Chapter fifty-one #2
But the weight of the band on my finger dragged me back to reality.
It meant something to me that it didn’t mean to him.
It was impossible to ignore the words Eryk had planted in me, the roots of their truth.
Even if this was fun for Kaed, emotional or physical—maybe both—how was it ever meant to be more than that between a prince and someone like me?
Not one day ago, I’d have been a pile of bones in his arms with the way he was speaking. The way his lips were now grazing along my jaw, descending to my neck. My skin pebbled at the feel of his lips on me.
A shuddered breath tumbled from me, unbidden and unwelcome.
Another animalistic rumble sounded in Kaed, and his eyes darkened as he looked down at me.
“If there weren’t hundreds of people here, I would take you right now, right here. I want you, peach.”
Heat flushed on my neck and my chest, and I was breathy despite standing perfectly still in Kaed’s grasp.
Just then, Tymon broke the tension as he walked into our space.
And I had never been more glad to be interrupted.
“Whether Sapphine’s uncle likes or hates me, I cannot tell.
” Tymon glanced behind him at a short male with thinning auburn hair.
“How he got a council seat, I will truly never understand.” Tymon had wine in hand for all of us.
I liked Tymon, but his bringing drinks was always very welcome.
I threw the contents of the flute back in one go and promptly took Kaed’s glass from him before he could take a sip.
Kaed eyed me as I drank more than half the wine in a single, very undignified gulp. My heavy stare dared him to challenge me. If Kaed was going to be different, I would be too. I just needed a bit of fae wine to remind myself how to do that exactly.
“While we appreciate the refreshments, Ty,” Kaed eyed me again, “you need better timing.”
Tymon sipped. “There will be plenty of time for you to bed your not-bride.”
I choked on wine at his words. Had he heard what Kaed had been saying to me? Had anyone else?
“If Sapphine’s uncle is planning to seize my mines, he’s not saying that outright.
But with Sapphine in Gloriya now, I don’t like to think what she’s planning with her father.
Her uncle is a dull blade. I don’t think we have to worry about him provoking you.
But if it comes to it, he will side with Gloriya and his brother. ”
“That puts you in a rather awkward position.” I sipped my wine.
“Then let us hope it does not come to war and treason.” Tymon smirked, but there was a gravity to his words that could have sunk the sky.
The room was a hive of music and chattering now. Everyone had packed into the spaces between the dense foliage, and it was hard to find empty space.
If someone was planning to seize all the faebane sources in the Four Corners and provoke Kaed, and therefore Hayden, to war, we needed to find out tonight.
There wasn’t really a good way to broach the subject of Are you stealing or destroying historical documents, and do you plan to provoke a war by pushing a prince of the Crown to attack a city?
Just as we were about to move through the room, Councillor Raeylor Gossan appeared before us.
His pallor was that of calla lilies, and he was seated in a carved chair with wheels.
The man who had spoken to Kaed briefly, to let us know Tymon had been out of town at his second hearing, looked more drained than last time.
I hadn’t noticed how bad his condition was when he’d been sat high above in his alcove.
Sometimes, reading and knowing too much was a weight I wasn’t prepared for.
I would never have pried into Councillor Gossan’s circumstances, but I could tell his muscles were wasting beneath him, the fabric of his tunic too large and folding over itself as it hung from him.
In all my readings, I’d never found mention of a cure for such ailments.
My throat tightened at the realisation. He was dying.
A painful understanding came over me then: there were some things magic couldn’t fix.
But his face warmed as he looked between the two of us. “I’m glad to see you looking well, Lord Kaedian.” A deep, respectful nod from the councillor was offered, and Kaed inclined his head in return.
“Not everyone is as pleased as you, Councillor, to see me here.”
Our eyes darted to the darker corners, searching the shadows for those they were hiding. Merdia. Varris.
There was a pause, and the councillor took a tentative look around the room before holding Tymon’s gaze.
Without needing it said, Tymon cast a sheer shimmer over us. Silence settled around us with Tymon’s magic. Voices hummed, their din muted, but the words within our bubble were clear when Kaed spoke.
“What is it?” Kaed urged the councillor.
Councillor Gossan spoke low to the three of us. “There are demons within the walls of the city. And I think we all know who let them in.”
“Varris,” Kaed growled without missing a beat.
Whatever jubilance the fae wine had been trying to let loose inside me, it was quashed by the turn the conversation had taken.
Raeylor nodded. “That’s my theory. I just can’t figure out why.
He’s been destabilising the council, sowing discord.
Trying to allow unusual trade deals with foreign continents and buying up stores of weapons, purchasing grain fields in the south that far exceed our store capacity or need.
I know he’s preparing for an attack, or worse, war.
I just don’t know who he thinks is preparing to attack us, why he’d think he could win.
Or how he would get anyone to support him. ”
We were all entirely still at Councillor Gossan’s admission.
He probably didn’t know he had just told the exact people Varris was likely trying to keep that information from.
Whoever was looking for faebane and wanting to provoke a war would win if they had every source of faebane under their control.
As of right now, they only knew about the ones they’d hidden from records, not Tymon’s new findings.
No one, not even Kaed, knew where my faebane source was.
We just had to hope that source wasn’t in one of the missing books and, therefore, no longer secret.
I had to believe it was still secret, as the Banes were so far from everywhere. They were impassable by carriage or even horseback. And no one in the twenty-four years I’d been in Shadowfall had even come close to the Banes.
“It’s just a theory, of course,” the councillor said, as if worried someone had heard him despite the silencing bubble.
“Of course,” Tymon said emphatically.
A silence stretched between us all until Kaed shifted.
“There might be more to that theory than you’d think, Councillor.” My eyes speared him, as did Tymon’s. Kaed’s breath was tight.
“My brother—”
“Hart has no business in this city, does he, Lord Kaedian?” Councillor Gossan was rigid as he waited.
Kaed shifted beside me. “Hart has been travelling the Corners. And I believe he intends to come to this great city. If he cannot find what it is he’s looking for elsewhere.”
The councillor readjusted his posture in his chair, the pallor of his skin paling even further. “What do you know? What does he seek that would lead him here?”
Kaed’s eyes flicked to me.
Before he could say more, I put my arm on Kaed’s and interjected. “It was lovely to finally meet you, Councillor,” I said with a smile before rounding on Kaed. “My lord, would you escort me for some air?”
With a sharp tug, we departed for the fresh air, Tymon following behind at a reasonable distance so as not to draw attention.
Once outside, I whirled on him. “Were you about to tell him? About what Hart’s looking for?” I said, possibly a bit too loud in the peaceful night air. “About me? About Varris? About the missing faebane sources? What else? Tymon’s mines and what they actually found?”
“Of course not,” Kaed said, folding his arms.
“It seemed like you were. I know you like him. But we don’t need to confirm other people’s suspicions tonight. Just our own.”
“Why do you assume I would deviate from the plan? You’re on edge.”
I was, but it had nothing to do with our information-gathering attempts. Anger had been simmering in me since Eryk’s visit to the garden door.
“You act impulsively.” I forced myself to look at him. “Aggressively. In your own interests. Always. So of course I’m worried you’ll act impulsively now. Not everything is a game.” My jaw tensed.
“Not tonight. Believe me on that.” Kaed paced, his steps quick and matching my heart rate.