Chapter 5 #2
At my door, I gave him a beaming smile, something the old Primelle would have done.
With any luck, my forced cheer would deter him from sensing the anxiety clawing up my throat.
“Since it’s already late morning, I imagine my parents are about to sit down for lunch, so I’m going to join them.
Please have your replacement sent to their private dining chambers.
I can have Xaven walk me there since I’m sure you’re looking forward to your time off. ”
I didn’t give him a chance to reply. I flung the door open and almost barreled into Xaven in the hallway. The warrior’s eyes widened, and his hands lifted to stop me from planting myself on his chest.
Vampiric speed raced through my veins, but at the last moment, my limbs seized as one of my uncle’s many commands took over.
Forcing myself to move slower, I righted myself to stop us from touching, then smiled pleasantly. “Royden’s on his way back to the Council, so I told him you could accompany me to see my parents.”
I didn’t wait for his reply and instead began to saunter down the hall at a normal pace, trying to act as though I didn’t have a care in the realm.
Xaven fell into stride behind me, his throwing stars flashing in the fairy lights. He did it easily, his demeanor normal.
Consciously, I continued to control my speed so he didn’t suspect anything. But it felt strange to move so slowly. It would be so easy to blur down the hall, reappearing at my parents’ chambers in mere seconds.
I took more deep breaths, forcing those too. Act normal. Act normal.
My Maker’s commands buzzed through me until I felt like a puppet, even though my puppet master was hundreds of miles away.
Gritting my teeth, I pumped my hands into fists. Tension strummed along every nerve inside me. I wanted to scream in frustration, but since that would also look bizarre, my uncle’s command again took root.
Stiffly, I arrived at my parents’ chambers on wooden legs, and the two guards standing at the double doors bowed.
“You can wait out here,” I told Xaven. “That’s what my parents usually prefer.”
He dipped his head, and the only solace I took was seeing that both he and my parents’ guards were acting as they always did.
They had no idea that I could hear their steady heartbeats, or that I could smell the blood whooshing through their veins, or that a slight ache had again formed in my jaw as horror filled me that I wanted to consume again, even though a month had not yet passed.
I stumbled over the threshold, and both of my parents looked up from where they were sitting at the dining table. Steaming plates filled the table’s surface, but it was only the two of them as my sisters weren’t there.
“Primelle!” My mother pushed to standing and rushed over to me. She held her hands out, and a terrifying realization struck me that I would have to touch her. “You’ve returned! Come sit with us and join us for lunch. There’s plenty of food.”
I plastered a smile on my face, dread coiling up inside me the second her hands gripped mine.
Her smile faltered, even more so when she brushed her lips against my cheek in a kiss. “Oh, darling, you feel so cold. Come, sit by the fire.”
She released me, and relief filled me that she simply thought me chilled and nothing more.
Obligingly, I followed her to their table.
My father stood and embraced me too, but since none of our skin directly touched, he hadn’t sensed what my mother had.
“How was your time with my brother?” he asked pleasantly and moved over one seat so I could take his chair nearest the fire.
My uncle’s command had a response coming out of me before I even knew what I was going to say. “It was lovely, quite enlightening in fact. Uncle Arnel was a gracious host, and we enjoyed our time together in his library. I had no idea he was such a scholar.”
My father chuckled, and the innocent sound made my insides wither.
“He’s a bit like you in that sense. He’s always had an affinity for the unknown.
” His smile broadened. “Growing up, he was either in the library or infirmary, either studying or learning from the healers. Lucky bastard. He didn’t have to attend council meetings like I did or learn how to rule a kingdom.
He was free to spend his time as he chose. ”
A sad smile lifted my lips. Even though my father’s words could be construed as resentful, his tone was anything but.
A note of affection filled his voice, and my smile dimmed as I stared at him.
The king of Mistvale Kingdom was totally unaware that his twin brother had been plotting against him and his family for many full seasons, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to warn him about it.
I sat stiffly and stared at the food around us. I wasn’t hungry for food, but my uncle said vampires could eat if they chose to. However, it wasn’t necessary to survive. Only blood was.
