Lorcan chuckled. “When they brought me dinner, I knocked out the guard. It was easy enough.”
“A bit too easy.”
Lorcan shrugged. “They underestimated me, old friend.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Lorcan’s smile died. “Come on, Thane. Don’t be like this. You know me almost better than anyone in the world. Surely you can tell it’s me.”
“Oh, I know it’s you, alright. I just don’t know if it’s acursedyou, pretending your way into our hearts.”
“I see.” Lorcan shrugged his hands into his trouser pockets. He’d come wearing little armor, likely to demonstrate he wasn’t a threat. As far as Thane could tell, he carried no weapon with him either. Narrowing his eyes, he stared at his old friend. The Lorcan he knew would have brought at least a dagger. He wouldn’t have wanted to wander enemy woods unarmed. “What are you doing out here anyway?”
“Nothing of your concern,” Thane said. “Right, Nollaig?”
“We’re camping, Your Highness,” she snapped. “We were about to settle in for the evening. I was promised some stew. Unfortunately, it’s likely cold by now.”
“What should we do with him?” Rhain muttered. “We can’t just let him wander around in the woods.”
“Maybe we should trust him,” Glencora whispered from behind them all.
Thane jumped, alarm shooting through him like a comet. She’d quietly edged her way into the group without him realizing, and there was nothing and no one standing between her and Lorcan now.
“Glencora, get back. He’s dangerous.”
“He’s my sister’s lover.” She shrugged. “He said the dangerous king was some kind of pretender. I think we should believe him. He looks harmless enough.”
“You have no idea what you’re saying, High Queen,” Nollaig muttered. “This could be Lorcan, but he could very well be the enemy. I think it’d be safer if you went to find your sister.”
“You’re leaving me out of all the fun stuff.”
“Glencora, please,” Thane said, turning to plead with her. “Go back to safety. See if you can find Reyna. She won’t have gone far.”
Reyna had stormed off, her faced drenched in pain. But he knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t have abandoned them with Lorcan. She just needed a moment to breathe, to think.
“Fine.” Glencora huffed, but acquiesced. As Thane turned his attention back onto the shadow king, she whispered back to the camp.
“This is an odd place to camp,” Lorcan said once Glencora was out of earshot. “There’s barely even a clearing here.”
“It’s enough of one to make it work,” Thane grunted. “Now, we need to figure this out. Is there something you can tell us? Or something you can show us? We need evidence you’re who you say you are.”
Lorcan smiled. “What if I can recount every second of our first meeting? Do you remember it? You were on a tour of the realm, stopping at villages along the way.”
Thane’s frown deepened. “If you’re cursed, you’d know that anyway.”
“Listen to me, Thane.” Lorcan took one more step forward. Nollaig hissed, tightening her grip on the bow. The arrow tip was only an inch from Lorcan’s chest now, so close that if she loosed it, the sharp iron would slice right through his heart. “I’ve come here to find you all so that we might return to the castle and vanquish our enemy together. If I were the cursed one, wouldn’t I have brought some others along with me? I wouldn’t be asking for your help. I’d be attacking you. Look at me. I’m alone. And I’ve come into your camp even when you have weapons trained on my heart. Surely, if I were the enemy, I wouldn’t do that.”
He had a point.
Thane peered into the depths of Lorcan’s eyes. They were pitch black, almost impossible to read. But Thane wanted to believe him, desperately so. Why would the cursed Lorcan show up in the camp and beg for them to listen? He would just kill them all instead.
“Thane?” Nollaig asked through gritted teeth. “What would you have us do.”
“Stand down,” he said with a weary sigh. “We’ll give him a chance. I don’t think we have anything to fear. For now.”
25
Reyna
