Chapter 24
Lying in bed, Imani watched the dawn light sneak in through a crack in the curtain to stretch its pale fingers across the ceiling.
She knew Kiran and Zadie would learn Ayla was gone today, and while the mysterious disappearance of the traitorous princess might beguile some, Kiran and Zadie would recognize the work of her magic right away.
Imani was truly a murderer now. A killer. A slaughterer. With many deaths on her hands, she was no better than Ara. A vile, despicable creature. A monster.
There was freedom in accepting what she had become.
Imani wasn’t going to hide from it or deny the truth, either—she had killed Ayla for being a traitor and for endangering her life with her threats.
She also found it quite advantageous to be rid of the other female Norn elf—Kiran would still need an elf to accompany him to the dwarves as his mate, and Imani intended for it to be her.
After a sharp knock, her door opened before she could give permission to enter. Zadie and Kiran strode into the room, looking far too put-together for the early morning hour.
Imani sat straight up in bed, pulling the covers closer to her chest to find some measure of decorum. Her unglamoured hair was untamed and framed her face, the long ends curling slightly at the tops of her breasts, helping to conceal them further.
She had been waiting for this moment for hours. She hoped her stone face revealed nothing.
Zadie crossed her arms and started pacing, shifting her gaze to Imani once in a while. Kiran looked relaxed and leaned casually against the wall, a small smile tugging at his mouth.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your company at such an early hour?” Imani announced, not bothering to hide the irritation in her voice.
Kiran’s small smile widened into a serpentine grin. “Someone had a very busy, interesting morning yesterday,” he crooned.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Imani snapped.
“Both of you shut up,” Zadie said. “Ayla is missing. Her engagement ring was found in the woods near the labor camp, and people reported hearing screaming. She’s presumed dead.”
Dammit. Imani thought she had gotten the ring but must have left it. Still, Imani shrugged.
“So? That could’ve been done by anyone—anything. An animal attack of some kind.”
Zadie stared directly at Imani, ceasing her pacing. “Did you have a hand in this? Were you so jealous that you concocted a plan to murder her?”
Imani feigned innocence, placing a hand over her chest. “Please. Give me some credit, Zadie. I would never kill someone over something so petty.”
“So it was more serious. What did she threaten you with?” Zadie leaned over her in the bed.
Pulling back, Imani put some distance between them and glared. She debated lying, but she decided against it.
A snarl curled Imani’s lip. “She knew about my red brands. Threatened to tell the king. Told me he’d put me in a collection with the others for his ‘experiments.’”
Kiran strolled forward and brushed some of Imani’s tangled hair off her face, a wild look in his eyes. “I would never let that happen.”
“I don’t think you’d have a choice,” Imani muttered.
Silence fell.
Kiran took her face in his hands. He sounded hungry when he spoke next, almost in awe. “How did you do it, my darling? Did you draw it out? I should be more irritated with you—after all, I wasn’t done using the female—but you did me a favor by doing my dirty work for me. Admit you did it.”
A pause filled the room until Imani finally relented.
Her nostrils flared as she narrowed her eyes up at both the witches.
Then she threw up her arms in defeat. “Fine. I did it. Smashed her head into a tree, choked her out, and obliterated her body with my shadows.” Imani didn’t mention she had devoured her soul, as well.
That was one secret she was keeping to herself for now.
Kiran’s hand stilled with his fingers threaded through her hair, and he closed his eyes.
“You’re getting better at controlling the darkness.
I would like to witness this magic at work like that someday.
” He opened his eyes. They were wide with the promise of violence and something akin to obsession.
“We need to find another person for you to kill.”
Zadie made a sound of disgust, snapping him out of it. “She’s ruining plans that have been in motion for years,” the nymph hissed.
Years? Imani desperately wanted to know what those plans were, but she couldn’t risk giving away her own.
Kiran widened his hands, along with his grin. “We’ll make new plans.”
“Well, we have an immediate problem with the dwarves. The royal family hasn’t been invited in decades. We can’t waste this opportunity,” she rasped in a harsh whisper.
Letting go of Imani, Kiran began pacing, like Zadie. “Hmm. This will be a tough one to spin with my father. He’ll be furious if this meeting doesn’t happen, and he was quite fond of Ayla, and her ability to gain him access to the Draswood.”
