16. Raven
CHAPTER 16
Raven
I took a pull from my scotch, glancing over my shoulder at the sound of footsteps just behind me as I stifled a flash of irritation. Last night should’ve been one of the best of my life. I’d gotten to sleep with Diana in my arms. But I’d been plagued with nightmares and, in every single one of them?
I’d wound up burying my beloved.
It left me feeling unsettled and stressed all fucking day as I tried to reassure myself that these dreams weren’t the same thing as a premonition. No, if Myrr’s blood had given me some sort of precognition, it would be happening like it did for Myrr. At any random moment, bam! Premonition. Not some run of horrific dreams, each one more disturbing than the last.
So I’d spent my day trying to find the person or people behind that damnable burning threat in hopes of at least nipping that in the bud and finding a little bit of peace on that front, but I’d come up empty. Someone or someones out there would see my mate dead, and here I was, hamstrung and helpless, with no idea where to go from here…
“Mind if we join you?” Will said as he, Nicholas, and Bee strode into the massive library.
As much as I liked all three of them, company was about the last thing I was in the mood for. I greeted them, nonetheless, scooting over to make room for them in the seating area. Then, I drained the rest of my glass and gestured to the bar filled with crystal decanters against the wall.
“Help yourselves, if anyone is interested in drowning sorrows.”
Will took my empty glass and made a beeline for the bar as the others sat.
“Served by the king himself. And who said I wouldn’t amount to anything?” I glanced around the table as the others sat. “Any news?”
Bee frowned and shook her head. “Cleona’s past is squeaky clean, as far as we can tell—that, or she knows how to wipe her footprints better than anyone I’ve ever known!”
“I haven’t heard back from my mother’s friend yet, either,” Nicholas said.
I gestured toward Will as he poured us all drinks. “There’s always option two.” Cleona’s infatuation with Will was the only thread we had to tug on so far.
Nicholas chuckled. “I doubt Bee would take very kindly to that.”
“Not going to happen, so don’t even ask,” Bee said, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at me.
I held up both hands in surrender. “I wasn’t saying he should follow through on it, I was just saying maybe let her think there’s a chance…”
Will returned with a tray balanced on one hand as he passed out drinks with the other. “When do you think you’ll hear back from your mother’s contact?”
Nicholas shrugged. “Impossible to say. The Fae come and go as they please, and prefer magic to technology, so it can be a challenge to track a person down. All that’s left to do on our end is wait.”
“The fae are definitely an interesting lot,” Bee interjected. “I was in the library all day with Myrr, and I couldn’t believe some of the stuff I was reading. It might be difficult to pinpoint which things are scandal-worthy enough to actually use against her, and which things are normal for them.”
“What did you read?” Will asked as he took his seat close to Bee.
“Well, for one, marriages are rare, and monogamy even more so.” Her face lit up, and she grabbed Will by the arm. “Oh yeah, wait until you hear about how they deal with thieves…”
Nicholas tapped me on the shoulder, pulling my attention away from them.
“Hmm?” I pulled over my scotch, throwing back a healthy swallow as I shoved a particularly brutal nightmare about Diana from the forefront of my mind.
“Hear anything about Teeter?”
“No one has seen or heard from him. Interviewed all the staff in the keep, too. Loch spoke with anyone who might frequent that bar, along with several clan leaders, and Gavin’s widow, Mary. So far, we’ve got nothing.”
“Think they’re all covering for one of their own? Or is he just doing a damn good job at hiding?”
“I’m confident in my ability to spot a liar, and I don’t think any of the staff was involved.” If I did, they’d have already been in a room getting mind-fucked by our own Nicholas right now. “If I had to guess, he’s nowhere near the keep.”
“Has anyone talked to Mav today?”
I instantly tensed at hearing his name. Diana had been quite sure he wasn’t behind the poisoning, but it had been damn hard to stop myself from confronting him.
“Nope, and I was asked not to track him down,” I said, my hand straying toward my glass once again.
“You really think he’s involved with all this?”
“I don’t have any proof, but my gut says yes. Then again, my guts fucking hate his ass, so maybe I’m biased.” I pushed Maverick from my mind and focused on the things I could control. “Regardless, it’s Teeter we have to find.”
“Can’t help but wonder if he isn’t being harbored by some clan or other, though. Wouldn’t be hard, given how much independence Diana allows them. The clan leader wouldn’t even have to know, necessarily.”
