Chapter 16 #3
“Last night?” My brows lifted, and I tensed.
Had the guards really brought her here to ask about this?
If they knew I was feeding Elias, why would they ask Elara to come?
I’d expected them to catch me red-handed and beat the living hell out of me.
“I was in my cell. Nothing happened.” The stench of my own lie hit me, making me want to gag.
“No, last night, when you murdered Father.” Elara pressed her lips together, and blood oozed past the cracks. “Time works differently in this place. It can seem like days, weeks, or years have passed when it’s been only a short amount of time. You’ve been here twelve hours.”
I inhaled quickly and choked on my own spit. I coughed, and then swallowed hard, trying to comprehend what she’d said. “Twelve hours?” No wonder Vad hadn’t returned and Many-Greats hadn’t visited me again.
Rope Guard chuckled before clearing his throat.
I wanted to roll my eyes but kept them in place. They were listening to us after all.
Rolling my shoulders back, I moistened my lips and told her everything I’d told Vad. Colm’s brutal inserted memories swung at the edges of my mind, but I batted them away. For what felt like the millionth time, I recounted what had happened as clearly and simply as possible.
Elara held one hand near the base of her throat as she listened, sometimes brushing her finger over her cracked lips. When I finished, she edged forward. “He said ‘lilies.’ That’s all?”
“That’s all.” I rubbed my fingers together, wishing I could reach out and comfort her. “I swear it or vow it or curse on it, or...whatever you want me to do.”
Her gaze dropped to the floor, and she shuddered.
“The ball was the first time he’d served as officiant in ages.
The first time he felt so good that he actually…
enjoyed himself.” She drew in a deep breath.
“He asked me to dance. I used to love dancing with him, but I wasn’t feeling well, so…
I said another time. He suggested we walk in the garden instead, and I asked if we could do it another night after I rested. He—he said yes.”
“Your father—” My heart ripped open. I understood what losing a parent felt like and knew that, if I were given the chance to see mine again, I’d do things differently. Regret hovered over me, along with the question: If I had that chance, would things be different?
“I should have been with him in the garden,” she whispered. Naked emotion slid over her face before she caught herself and gulped in a large breath. “Or if I’d danced with him, maybe the attack wouldn’t have succeeded.”
I had my own what-ifs. What if Ember and I had fought against the alpha command our father had given us to run? What if we had stayed and fought alongside our pack while they were being slaughtered? Maybe something would’ve changed. Those what-ifs hurt worse sometimes than what had happened.
I stepped forward, wanting to comfort her and myself.
“Stay back,” Crossbow Guard growled, lifting the weapon toward me again. “Do not get close to the Shadow Princess.”
The urge to stomp and scream surged through me. I was so damn tired of them treating me like this. I wanted to slit their throats, or let my wolf rip them out. I wasn’t picky, as long as all these corrupt guards died.
“Briar,” Elara said sharply, as if she knew what was going on in my head.
Suddenly, the door slammed open, and Silus slid in. Sweat beaded his brow and clung to his normally immaculate dark hair. He straightened his charcoal black surcoat and the dark-blue ascot tucked into his tunic.
The guards snapped to attention, Crossbow Guard swinging the weapon from me to Silus. Rope Guard reached for his sword, but neither moved away from the wall.
“Princess.” Silus’s gaze locked on Elara, and his eyes widened. “What are you doing here?” His jaw worked like there was another question he wanted to ask instead.
The air seemed to thicken, and I dug my fingers into the rope to give myself something to hold on to. Tension radiated between the two of them, all but shimmering in the air as neither looked away.
I didn’t know Silus well. Every time I’d seen him, he’d been so serious and had seemed more of a stick in the mud than even Vad had at first.
His gaze traveled over Elara while his right hand fisted and curled against his trousers, as if he wanted to touch her and was holding himself in check. Tears shone in his dark eyes, and he stepped forward. “You’re needed back at the palace.”
She lifted her chin. “It’s fine.”
“Then we should take leave, Your Highness.” He turned to me and flinched before schooling his expression. “If you’re done speaking to the person accused of killing the king?"
My head jerked back a little. He’d called me the accused, not the killer. That didn’t sound like the Silus I knew.
Elara turned to me, her gaze piercing through the dim light of the small chamber.
Following suit, Silus studied me in a cold, detached manner.
“I suppose there isn’t much more to say.
” Elara sighed. “Growing up, I always wanted a little sister. I imagined I’d tell her to be brave, and to cherish the knowledge that her family and friends would stop at nothing to keep her safe.
That’s how family works, after all. And there is no fury like the fury that comes when someone takes one of our family from us.
There would be no peace until the matter was resolved.
I would tell her to keep her wings straight and her chin up and remember who she is and who she belongs to.
” She raised one hand as her voice shook.
“I’d hoped that you would be that for me, but Fate always has her plan. ”
Something inside my chest had twisted when she’d said little sister , each word a blade with the edge turned inward. In such a short time, I’d come to care for Elara. I’d gotten a friendly vibe from with her as soon as I’d arrived in Nytheria.
Her lips trembled. “But you are not my sister, and I was wrong about you from the start.”
That blast of sulfur was the most welcome, disgusting scent I’d ever smelled.
I shook my head as tears sprang to my eyes, burning and spilling over.
My lips parted, but no sound came out. What could I possibly say to that?
To any of this? “I hope you get a little sister like that someday.” Even if it wound up not being me.
Her lips had parted as if she was about to speak again when the earth jolted.
The guards exchanged panicked glances as dust began to filter down from the ceiling. Silus ripped off his cloak and lunged at Elara. He swept the cloak around and lifted her into his arms as if she weighed nothing, while the walls groaned and the floor jumped beneath my feet.
A dull roar sounded. On the table, the oil lamp rattled and slid to the edge. I dove forward and caught it with my bound hands before it could shatter.
Then all hell broke loose.