42. Chapter Forty-Two
“Absolutely not.”
I brought my head into my hands and laughed desperately, leaning against the chair opposite her. She’d invited me to eat with her, away from prying ears. That did no good, though. None at all.
“You haven’t even considered it,” I said after letting my hands fall back to my side. I frowned deeply at the queen, shaking my head. “It’s imperative that we find her and silence Yenira before she becomes a bigger threat.”
“And start a war?” Queen Evangeline said before tutting against the lip of her glass. “I quite like the girl, Eero. She’s fiery, and we both know you need somebody challenging you to keep that head on straight. No matter; this is greater than some girl—”
“She is not just some girl,” I snapped quickly, unapologetically cutting her off. “She is my mate, the soon-to-be queen of the Winter Court. So tell me, Evangeline: do you wish to make the Winter Court an enemy?”
“No more than it already is,” she snapped back just as quickly and set her glass down. “You have an entire army awaiting your command, Eero. Utilize them. The Spring Court’s last favor was used on that prisoner in the dungeon.”
I scowled. “I am not asking for men, Queen Evangeline. I am asking for ships. Swords. Food. I will replace the flags with blankets, I don’t care. I simply need a means of keeping their docks dry and their men off our soil. That benefits you too, you know. The closer they are to the Spring Court…”
Evangeline tapped on the table and narrowed her glare into pointed slits. “And if Aurelie is not in the Summer or Winter Courts? What then? Sólkon has allies in dark places.”
“Then I make every court a frozen wasteland without a monarch. If he isn’t there, then I will make sure he has no subjects or military left to rule. It’s a win for you, a win for me, and at least one step closer to freeing Aurelie.”
“It’s grasping at straws, that’s what it is.” Evangeline pinched the bridge of her nose and let her eyes flutter closed. “I’ll entertain you, Eero. You find out for certain if Aurelie is in the Summer Court. That, along with those three murders on Spring Court soil, is enough to justify an attack. Only then will I help you.”
I let out a sigh of relief and nodded slowly. “Your aid will not be forgotten, Evangeline. Any of it.”
“Ah-ah,” she said, tutting against the roof of her mouth as she pointed toward the door. “I have agreed to no such thing yet. Go, before I change my mind.”
I smirked, grabbed a piece of bread, and jolted out of the room.
Azalea, Sapphire, and I were racing down the stairs. We only had one more full day of promised refuge, which meant one less day surrounded by the few people in this realm I’d trust with such sensitive information. I lingered in the shadows once we got past the guards and let Sapphire and Azalea ahead, but when Julius captured my glittering stare through the darkness, he tensed.
Good. As he should.
“Azalea,” he rasped. For a moment, that human hope shattered through his voice, but I wasn’t inclined to think it was wholly good. I thought he was full of shit, in fact. “What are you…what are you doing here?”
“I could ask the same,” Azalea said, kneeling so she was at eye level. I couldn’t see her face, but her voice was littered with agony. She was broken at the sight of Julius—and I wondered how it felt to see her daughter sharing a bed with the creatures she forcefully divided from the mortal realm. To watch her lover return to the arms of a mate who didn’t deserve her, even with her fatal flaws. To witness the demise of a man she’d taken in—one who’d very likely once served as her protector.
Even if she didn’t need it.
The notch in Julius’ neck bobbed, and it took everything in me not to throw him on the ground and demand answers. I breathed out the anger, twisting focus away as he cleared his throat. “After you were taken, Yenira started…well, she started saying things. Doing things.”
“I’m going to need more detail than that.”
Watching him talk to Azalea was such a different experience than when I interrogated him. He hadn’t dishonored Aurelie’s name, and for that, he’d have his tongue another day. Whether that was because he respected Azalea more, or because he feared her more, I wasn’t sure. Either way, it was delightful, truly.
“We tried to plan your escape. Not even a day after you were taken, we had ideas—we were ready to act—but when I woke the next morning, she was gone. Left no sign, either. She’d just vanished. Only, I had these fragmented visions of her. Every time I slept, lost focus, or stared at one place too long…she’d appear. It was worse than anything I’ve ever experienced.”
I chewed on my tongue. I wanted to smash his head against the wall, that’s what I wanted to do. He was either lying to her, to me, or both, but this wasn’t the same Julius I’d interrogated and nearly froze to death last time.
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
Azalea hummed and stood slowly. She offered a hand to him, to which I stiffened as I watched him accept with a tremor. His face was badly bruised and scarred from my magic, and that finger was still bent in the most brutal way, but he was fine otherwise. Cognizant.
