Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Sylvi
We exited the War Room in silence, a procession of guards trailing behind Jack and me to ensure I obeyed the queen’s decree to remain hidden.
Neither of us spoke, but Jack tried reaching for my hand.
I pulled away. Not because I didn’t want his touch—Gods, I needed it more than breath—but because I knew if he touched me now, I’d splinter into a thousand jagged pieces.
And I refused to break in front of the guards who’d served under me.
I might’ve been captain for barely more than a day, but I’d served as second for close to a year.
I knew Jack blamed himself for what happened, but it wasn’t his fault.
If anything, he’d saved me. The only person to blame for the chaos we now waded through was me.
I’d followed Aldric into the Warrens. I’d gone in alone, thinking myself untouchable.
My pride had shattered not only my world, but nearly Jack’s as well.
For Skadi’s sake, his magic had exploded like a midnight tempest in the War Room, blue streaks of ice and shadows rolling from his body in waves of crackling power.
His skin had spider-webbed with threads of lightning, and his voice had rumbled so deeply, it’d vibrated through the stone in the room.
The cold fury in his eyes had been glacial, obsidian-dark and unblinking, and yet burning like a thousand dying stars.
We all knew that what we’d just witnessed hadn’t been simply a gods-blessed royal fae wielding his magic.
Jack was something more, something far more powerful, but none of us dared to admit it.
And he’d always been protective of me, even as a boy.
If older trainees teased me, if a guard got too bold during sparring, Jack was there.
He never interfered, though. He always gave me the chance to fight my own battles, to earn my place.
But last night, and again today in that chamber, he’d shattered that boundary.
And watching him unleash that dark fury upon Lord Kaelven, watching him drain the oxygen from the council member’s lungs with his sheer will? That had made my blood run blistering cold.
I despised Kaelven. Gods knew I’d wanted to plant a fist in his smug face more times than I could count.
He’d opposed my promotion, made veiled remarks about my inferior sex in front of the other commanders, as if he believed females had no place serving in the royal army at all.
He made sure to remind me, in every council meeting, of how unfit I was to lead, even while I’d functioned as second.
He had campaigned for my removal since before I even took my official post as captain.
Now that I was stripped of my rank, I was certain the sniveling worm was no doubt toasting to my downfall.
Jack had known of Lord Kaelven’s disdain for females in the guard, particularly his disdain for me, and it had infuriated him to no end.
Once, he punched a hole through a wall, wishing it was Lord Kaelven’s face he’d beaten to a pulp.
But I’d held him back from retaliating against him.
Tonight, he’d had enough of the chancellor.
He hadn’t cared that we were surrounded by dignitaries, or that his own mother was present. The moment Kaelven suggested my death as a solution to the unrest, Jack had moved like a tornado—no hesitation, no fear. He would’ve executed the courtier without blinking.
Not out of politics, not even justice. But out of devotion to me, so wild it terrified me.
Because not even the queen’s magic had been able to stop him.
That power, that darkness, had responded to his fury with frightening, deadly force. But if he’d killed Kaelven, the kingdom would’ve turned on him. Nobles, commoners, even the Unseelie King might’ve seen him as unstable, as a threat.
He’d left me no choice but to try to stop him.
I’d called out to him, reached through the churning clouds, and somehow, he’d heard me.
The Jack I knew returned from that edge of madness, from that cliff where if he’d fallen, there might’ve been no return.
But everyone in that room had seen what he was capable of.
And what haunted me most was the knowledge that he’d done it for me.
Now, every step through the corridor weighed down on me like a stone thrown into a deep pool. The bond pulling us together had only grown stronger, more primal.
Basal. Feral. Raw.
It was like I knew I’d be able to feel his presence in a room, even if I didn’t see him.
I could probably track him by his scent alone—that faint frost and cedar of his skin, as if my nose was pressed flush against the thick column of his neck.
I’d probably hear the rhythm of his heartbeat like it were my own.
Even now, I could sense him behind me, his pulse threading through my veins, his emotions brushing my thoughts like the soft petals of a winter rose.
I had no idea why my senses were so heightened.
