Before he’d fled.
“My turn.”
At first, Eislyn was confused. What did Vreis mean?His turn?And then it dawned on her. The game. The drinks. The horrible rush of their conversation had made her forget about any of that. After the revelations, she wasn’t certain she wished to continue.
“Go on then,” she said with a sigh. “Make your guess.”
“You love Thane,” he said easily, without a moment’s hesitation. As if he had been ready to say it for a good, long while.
“I thought we agreed to avoid obvious guesses,” Eislyn answered with a frown.
“And is it obvious?” he asked quietly.
His gaze was heavy on her face. Eislyn opened her mouth. No sound came out. Was it obvious? To the casual witness, perhaps. She and Thane had grown friendly over her weeks spent at court. He had helped her with her studies. He’d shown interest in her quest. And there had been some fluttering in her belly, the hope of something more.
But that more had never come. They hadn’t been given that chance.
“No, I suppose I don’t,” she whispered, unexpected tears burning her eyes. “I mean, not yet. We only spent a brief time together, now and again.” She shook her head and spoke more quickly. “They were good times. I was happy to hear he’d changed his mind about the betrothal to Reyna, happy he’d decided to choose me. Love would have come. Itwill come. I refuse to believe he fled.”
Vreis nodded. “Well, I guessed wrong. That means I have to drink.”
Eislyn watched him slowly lift his mug to his lips and sip the fiery liquid. As strange as it seemed, she was almost certain he’d guessed incorrectly on purpose. He had expected her to say she didn’t love Thane. But why?
Eislyn lifted her chin. “You know, as someone who vowed to protect his king’s future queen, you seem awfully convinced she’ll never be said queen.”
“And as someone who has vowed to destroy the dark magic plaguing your realm, you seem awfully distracted by a king who willingly left you in a castle with his enemy.” He stood suddenly, dropping his mug on the table. “The boat is steady. It seems we’ve passed through the storm. I’m going to get some sleep, Your Highness. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Eislyn frowned and glanced down at the floor. She hadn’t even noticed it had stopped swaying.
13
Reyna
They left at full dark when the twin moons had risen fully into the sky, their glorious light obscured behind dark rolling clouds and the ever-present mists of the shadow lands. There were five in their company. In addition to Nollaig and Tarrah, the shadow fae had sent a warrior named Teutas to join them. It seemed the king was taking every precaution imaginable.
Lorcan appeared just as they gathered in the castle courtyard. He said nothing to Reyna. She had nothing to say to him either. His glowering eyes were cast on the distant horizon. Now that he finally knew her darkest truth, he would likely never look at her the same again.
Good, she thought. She did not want anything from him but his blood on her hands.
Nollaig took the lead, winding through the castle courtyard and down a long flight of stairs where a rusted metal gate clung to the ground by their feet. Teutas and Lorcan knelt down and pried the gate open. Loud creaks screamed through the quiet night.
Reyna peered into the tunnel, her stomach tumbling. Wingallock hooted from where he sat on her shoulder. He was coming with her, even if he wouldn’t be scouting ahead. “When you said that we would be going through a gate, this was not what I had imagined.”
Once again, Reyna swore she felt Nollaig smile. “It would not be a secret gate if it merely opened on one end of the wall and again on the other. We must go underground to reach the other side.”
Reyna had never been particularly fond of underground. There were caves in the north where ice glass formed. Miners spent hours of their day deep in the pits, cutting shards from the rocks. But Reyna had never laid eyes on them herself. She liked the fresh air and the forests and the skies.
“I would rather spend a week knee-deep in mud on the battlefield than go down in that cave,” Reyna said.
“Perhaps you will get to do both.” Nollaig let out a laugh before motioning her gloved hand toward the entrance. “Why don’t you go first since you are so eager?”
Reyna glared.
Nollaig chuckled again. “I’m only joking. You don’t know the way, and I doubt your eyes are as accustomed to darkness as mine.”
“Nollaig, enough,” Lorcan said.
“Oh, relax. You once enjoyed jokes, Lorcan, but it seems the air fae have destroyed that as well as our kingdom.”
