Chapter 33 – Neve
Chapter 33
NEVE
“ P rince Rhistel.” I frowned at the heir.
What was he doing here? And why hadn’t my guard announced him to me? Where was my Clawsguard? I peered around the heir, trying to find Sir Arvid.
“Have I lost your interest already?” Rhistel smirked. His face was so like Vale’s and yet, so not at the same time. Whereas Vale’s face radiated warmth and strength, Rhistel’s was shrouded in mystery and cunning.
Annoyed, I met his gaze, wondering what to say to someone I didn’t want to be around but couldn’t ignore.
“I didn’t hear you approach,” I settled on.
The heir smirked. “What are you doing in the library?”
Ah, yes, Rhistel was touted far and wide as the scholar prince. Knowing him, he thought this library was his and his alone. Pompous arse.
“Looking up precious gems. I’m almost done.”
“Eyeing the crown jewels, are you?”
I scoffed. I already possessed one of the rarest and most expensive jewels and it didn’t belong to his family. “Merely curious.”
“As am I.” Rhistel came closer, a dangerous gleam sparking in his eyes.
I took a corresponding step back. “I was leaving.” I spun, prepared to walk away, when Rhistel grabbed my arm and yanked me back around.
“I’m afraid you’re not.” His eyes burned into mine. “I have to understand what Roar and Vale see in you—besides the obvious, of course. Beauty is tempting, but to ensnare two of the most powerful males in the kingdom, there has to be more to you than a pretty face and a pleasing figure.”
As he spoke, his hand trailed downward and grabbed mine. I hissed and realized that where he touched me, we were skin to skin.
Rhistel wasn’t wearing gloves.
I’d only seen him remove them once. That day in the solarium. The day Vale had gone berserk. My heart rate spiking, I tried to pull away, but suddenly, the room dimmed and my mind clouded.
Perhaps before I delve into your simple mind, I’ll see for myself if you truly are merely a tempting morsel. Rhistel’s voice wound through my head. Kiss me. And make it good.
A small part of me recoiled, but I lifted onto my toes all the same, mouth parting for the prince in front of me.
Stop, Rhistel said, though his mouth did not move.
Hovering on tiptoes, I froze.
I blinked and tried to force my feet to the ground, tried to put distance between Rhistel and me, but to no avail. Though a part of me wanted to scream at the thought of kissing him, I was powerless to stop it. What in the stars was happening?
A slow grin bloomed on Rhistel’s face. I have to say, I like you better like this, Neve. Docile. Silent. I ? —
Pain ripped through my body, and the lights in the library brightened, blinding me. I gasped as all my faculties engaged, and I found myself still on my tiptoes and Prince Rhistel laid out on the floor.
“Princess Neve.” A voice drew my gaze up from Rhistel. Filip stood before me, his eyes wide with horror. “Are you harmed?”
“What? No, but I-I’m not sure what happened.” I looked around. “Or where Sir Arvid went.”
“He left. Prince Rhistel spoke to him and the Clawsguard left the library and then the prince approached you and you—you almost kissed him, Princess Neve.”
I shook my head. “I would never do that. Not willingly.”
“I know why you did.” Filip looked down at Rhistel, his toe pushing at the prince’s ungloved hand warily. “But we have to leave before he wakes. I snuck up on the prince from behind so he didn’t see me, but if he knows I was the one who hit him over the head, they might execute me. ”
“Fast then,” I said, wanting answers but also not wishing to put this youngling in danger.
We rushed through the stacks. Luckily, the leprechaun librarian was nowhere in sight. We didn’t see her when we passed through the large pine doors, nor Sir Arvid, nor the Clawsguard who should have been following Rhistel. I kept my mouth shut until Filip led me into a hallway with a few people.
Making sure those wandering the halls weren’t close enough to hear but were close enough to be witnesses should Rhistel come looking for us, I turned to Vale’s squire and kept my voice low. “Did Vale tell you to watch me?”
“He did.” Filip swallowed. “I was watching from the third floor.”
I nodded, trying to piece things together. The memory of Rhistel’s voice in my head was strong. He’d wanted to search my mind—a power Queen Inga had. Though Vale had never told me Rhistel shared it.
He would have been able to because, for the first time in my hurry to leave the suite that morning, I’d forgotten to take the Mind Rond potion.
But Rhistel hadn’t only said he wanted to read my mind: he’d told me to kiss him.
And I would have. I would have kissed him. He forced me somehow.
I gasped, putting the pieces together.
“Filip, I think Rhist?—”
“ Don’t say it here,” the youngling cut me off, terror in his voice. “Wait until we ask Prince Vale. Where no one can overhear.”
I nodded, anxiety mounting, and by the time we made it to Vale’s suite, I was dying for answers. The Clawsguard at the door let me in. Filip hung back, but I waved for him to follow.
“Vale? Are you in here?” I called out.
He appeared at the end of the short corridor that funneled into his bedchambers, a smile on his face.
He was happy that I was calling out for him. I winced at the realization but didn’t have time to feel too bad. Not with my questions burning their way up my throat.
“We need to talk,” I said. “About your brother and the magic he’s been hiding.”
All the blood left Vale’s face. “What do you mean? What happened? Didn’t you visit Saga?”
“I asked Sir Arvid to take me to the library first. Rhistel was there. He touched me without his gloves on.” I arched an eyebrow.
His mouth opened, then closed before opening once more. He had no defense. He knew that I knew.
