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He sighed, his gaze sliding to Ranthus, who seemed too interested in our conversation. “Feral. But he fought it.”
Ezra studied Cyn in that penetrating way of his until Cyn looked away. “He seems fine and didn’t seem affected when we found you three on the path. You said your blood—”
“The smell of her blood kept me distracted enough to fight it off,” Cyn said, shooting Ezra a sharp look. Whatever silent communication passed between them halted Ezra from saying more.
I glanced between them and at Ranthus.
What did Cyn not want Ranthus to know?
30
INTERROGATION
RAE
Zeke laced his fingers with mine as we entered the council’s chambers, giving me a reassuring squeeze when I suspected he needed it more than I did.
I doubted we would’ve had other options if my blood hadn’t been enough to wipe out the remnants of the curse infesting his mind. If our unsealed bond had weakened my blood’s healing power, he would’ve been stuck fighting the curse alone. But it had worked on Cyn, so I’d suspected it would work on Zeke since we were closer.
Our footsteps echoed on the marble flooring, signaling our presence as we passed through the sheer red curtains into the soft glow of amber orbs on pedestals.
Zeke’s parents, Caendra and Rhistel, sat upright when they spotted him alive and well. We filed into the room and took our places in the pit below the thrones.
Cornaith’s eyes narrowed on me, his shrewd gaze flicking to our linked hands. “It is good to see you made it back to us unscathed,” he said, his tone making it clear he didn’t mean a single word.
My gaze moved across the thrones, taking in the faces of Cyn’s parents, Lymsrana and Ardvaen, Zeke’s parents, and Amra to see if they bought Cornaith’s false concern.
I wondered if they knew he didn’t care whether I made it back. It wasn’t as if he’d told me—I just knew it. Something about the way he looked at me with a different shade of contempt than he showed the others made it abundantly clear he wouldn’t have minded if I’d met my end in Feranzis.
But hadn’t they said something about my death hurting the guys?
He might dislike me and entertain the fantasy of my demise, but I doubted he’d want my death if it meant losing Ezra.
“The curse is lifted, then?” Ardvaen sat forward, studying Zeke.
Ezra straightened. “Ash theorized that my blood would counteract the curse.”
When he didn’t elaborate or bring up my blood offering, I glanced at Ash, but caught Cyn’s eye. He shook his head almost imperceptibly.
“It seems Ash’s theory proved correct,” Rhistel said, his eyes, so much like his son’s, scanning Zeke from head to toe.
Caendra brushed a strand of platinum-white hair from her face, smoothing it back into her updo. “Yes, it is good to see you’re well again.”
I couldn’t stop my expression from twisting into something sour. These two did not act like parents who had almost lost their child. At least Lymsrana and Ardvaen kept looking at Cyn as if they wanted to go check on him, even though Ash told me they already had when we’d gone to clean up.
“Now that everyone appears to be intact, I want information,” Cornaith said, bringing his ankle up to rest on his knee, his probing gaze locked on Ezra, once again ignoring the rest of us. “With your urgency in pursuing the kidnappers, we lack sufficient information about what occurred after the ball.”
Ezra recounted the events that unfolded after we left the ball, meticulously describing everything until someone tranquilized him and Ash. Cyn then picked up the account, describing what happened until he lost consciousness during the attack.
“You woke in Feranzis after that?” Lymsrana asked, her worried gaze focused on her son.
“Zeke and I woke up together,” Cyn said, glancing at me. “But she wasn’t with us. We thought they’d taken her and abandoned us. I mean, she seemed like their target, not us.”
Ardvaen frowned. “But why?”
“Hell if I know.” Cyn clicked his tongue piercing against his teeth before he sighed. “But Kairian cornered her during the ball, not long before all this happened.”
“Kairian?” Lymsrana glanced at Amra. “Dugorigi’s son?”
