“Where have you been?” Lucca asks.
Manu halts, and then her nostrils flare. “You’ve been with Cheryl. Does she still live?”
She must know that Karl brought Cheryl to Solomon’s place. There’s no way she wouldn’t sense her familiar if he was close. “Yes, she lives.”
Manu exhales. “Good. Karl won’t be alone for a few more years, then.”
She doesn’t know what I did. She’d be even more relieved to know Karl won’t have to be alone at all, but she’ll find out later. I need to convey the news to the king first. Even though my honor is worthless now, he must learn of my betrayal from me.
Lucca narrows his eyes. Somehow, he knows what I did. But he doesn’t speak of it. Instead, he steps aside. “Let him through, Manu. Uncle Raphael is waiting for him.”
I catch the question in the stare she throws at Lucca, but I enter the building and tune them out. My boots rasp against the hard stone floor, and with each step, my heart beats faster. By the time I stop just outside the throne room, it feels like there’s a damn stampede of wild horses inside my chest.
The two Red Guard soldiers stationed in front of the double doors block my path and don’t move.
“I’m here to see the king,” I say, like they don’t already know that.
“He’s having an audience with James Davenport. You’ll have to wait,” one soldier replies.
I grind my teeth. Hell. I don’t want to wait. But I can’t simply barge into the room.
“Let him through,” the king commands, his baritone voice heard clearly even through the thick doors that separate us.
The soldiers open the door at once, and inside, I see James and a figure I wasn’t anticipating—Derek Blackwater. I wonder if the soldiers stationed outside know the king’s spy is here. Probably not.
“Ronan McLaren. I’ve been expecting you,” the king says from his throne, his expression revealing nothing. His face is an indecipherable mask, but I know deep in my bones that he’s aware of what I’ve done.
“Your Majesty.” I bow, and when I straighten, James is scowling at me. I can’t fault him for that. I did leave him and Dean without a word to go after Cheryl.
James and Derek depart the room, and the double doors close again. King Raphael stares at me with his enigmatic brown eyes, so similar to Lucca’s, and yet so different. There’s a mountain of pain and regret in his gaze. “You have something to say to me, don’t you, lad?”
I nod. “Yes. I’ve defied your orders, my king. I’ve turned Cheryl into a vampire against your wishes. I’m here to accept my punishment.” I drop to my knees, keeping my head down.
“It worked, then?” he asks, sounding eager, not angry as I expected.
I frown, lifting my chin. “Yes.”
“Hmm.” He strokes his short beard. “And can she still shift into her wolf form?”
“She can.”
“Any side effects?”
What is this? Why is he asking me questions as if I just returned from a mission he sanctioned? I obviously cannot ask him, but he’s acting peculiar.
“I could only observe one. The sun does her no harm.”
His eyes widen briefly. “She’s a daywalker, then.”
“Yes.”
He relaxes, leaning back in the throne. “Fascinating.”
My curiosity gets the better of me. My life is forfeit anyway, so I dare to say, “Forgive me, my king, but you don’t sound upset that I defied you.”
He cocks his head. “I can see that you didn’t expect to walk out of this room alive. You did disobey my orders, but tonight wasn’t the first time Cheryl asked you to change her, was it?”
I shake my head. “No. I denied her plea before.”