Automatically, I took each plate that was passed to me and gave myself a small portion, and I took some comfort in the fact that the smell still appealed to me.
“Here, Prim, don’t forget this.” My mother handed me one of the vials from their potion masters.
I automatically took it, being careful not to let our fingers touch again, and spread it over my plate. Unsurprisingly, the foggy magic lit up with a green hue.
“Tell us more about what you learned at your uncle’s.” My mother lifted her fork, her aura relaxed.
“Uncle Arnel found a book that could explain my magic.” The words flowed out of me as if another were speaking.
My parents gasped. “Truly?”
“Indeed.” I lifted a bite of food to my lips.
When the hen met my tongue, it tasted as it always had, and a part of me wanted to weep in relief.
I swallowed it quickly and added, “What he found isn’t a new concept, though.
It spoke of the gods blessing a few fae with their power.
Uncle Arnel speculated that I’m a recipient of a goddess’s lineage. ”
My mother beamed. “How fascinating, and to think our daughter could be blessed with a goddess’s magic.”
“Or it was from the celestial event on the night I was born, and that magic merely heightened what I’d been naturally blessed with,” I countered. “We didn’t find definite answers.”
My father nodded. “Either theory could be right. That event was a rare one, a bit like the Wishing Stone, only happening once a millennium.”
We spoke a bit more of my time with Arnel, and everything I uttered was entirely false and forced out of me by my uncle’s commands. By the time my parents stopped asking me about my time with him, I was ready to snap my knife in two.
Unfortunately, my knife truly began to bend in my tight grasp. The second I became aware of that, I released it in a hurry. It clattered to the table, and both my parents looked up in alarm.
Forcing a smile on my face, I carefully picked it up, then asked the one question that had been burning in me since I’d returned to the palace. “Will Kole be returning to his duties?”
My parents shared a troubled look, and in that look, I knew the Imperial Council had updated my parents on Kole’s confessions.
My father dabbed at his lips with his napkin, then angled his chair to face me. “Prim, I’d like to ask you something, and I would like you to answer honestly.”
My throat rolled in a swallow, more habit than anything. “Okay.”
“Did Kole ever push you into an intimate relationship? Did he act unprofessionally toward you in any way?”
My jaw dropped. “No. Never. Why would you think that?”
My father’s eyes hardened. “The Council questioned Kole yesterday with a truth serum, and he admitted a few things, although we have a hard time believing them despite the serum.”
“What did he admit?” I asked, even though I already knew.
My parents again shared a concerned look, and my father replied, “He’s claiming that you’re his mate.
” My throat grew thick, but before I could reply, my father added, “We’ve also become aware that during the previous weeks, the magic the Council inflicts on all of the warriors to ensure appropriate behavior was activating occasionally on Kole.
Initially, they didn’t believe it would be a problem since Kole repeatedly passed truth serum tests that he hadn’t done anything untoward despite the flares, but the Council wanted to be sure, so they sent a new warrior who had Ironcrest magic to assess the situation. ”
“Royden,” I said woodenly.
“Yes, darling.” My mother reached for me, but I kept myself out of her reach, so she curled her hand back to her side.
My father cleared his throat and continued.
“And then the other night, after Koraline’s ball, the nighttime warrior assigned to you also reported that Kole’s behavior and aura around you were .
. . strange. He said that Kole refused to leave and snapped at him to wait, so the Council thought it best to interrogate Kole again. ”
A deep sigh left my father, and his eyebrows folded together. “Because of this, the Council has kept Kole from returning until we could speak with you further. So tell me, did he touch you?”
I laughed bitterly. “You’re acting as though I’m still a virgin, as though I’m not an adult who’s capable of making her own decisions both in and out of the bedroom chambers.”
“Primelle,” my father said, his tone stern. “We’re simply wanting to get to the bottom of this. If he touched you and has tricked you into believing he’s your mate, that’s against the code of conduct the warriors all vowed to follow.”
Tears began to burn in the backs of my eyes, and I blinked rapidly, because if Kole was taken from me too, regardless of what I’d been turned into, I feared how I would react. It felt as if my mind would crack. That I would burst into hysterics right here and dissolve into a sobbing mess.