A House of Cloaks & Daggers (The Gift War #1)

48. Where Your Loyalty Lies

Chapter forty-eight

Where Your Loyalty Lies

L ater, I found the real Wren pacing up and down the candlelit hallway outside my room.

He froze when he heard my footsteps, the colour of his cheeks deepening, and as soon as he opened his mouth, I knew that I was about to hear another useless apology.

“Don’t bother,” I called, striding towards him. “He already told me that it wasn’t your idea, and it doesn’t make a difference.”

“Aura, please.” The impersonator ran a hand through his dark hair. “I am bound to serve him. I couldn’t tell you, no matter how much I wanted to.”

I came to a stop in front of him and crossed my arms. “And the—the other stuff ? He made you do that, too?”

Real Wren blushed. “No. By the Elements, Aura, I tried to stay away from you. I wanted to wait until you could know who I really was, but it was impossible. You are impossible. I am completely and utterly under your spell. I never lied to you, I swear it.”

My eyes narrowed. “You never told me the truth, either.”

The High King’s true Hand cursed at the ceiling. “So much of it was true. Everything I said upstairs, in the bedroom, was real. In the dining hall—”

“Please.” I exhaled sharply. “Don’t.”

Shaking his head, Lucais—no, Wren —reached a hand out towards me but thought better of it and let it fall to his side. “We had to try to keep you in the dark. If you knew and chose to stay in Belgrave, it was only a matter of time before we would have had your head delivered to us in a box.”

Dread snaked down my spine, and I swallowed back a dose of watered-down bile. Saving my life was one thing, but forcing me into a lie was another.

“Why was it so easy for me to believe it?”

Real Wren’s throat worked. His expression was tortured. “Because it’s not the bond, baby,” he whispered. “It’s us. It’s real. You decided to love me all on your own.”

I shook my head. “Did I?”

I couldn’t explain why I fell head-over-heels for Fake Lucais that day in the dining hall, purring in his lap like a cat on catnip after Real Lucais had riled me up in his bedroom. I’d blamed it on the mating bond when the whole time I was falling for a scheme. It wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t real.

Knowing that didn’t make me feel any less sick, though.

“You didn’t think to stop it, to make him tell me the truth, or find a way to tell me without saying it out loud, even once?”

Wren’s face fell. “I tried. The first time we kissed, he nearly killed me. Morgoya broke it up and calmed him down, and I told him how I felt about you. We were going to call it off, but…”

“But what?”

He sighed again and threw his hands up. “But fucking politics . Your magic is unhinged, and we couldn’t risk it when we needed to investigate Gregor’s Court and meet with Enyd and her Court.”

I scoffed. “Gee, thanks. That’s nice to know.” I stalked towards the windows; it was the same row of glass overlooking the backyard that I had stood beside the day I met him. “How long were you planning to avoid it?” I asked. “Your mouth, then your hand—”

“Aura, be careful asking these questions,” he warned. “You might not want to know the answer.”

Incensed, I whirled on him. “Just tell me!”

Wren stepped up beside me and looked me dead in the eye. “If you had asked me a third time, we agreed that he’d have to tell you the truth. To test it, he let his glamour drop the day Morgoya told you about the Gift War.”

The day I’d walked down to the water and saw the lochgrub.

My magic had roiled, trying to tell me that something was wrong. I’d confused them when Wren had arrived in Lucais’s place—

“I don’t know how differently it would have gone if the asshole hadn’t gotten himself stung by a locust and blown his stupid plan to pieces,” he confessed. “I hoped it would be much better. You deserve so much better than this.” He sighed. “But please believe me when I tell you that I would not have taken it any further without your informed consent. As badly as I want to give you what you wanted from me—to do anything you ask of me—I actually think he would have killed me for it, and I wouldn’t have let Morgoya stop him this time.”

I glowered at him. “I’m so glad I know where your loyalty lies.” The hurt that flashed in his eyes made me feel sick, but I refused to feel sorry for it. “Kiss me,” I said, taking a step towards him. “I want to see the difference now that I know.”

Lucais’s—no, it was Wren’s dark, chestnut brown eyes that were wary as he closed the distance between us. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. If you have no objections, then I’d like to do this to clear my head.”

“No objections,” he breathed. His hand shook slightly as he lifted it to cup my cheek, bending his head to mine.

Real Wren’s mouth slanted over mine, soft, warm, and as intoxicating as it had been yesterday afternoon. I felt my heart flutter, chest expanding with desire. My blood heated, my stomach clenched, and my toes curled as I reached up to wrap my arms around the back of his neck. I hated what he had done, all the lies and tricks, but I loved what he was doing with his hands on my waist and my hips, travelling over my backside as he walked me back against the wall. And I loved what he was doing with his tongue—

A door creaked open.

I broke away from Wren’s mouth with a small whimper of annoyance and whipped my head towards the sound.

The High King of Faerie stood in the hallway, an unreadable expression on his face.

My mate.

He looked between my wide eyes and the strong arms that were around me, and then he vanished back into my bedroom. The door slammed closed.

Wren sighed, resting his forehead against my temple. He inhaled deeply like his lungs could consume me and form a permanent attachment stronger than any star-told bond. “Aura?”

My heart clenched. His voice. The way he said my name…

The real Lucais, the golden fiend who brought me into Faerie, said that hearing me call his name from the cottage that night broke his heart. Because we were fated mates.

So how was it possible that another man’s voice would break mine?

“I’ve fallen in love with the wrong man,” I whispered, staring down the empty hall. Slowly, I turned to face him and found the most gut-wrenching smile on his face. The contents of my stomach turned to ice, and I pushed him away, turning my head so that I didn’t have to watch that smile breaking when I said, “But it doesn’t change what you did… Wren, I don’t want this.”