Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
I was numb. Broken. Destroyed. Dying inside.
All of my efforts that I’d done to save my uncle hadn’t worked. All of it had been for nothing.
Gwen’s arm was around my shoulders. She was leading me down the hallway, as though I was a toddler all over again, and she had to guide me. Care for me. Hold me.
I walked woodenly at her side, yet instead of numbness in her aura, rage filled it.
“We can’t fight them,” she whispered in my ear. “I tried. Trust me, I tried, but the Council has made its decision. The warriors told me that if you found the Stone, they were going to take it so the Council could cast its single wish. Not you.”
We walked down the stairs, one foot moving in front of the other.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
Somehow, I got from the second floor to the first.
All the while, Kole walked behind me, his Shield locked down tighter than I’d ever felt it before.
“Look what I found,” Jamie called to Kole, then inclined his head toward Verin. “This appears to be an elixir of some kind that was hidden in her quarters.”
I halted in the entryway.
Somehow, I was in the entryway, and Jamie was in front of me.
I’d completely forgotten about him.
The second Imperial Warrior stood with Verin beside him. But instead of the servant offering him tea or refreshments or ushering the warrior to a place to sit and wait, she stood next to him, shackled.
Blue cuffs encircled her wrists.
“Why have you arrested her?” my aunt demanded.
“We have reason to suspect she may be involved in what happened to your husband,” Jamie replied, then inclined his head toward me. “Although, we’re starting to wonder if Primelle was actually her intended victim.”
Me?
Me?
“What?” I said dumbly.
Jamie widened his stance, standing casually, easily, as if what he was saying and doing was just another normal day’s work as an Imperial Warrior. As if any of this was normal. As if the realm wasn’t falling down around us.
Jamie pulled a glass box from his pocket. Inside the box lay a small vial with liquid in it, although there was barely any liquid left. Only drops remained.
Gwen’s mouth dropped. “What is that?”
“That’s a good question, but considering the magic that comes off of it if you remove it from this box, I would guess to say that it’s an incredibly powerful potion. I’ve never felt power like it before.”
“And you found that in Verin’s room?” Gwen demanded, her tone hard, and her aura ratcheting up even higher.
Jamie nodded toward Verin. “Indeed. I found it in her quarters, exactly where you said things can be hidden in that room.”
Aunt Gwen’s eyes narrowed, and she hissed at the servant, “What is that potion?”
Verin’s gaze stayed on the floor, her shoulders folded inward.
Fog filled my mind. I still didn’t understand what was happening or why Jamie was saying these things. All I could think about was that Kole had the Stone. My Stone.
And Kole had said Uncle Timith couldn’t be saved.
Kole’s silence continued to fill the room behind me, but his pounding aura leaked through his Shield, as though he could no longer fully contain it. Yet he still kept the Stone. Still kept what was mine.
I wanted to crumple to the floor. I’d been so foolish to trust him.
So foolish.
Jamie inspected what was inside the glass box again, not even seeming to notice that I could barely keep from collapsing. “What happens if somebody swallows this, Verin? Does it turn them into what Timith is becoming?”
But Verin’s eyes stayed downcast, her lips sealed.
He tsked. “The king and queen won’t be happy to hear it if that’s the case, especially since Primelle has been living in this home.”
The king and queen? For the briefest moment, my mind turned. “The king and queen know about me?” I mumbled, then looked to Gwen for an answer.
But Gwen’s attention was on Verin again, her eyes hard, her mouth a tight line. “Did you do this to my husband? Are you responsible for my sweet Timith’s state?”
Verin’s silence continued, and she remained with her head down. Always so submissive. So meek.
“Cut the act,” my aunt sneered. “We all know you’re not subservient if you truly intended to use whatever that potion is against us.”
Verin’s head lifted, but instead of looking fearful or contrite, or like she was about to plead her innocence, her expression burned with rage. So much so that I lurched back.
Verin’s lips curved, and something truly evil stirred in her expression. “You’re all pawns in the game of night. I am merely a servant, but my liege will get to her eventually. Now that we know for certain who she is.” Her gaze shifted to me.
Gwen gasped, and Kole snarled so violently that I jumped, but Verin ignored them all and continued looking at me with a look of triumph.
“So we were right to suspect her,” Jamie said quietly.
My heart pounded so hard it felt as if it would beat out of my chest. I gripped my aunt’s hand. “Gwen, what’s going on? Why is Verin saying these things? Why do the king and queen know of me?”