What I did know was that I needed to be far away from him. Needed a break from the influx of emotions. I needed space to think so I could process the fact that I’d been relegated from being a soldier to an attendant.
Attendant… Gods. That word lodged in my chest like a splintered arrow.
The queen hadn’t just sought to strip me of my identity and purpose, but she’d wanted to turn me into a nobody at Jack’s side, someone who could blend into the walls and carpets as I fluffed his pillows and laid out his clothing.
As I brought him food and refilled his goblets, bowing my head in obedience and submission.
My boots struck the marble floor harder as we neared my chambers, rage climbing hot in my throat. This wasn’t just a cruel and humiliating punishment; it was a leash meant to make me heel, and the queen wanted to prove how hard she could pull on it.
Because if this was truly about wanting me hidden, she didn’t have to put us all through this charade of making me secretly accompany Jack on this envoy as his attendant.
All the queen needed to do was sequester me in the palace.
Which meant if she was willing to risk someone recognizing me, then she was worried there was a chance Jack wouldn’t follow through with the betrothal, especially after Jack’s display in the War Room.
She needed me to ensure he didn’t back down from marrying the princess.
Demoting me and reducing me to a mere shadow sewn into the crown prince’s retinue was her way of showing me she held all the cards, and that if I didn’t do what she’d tasked me with, she not only held the power to erase me, but the power to harm my family.
That leash might as well have been a noose.
We reached the suite that had been designated as my palace chambers, the big wooden door adorned with silver filigree.
Despite loving my family, I’d been ecstatic to move into my own space, to finally have a home to call mine.
To be able to come and go as I pleased, without fear of upsetting my mother or brother.
Without having to answer to anyone but myself.
I’d toured the chambers once before in preparation for my move.
The place was more spacious than the home I’d grown up in, more refined, with large cathedral-like windows, velvet drapes, and a hearth that was taller than me.
A thick wool rug covered most of the marble floor, and a modest four-poster bed stood beneath an arched window, its canopy draped in pale silks.
My chambers even had their own bathing room.
I’d pictured myself countless times lying on that bed on a lazy morning, reading a book while drinking tea.
What had captivated me hadn’t been the elegance or grandeur, though.
Hel, they could have given me a place in the stables for all I cared.
It had been the privacy and peace. The idea of just having a place to call my own.
But now, standing outside the door, I couldn’t help but feel sadness, even dread.
I’d yearned so much for that independence, to finally carve out a future for myself.
My captain of the guard rooms had once been a dream.
Now, they felt like a prison. The last thing I’d expected was that the one place that had been meant to represent my freedom would become a cage.
Jack unlocked the door, and as it creaked open, he tried to follow me inside, but I stopped him with a hand to his chest. “I need some time to myself, if that’s okay.”
I couldn’t look him in the eyes. Because I knew if I did, the last thread of composure I clung to would fall apart.
Skadi, how had I ruined my life so quickly? My father would be turning in his grave. I’d disgraced our name, his legacy.
“I think we need to talk,” Jack said, his voice like warm honey.
“I agree,” I whispered, swallowing a sob. “But not now. You need to join your mother for her address. Go, do your princely duty. We’ll talk when we’re ready to leave.”
He hesitated, then lifted my chin with two fingers, coaxing me to meet his eyes. Those glacial blues bore into me, and for a heartbeat, I forgot how to breathe. “I’ll fix this,” he said. “I swear it.”
For a split second, I thought he might kiss me. For a split second, I wanted him to. Wanted to forget everything and just feel him. But it wasn’t right. He wasn’t mine to want. Not when he belonged to the Unseelie King’s great-granddaughter. Not when so much was at stake.
I stepped back, needing to loosen the tether between us, even just for a little bit. Just so I could breathe.
Before he turned to leave, I caught his sleeve. “Wait. Aldric. I still need to speak with my brother. I need to get word to my family.”
Jack nodded and whispered in my ear, likely to keep the guards from hearing, “I’ll find a way to have him brought to your room without stirring suspicion. I know my mother, and she probably wants to keep even your family in the dark about your condition.”
I offered him a small smile of thanks, then he closed the door behind him, muffling the shuffle of boots in the corridor.