Azalea cupped her hands around his battered hand, and I watched pure agony wash over his face as she tightened her hold. It was gentle, and I wasn’t sure if she was trying to heal, or if she was trying to harm. “What did she tell you?”
There was a whimper riddling his tone. “That we could save you and Aurelie in one go, but we needed to act fast. She wouldn’t…she wouldn’t tell me how, only that Aurelie was in trouble. That’s all I cared about. I knew that if I could save you and her, we’d be fine. Yenira would come home.”
Lies.
That was not what he told me. I scowled, aiming at him, but Sapphire grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me back. “Patience,” she whispered, hissing out in disapproval.
“That sounds like a heavy weight to bear. What did you do next?” she asked, even softer than before, one hand rubbing the top of his wrist. There was the most subtle tang of magic flitting off her. It was then I realized what was happening—that she was playing chess against a man only smart enough to play draughts.
“Well, I…I found her.”
“You found her?”
“I found her.”
Julius’ starry eyes had slowly faded into utter numbness, not a single thought flickering across his mind. Azalea hummed, reaching one of her hands to trace a scar that lingered from my magic. “And then…. You’re doing great, Julius. Keep telling me more.”
“I gave her away,” he said, that tremble in his voice fading to utter neutrality. He was soulless. He was under her bidding. I watched Azalea tense at the reality of what he was admitting—from her shoulders to the hold on his hand. “Just like Yenira asked.”
“Something isn’t making sense,” Azalea cooed. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Julius winced, her teeth baring as he fought against the magic. “I-I…”
“Come on,” she whispered.
“I was promised wealth,” he croaked. “Wealth and land and sanctuary tucked away from the retribution of…of…”
There it was. There was the truth. I clenched my hands into fists—so Yenira had promised him something only a mortal would truly desire. Something so inconsequential as wealth. That was enough for him to toss Aurelie aside, like she was no better than the dirt beneath her boot.
“So you betrayed Aurelie for coin, Julius?” Azalea asked, her voice a ghost of what it once was. There was danger hidden in the quiet calm.
Julius broke down in seconds—his lip trembled, and tears bled from his eyes as if he was worthy of remorse. Of guilt. I scowled and twisted away, unsure I could watch him any longer without making good on that promise regarding his tongue.
“She…she told me she’d be here with us,” he croaked. “I wouldn’t—Azalea, I wouldn’t do—”
“I’m certain you wouldn’t,” she said slowly, drawing out each word. “Where is Yenira now? Where were you supposed to go?”
He shook his head wildly, and I heard something cruuuunch before a shrieking howl. I jolted and faced Azalea just as Julius slid to the ground, holding his hand against his chest. Her arms were limp at her side now, the smallest tremor in her fingers. Had she just crushed his broken bone more?
“Where is she?” she asked, that gentle touch to her voice gone.
“The Summer Court,” he wept and shook his head. “But…but…they won’t stay there!”
Azalea cocked her head. “Go on.”
“Myrth…Myrtle? Myrthen? Some old bitch’s tomb! That’s all I know. That’s all Yenira told me when I asked her what she had to do—something about a dead hag buried underground. They’ll go—”
“I’ve had enough of this, Julius,” Azalea said, cutting him off with a snap of her finger. His voice was muffled, lips sewn together by magic and nothing more. When she faced us, her mouth was curved into a frown, her eyes glittering with tears.
Without another shared word, she moved beyond us and up the stairs. I stared at Julius as he clawed at his mouth with his unbroken hand. I hope he bled. I hope he tore the skin from his lips and suffered an infection.
I hope he rotted.
Despite this hatred, my chest tightened. The light in Aurelie’s eyes at the idea that he may be innocent—that he’d been stricken by something uncontrollable, a plague of the mind...but that wasn’t the case. I approached Julius slowly, ignoring Sapphire’s hissing warnings. Her feet crunched to a stop at the base of the stairs when I didn’t listen to her.
“Eero,” she snapped.
I kneeled in front of Julius, watching his eyes widen. His muffled words turned to whimpers, and I grabbed his broken hand to examine the finger, snorting. Slowly, I froze it. “I would ensure you die a quiet death, Julius,” I said beneath my breath, not looking away from his finger. “One that isn’t worthy of any book, any town crier…hell, the gossiping maidens in the taverns won’t waste their breath on you. You’d be forgotten. Like an insect beneath my boot.”
Snap.
His finger fell to the floor.
I captured his glare, lips dragging into a crooked smirk. He screamed through his sewn mouth.
“But luckily for you, it is my bride who decides your fate.” I leaned forward, teeth bared as I growled. “I can only hope she is so brutal.”