their hands on Reyna’s sister? He must have taken her just after he’d poisoned Reyna. She even bet they’d been on the very same boat, heading toward the same terrible fate. If only Reyna had known, if only she could have battled against the poison in her veins, pulling her into that strange dream where the line between reality and horror bled together like the opposing lines on a crushing battlefield.
She began to pace, a frown etched deeply into her face. Where would they be keeping Eislyn? Would they have given her chambers similar to hers? She would likely be trapped behind iron bars, unless they’d forced her to make her own vow. Reyna’s frown deepened. She needed to find Eislyn. If they had harmed her…
She would kill every single last one of them. Except she couldn’t, she thought with a growl, pounding her fist against the black stone wall. They’d made certain of that. Her hand smarted, stinging from where she’d hit stone.
Wingallock let out an agitated hoot, and then flew out the window to join the reddened skies. Reyna gave a grim nod as he disappeared out of sight. She didn’t blame him. She wanted to fly out of this hellhole, too.
After watching him soar across the city, she turned toward the door and pushed out into the corridor, bracing herself for impact. But no guards stood in her way. Instead, she found the twisting black tunnel eerily empty and silent. Surely they did not trust her this much already?
Of course, why wouldn’t they? She had vowed to serve the High King, in whatever capacity he demanded. There was nothing she could do against him. Escape was an impossibility. Her only relief would be his death, but she could not kill him herself, nor could she conspire with anyone else to do the deed.
She was as helpless and as harmless as a mouse in a snake pit.