“It’s possible. She wanted to keep things low key so as not to rile up the clans who are already against her, but I’ll see what she thinks about putting up a reward for information. We’re not getting anywhere being subtle.”
Memories of the previous night flashed through my mind, unbidden, as I thought of going to Diana’s rooms now, and I had to hide my fangs in the rim of my glass as they punched through my gums. I gritted my teeth, the arousal morphing quickly into more frustration. We were closer than ever, yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was still holding something back.
The worst part?
I couldn’t blame her. Given what I’d taken from her, no matter the reason, it was a wonder we’d even been able to get back to this point in our relationship, never mind the one I longed for. And now, it was even harder because I was spending every waking moment thinking about how to get her out of this safe and sound.
But what then?
I leaned back in my chair, pondering the question for the first time. I’d join her in her search for the remaining keys, of course, but would things continue as they were now? Or would she pull away yet again?
Nicholas’ voice broke me out of the thought. “Why don’t you just tell her?”
I turned, glancing down to see if he’d been touching my arm or something. “I thought I told you not to go fishing around in my head.” Creepy as his powers were, they were supposed to require touch to function.
He laughed, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “I didn’t read your mind. I just read your face. You aren’t exactly good at hiding your feelings for her. So, explain it to me. Why don’t you tell her that you were the one who saved her from Edmund when you were children? Maybe if she knew, she’d see that you were always meant to be from the very start.”
“That’s exactly why I won’t tell her,” I shot back. “The last thing I want is for her to feel like she’s beholden to me because of something like that. I want her to choose me, not feel like she never had a choice.”
I’d already done that to her once, and it had nearly ruined everything.
“Don’t you think she’d resent not having all the information, though? It’s a big secret to keep from her.”
I was about to reply when a frantic-looking Lochlin rushed into the room.
“They’ve come for Diana!”
I leapt out of my chair and sprinted from the room, Nicholas and the others hot on my heels. I kicked into high gear once we got out the front door, surging past Lochlin as we moved toward the front gate of the keep. A mixture of relief and confusion washed over me as Diana came into view. She was alive, well, and surrounded by guards as she faced the five clan leaders standing before her.
My muscles tensed as one of them began to stride forward, but I held back when her guards stopped him short.
“We’re not here for battle. I’m only here to deliver this letter.”
He produced a sealed envelope, stepping back wordlessly once she took it.
“Holmgang, then?” she said, her expression solemn as she tore open the envelope without ceremony.
My heart thumped heavily in my chest as Lochlin let out a low string of curses.
Her eyes flitted downward for less than a second before she stuffed it into her pocket. “I accept your challenge. We meet at noon…the clearing in the west forest.”
She spun without another word, sliding past me on her way back to the keep. I followed, but she was silent until we reached the front doors.
“I don’t see that I have a choice,” she murmured, her expression darker than I’d seen in weeks, despite all that she’d been going through.
“Choice in what? What the fuck is a Holmgang?” I demanded.
“A physical challenge,” Lochlin grunted, “for the throne.”
“What?” Nicholas blurted, echoing my thoughts. “They can do that?”
“It’s only happened once in the past two centuries, but yes. If at least five clans sign off on it, her hand is basically forced. She can either fight their champion, or step aside.”
“She plans to step aside anyway. Why fight?”
“Because if I don’t, they pick my successor.” She leveled me with a fierce look. “I won’t have it.”
I gritted my teeth. “Alright then, can you choose a champion of your own?”
She shook her head. “It must be me. If I win, they won’t be able to issue another challenge for ten years. That will give Elka a chance to settle in.”
“And if you lose?”
“I won’t,” she said, her expression growing defiant.
“But if you did?”
Lochlin stepped between us, his expression grim. “Raven…It’s a battle to the death.”
The words hit me like a punch to the gut, and it took every bit of self-control I had to not charge right back through those doors and gut all five of those bastard clan leaders.
“Unacceptable. We’ll find another way out of this. We can?—”
“I’m doing it, Raven,” Diana cut in, slicing her hand through the air to stay further argument. “It is the way of my people, and anyone who tries to stop me will be henceforth considered the enemy.”
She swept into the keep, head held high, as I stood there feeling as helpless as I’d ever felt in my life.
In less than a day’s time, the one I loved most in the world could well be dead.
And, this time, there wasn’t a fucking thing I could do about it.