“Indeed. And Imani is the clear choice for a replacement, but the dwarves will be suspicious of you choosing another mate so quickly after the death of your first. It might seem inauthentic and too advantageous.”
This wasn’t going according to her plan. She needed to get into the dwarves’ library, and for that, she needed to replace Ayla as Kiran’s date.
Rubbing the stubble on his chin, Kiran furrowed his brow, clearly thinking hard about this predicament. Then his eyes snapped up to Zadie’s, shining, and bright, and smug. “We don’t bring her as my chosen mate. We bring her as my heartmate.”
Relief rippled through Imani, and she fought a sigh.
Fated mates trumped chosen mates any day. With her real father missing for years, Imani would know. If Kiran found his heartmate, any chosen mate would be moot.
Already, Zadie was shaking her head. “That will be far too difficult to fake. There’s no spell strong enough to withstand their disillusionment and the defense spells they will put you through to enter the city.”
Kiran lifted his shoulder, unconcerned. “I can make one strong enough.”
“What about the longer-term ramifications? We announce her to the kingdom as your heartmate, then she’s going to have to play that role longer than just one visit. Your father won’t like this plan at all.”
Kiran shrugged again. “He’ll be furious at first, because I know he wants her for himself.
But once I demand that Imani at least admit the location of Vathis, he’ll be more than pleased to give her up to me for a family of high-born elves.
He’s going to make me marry someone—it might as well be someone whose secrets I hold over their head. ”
At that, Imani broke. She hadn’t signed up for a lifetime with Kiran, or giving up the Draswood.
“And who says I will agree to be your puppet heartmate for the rest of our lives, attempting to provide you with these high-born elven babies?”
The look on Kiran’s face was utterly bored and uninterested when he responded. “You don’t have to agree. I can order you. Besides, once my father dies … well, let’s just say it won’t be for the rest of our lives.”
Imani bared her teeth at him. “What a healthy, loving relationship we’ll have.”
“That’s not in the cards for either of us, no matter who we end up heartmated to.
” His lip curled in disgust as he hit back smoothly.
“We might as well both benefit from it. For now, you’ll be treated as a princess, with all the power that comes with that, and I’ll get my father off my back with a much more beautiful, obedient mate at my side.
He’s already salivating at the idea of breeding you—you’re lucky it’s with me and not him. ”
Pursing her lips, she didn’t respond. This would just be another deal she broke once the Drasil was hers.
Imani crossed her arms. “You’re forgetting one piece of information that I know and you don’t.”
Kiran huffed out a laugh, another mad serpentine grin spreading across his face. “And pray tell, my darling, what could this delicious piece of information be?”
Playing with the loose string on her coverlet, she debated whether to tell him.
But to pull this off, she needed to be honest. “Ayla wasn’t just going to make an introduction to Ellisar for your father.
She was going to give him the passcodes to the security detail around the city.
I’m assuming to help him infiltrate it as his first attack on Essenheim. ”
Genuine shock showed on both the witches’ faces.
Zadie spoke first. “How does an exiled elf have access to that sort of information?” Her voice was deadly quiet.
“She told me her mother is the First Healer for Ellisar himself. I know from when I lived that all the passcodes are changed constantly, but her mother would have access to them all in case the high sentinel needed her in an emergency. I bet the poor mother thinks her daughter is coming back to beg for forgiveness and to live in the Draswood as if nothing happened.” Imani rolled her eyes.
“Ellisar would never do that,” Kiran said flatly. “He’s ruthless in protecting the city, and we know Ayla was already caught trying to help two covens enter the forest to do illegal magic trading with several unsavory elves.”
Ah, that explained how they had come across a Norn elf outside the Draswood.
A silence permeated the room, heavy with uncertainty.
“Well”—Zadie sighed—“we’ll have to make Imani offer up something just as good.”
“I would never betray the Draswood like that traitorous bitch,” Imani spat. “No matter what you’re offering me.”
“You’re going to drop these idealistic notions, or you won’t survive long here,” Kiran said. “Now … what are you willing to give up?”
There was only one thing she was willing to give up. One plan she already intended to execute for her own reasons.
“I’ll give you the imposter king’s head on a platter.”
Both Kiran’s and Zadie’s ears and eyes perked up at that.