Jamie moved Verin away from me, and Kole shifted to my side. “Prim, come with me. Please,” he said, his voice hoarse. But when his hand touched my lower back, I jolted away from him as though burned.
“Don’t touch me.”
Kole’s eyes widened, and his throat bobbed.
I had no idea what was going on. What was happening. But I’d had one goal and one goal only since my uncle had fallen ill.
I eyed the Stone again, still held within Kole’s grip. Magic crackled inside me. Deadly magic. All-consuming magic. I could take the Stone from him. Command him to give it to me, turn him into a puppet just for a moment, then I could save my uncle.
Something primal reared up in me, scorching my insides as though burned.
No.
That thing in my chest begged. Pleaded.
Not him.
I shoved that instinctual reaction down just as Kole stiffened.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Miss Hollaran,” Jamie warned, his voice low and deadly. Eyes narrowing in my direction, he added, “This is all for the best.”
Aunt Gwen’s hand encircled my wrist. The feel of her stopped the flash of impulsiveness that’d reared up in me.
“Not like this, Prim. Not like this,” Gwen whispered.
I turned entirely rigid, disbelief coursing through me.
What am I doing?
This wasn’t me. I didn’t lash out at fae. I didn’t hurt others, even if the fairy responsible for my fury had torn my heart open and had watched it bleed before him. That still didn’t warrant me becoming just as cruel as him. Have my aunt and uncle taught me nothing?
My shoulders sagged, and my rage evaporated as quickly as it’d started.
Shame coursed through me. Absolute shame.
My uncle would be so disappointed if he knew what I’d almost just done.
Even if I’d been motivated by intentions to save him, he would be appalled.
He’d spent full seasons teaching me how to control myself so I would never inflict my forbidden magic on anyone, and if he were well and whole right now, he would be looking at me with utter devastation.
“I’m sorry,” I sobbed.
My aunt gripped me harder. “Please, Prim. I know how you’re feeling.
I’ve been feeling it too, ever since they arrived today and demanded to see Timith, but come with me.
Please.” My aunt’s desperate plea broke through my grief.
She tugged me toward the sitting room. “Please, Primelle. Let’s all sit down. ”
Somehow, all of us ended up in the sitting room that smelled of lemons and gleamed from the cleaning charms Verin had just used on it. Still in the entryway, still shackled, Verin waited for whatever the warriors had in store for her.
I sat as rigid as a board on the sofa, my aunt beside me while Kole and Jamie sat in the chairs across from us.
The warriors looked entirely out of place in their fighting tunics with their giant weapons strapped to their backs.
If it’d been a normal day, I would have made light of it, but at the moment, I couldn’t imagine ever being joyful again.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Gwen said.
I could feel Kole watching me. Always watching me.
I was certain that something genuine had sizzled between us during our time together, yet whatever that’d been, it’d now fizzled into non-existence, and even if a part of him did truly care for me, his allegiance was to the Imperial Council.
Not me.
I felt so betrayed, even though a part of me realized that was na?ve and stupid. After all, I’d been telling myself all along that he owed me nothing.
So foolish.
Gwen took a deep breath. “Primelle?” I started at the sound of my name and realized Aunt Gwenery was trying to talk to me. Tears burned her eyes.
“Yes?” I rasped.
She took my hands, both of them, and held them tightly. “I’m not your aunt, and Timith isn’t your uncle.”
For a moment, I just stared at her. Blinked at her. “What?”
“We’re not your relatives.”
It felt as though the realm tipped from beneath me. I shook my head. “Why would you say that? Of course, you are. Timith is my father’s brother.”
“No, he’s not.” Her grip tightened. “He’s not related to your parents in any way.
The crown commissioned us to raise you since Timith and I were childless, and they knew your uncle quite well from his service to them.
They knew he and I could be trusted and that we’d provide a loving, safe home for you.
They knew we’d keep you safe. That we would provide you with a chance at a life you otherwise would have never had.
That we would teach you to find a place in our kingdom. ”
Blood rushed through my ears, drowning out her words, but she continued even though I could barely hear her.
“Until today, my lips were sealed by a fairy bargain. I couldn’t speak of it, couldn’t tell you, but when these two showed up”—she glanced at Jamie and Kole—“Timith and I were released from our bargain with the crown.”