“Filip,” Vale started, “perhaps you should?—”
“No. He deserves the truth too. If it wasn’t for him, your brother would have delved through my head.” I swallowed. “And he tried to make me kiss him.”
Maybe, had I done so, he would have demanded more. Rhistel had threatened as much in the past.
Vale’s expression hardened to steel. “You swear it?”
Filip’s eyebrows pulled together. Fae couldn’t lie, and he didn’t know that I possessed that ability. At least for two more days.
“I do,” I said.
Vale inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. His fists were tight balls of fury, and when he opened his eyes again, a warrior stared at us.
“I must swear you both to secrecy.”
I arched an eyebrow. “We deserve an explanation.”
Everyone did. If what I believed about Rhistel was true, he was incredibly dangerous.
“You do, but I must insist,” Vale said. “I’ve been sworn to secrecy too, if that makes a difference.”
Then I understood. Vale valued honor above almost everything else. He might not get along with his brother, might hate him at times—as he appeared to now—but he’d made a promise. He would have kept it to his dying day, but we’d cornered him. Or, more accurately, his brother had been reckless and exposed himself.
No matter how you spun the coin, the truth was about to come out.
“I swear,” I said.
“Me too,” Filip added.
Vale gestured to the settee. “Sit.”
He looked like he needed to take a seat more than we did, but Filip and I obliged while Vale created a thick barrier of air in front of his door. If the Clawsguard was listening, he would no longer be able to hear.
When Vale approached, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “He’s a whisperer, isn’t he? ”
Vale winced, and his hand scrubbed over the back of his neck. “Yes.”
“Aren’t they supposed to be killed when they’re young?”
Filip had gone pale and didn’t seem to have a voice. That was fine. I would ask the questions for both of us.
“They are,” Vale agreed. “But my brother is the heir to the kingdom, and this power didn’t develop until Rhistel was nineteen turns—almost twenty. That’s very late.”
“No one noticed?” I pressed.
Vale looked away. “I was the first he used his whispering powers on.”
Oh. I sensed a story there and not a good one. But before I could decide whether I wanted to hear it, Vale continued.
“After that, Father told Rhistel to wear the gloves. But before that, we allowed the rumor to spread that it was from Rhistel’s winter magic. It only took one time of him pushing himself and nearly freezing someone to death for others to believe it.”
“You staged that?”
“We had no other choice.”
“But”—Filip sat up—“can’t whisperers lie?”
“What?!” I sat up straighter. Saga hadn’t mentioned that part.
“They can,” Vale answered, shooting me a look. “It’s the only fae power known to allow us to lie.”
“Another reason they are not allowed to live,” Filip added .
Yes, I understood The Liar’s Salvation potion was illegal, though even if it wasn’t, most wouldn’t use it anyway as it nullified magic. That made fae weaker, and in this world, power was everything.
“That’s how they can make up stories,” I whispered.
“Which is what happened when Father helped Rhistel stage the event that led others to think the heir possessed winter magic that was so strong he needed to wear ice spider silk gloves. The rumor sprouted from my brother’s own lips.”
My teeth dug into my bottom lip. “What do the gloves do?”
“They’re ice spider silk,” Vale repeated, as if that explained anything.
“And?”
“The silk negates any use of magic,” Filip said, and I remembered he’d mentioned that before and finally understood. The silk kept the heir’s power restrained.
“The ice spiders are in the Ice Tooth Mountains,” Filip continued as if he couldn’t help himself. “My people hunt them because otherwise they will hunt us, but the silk, if one can find a nest, is priceless.”
“Rhistel still hasn’t completely mastered his magic, so he’s supposed to wear them everywhere,” Vale said. “I’ll kill him for removing them. For doing that to you.”
I did my best to ignore how the protective comment made my heart stutter. Vale and I couldn’t happen, no matter how much my body and heart wanted it.
“Ice spiders are the Riis family animal,” I murmured.
Vale nodded. “There’s a reason Lord Riis took that animal as his own. He has the power to negate others’ magics. Just like the ice spider.”
“Oh,” I breathed. That would be powerful indeed.
“How often has the heir used his magic?” Filip asked hesitantly.
I could tell that he hated having this conversation. The squire probably considered it disrespectful to Vale. Filip was so loyal that sometimes it made my heart ache.
“Not for many turns.” Vale cleared his throat. “At first, he used it when he could get away with it. That’s one of the reasons we grew apart. I couldn’t abide by his choices. But once”—he let out a pained breath—“Father caught him and had Sir Lars beat him. It was the only time Father has ever done so to any of us.”
Rhistel was a whisperer and whisperers were like vampires in the sense that they read minds and controlled minds. I shuddered with revulsion. No one should ever be able to do that.
“Unless you two have more questions, I need to go speak with my brother,” Vale said when Filip and I fell silent. “Alone.”
“No,” I retorted firmly. “Filip knocked him over the head to get me out of there. Rhistel didn’t see him coming, and no one saw us leave the library. But if you go looking for revenge, he’ll ask questions. That puts Filip at great risk.”
Filip squirmed. To save me, he’d acted on impulse. But he’d only been there in the first place because of Vale’s orders. He would not be harmed for that.
“It might kill you to do so, Vale, but you have to pretend like this never happened. Let Rhistel wonder what happened too. How I got away.”
Vale’s eyes darkened.
“ You must ,” I insisted. “No one in this room needs more danger aimed at them.”
A muscle fluttered in Vale’s jaw as he nodded. “Fine. I’ll do nothing, but if he tries to control you again, I can’t promise I’ll stay quiet a second time.”