Chapter 55
Chapter
Fifty-Five
TATE
I’m still reeling from the day’s events when I slip into the palace unnoticed.
It’s easier than one might think when you’ve spent all your life playing, hiding, and exploring in and around it.
That Daeva can set me down in the dead of night, and that the guest wing is not the most heavily guarded part, helps too.
The note Ara left and Solaris helped me understand her reasoning, but I’m still angry with her for sacrificing herself.
My first stop is my old mentor. He worked around his promise, and I need to know how he did it.
The old man’s face breaks into a grin as soon as he sees me.
“I was wondering when you would show up,” he says, while he leads me to a seating arrangement close to the fireplace.
Despite the balmy temperatures, he has a fire going, and a relieved sigh slips from his lips once he has settled down.
From the way he moves, I know it’s his back that is bothering him.
Wordlessly, I reach out a hand, and his eyes crinkle when he places his in mine. His face smoothes a bit, and he sits straighter as soon as my healing gift flows into him. He pats my hand before releasing it.
“Thank you. You were always a good boy. Just a bit too serious. But that is hardly surprising.”
I shrug.
“But you are here about the lie,” he continues.
“Yes.” I lean forward. “How did you get around your promise?”
He smiles. “I didn’t. When I was sworn in fifteen years ago, the king had me promise to always speak the truth unless a lie would serve him better. But I didn’t only swear fealty to him, but also to his successor, and at that time that was—“
“Me,” I whisper.
“And Frederick never swore me in anew.” He shrugs. “I tried to give you a hint. But you didn’t need my help for the most part anyway.” He grins.
“So, if I asked you to lie for someone else?”
“No,” he shakes his head. “It’s not that easy. The connection has to be deeper than just your word.”
I leave half an hour later, my thoughts swirling with possibilities and plans, while I make my way through dark corridors.
My knock is loud in the surrounding silence.
Confusion and weariness war on Darren Blackstone’s face when he finds me in front of his door. I lift one eyebrow in question, and he steps back, letting me in.
The silence between us stretches.
He clears his throat. “I’d have thought I’d have your fist in my face by now.”
I chuckle and hand him the note I brought.
“What is this?”
I shrug. “Open it.”
His eyebrows jump up before he follows, and then the man I thought could take anything without flinching disintegrates in front of my eyes. Guilt, shame, and relief flash over his face while the note drops to the ground, and he staggers to his desk, bracing on it.
I snatch up the note.
They are safe, and you are forgiven.
A small bird is drawn on the paper below. A sparrow.
I give him the time to fall apart, and what I see tells me Ara was right about him.
“If not for her, it wouldn’t have been my fist but my blade that met you,” I tell him, and he gives me a grim nod.
“And I would have deserved it.” His voice is rough in the confession. “How?”
“Ara figured it out. The first thing that struck her as odd was that your daughter wasn’t there to meet us when we visited Blackstone.
Then Ian told her they were here with you, while you said they were with her parents.
The fact that she is amazing at reading people who hide their feelings probably plays a role as well.
” I give him a crooked smile, and he answers with a broken laugh.
“And when Lorcan told her you were looking for a dragon.” I shrug.
“Your wife and daughter are well and in hiding, and I’d advise you to leave Avina tonight. ”
“And leave her? After everything she did for me?” He scoffs. “Not fucking likely.”
“I kind of hoped you would say that.” And for the first time, we understand each other.
“She told you to walk away, didn’t she?” he asks.
I nod. “But she’ll learn what I already told your brother.”
“And what is that?”
“That I'm hers, and she's mine. And not even death could keep me away.”
“I think you’ll grow on me.” Darren Blackstone gives me a crooked smile.
“Let’s see if you still think that after hearing the rest of my plan.”
ARA
The door to my cell closes with a metallic clang. The sound of the lock sliding into place is loud in the silence and emptiness surrounding me. I get as comfortable on the wooden excuse of a bed as I can. Waiting.
The clacking of boots on rough stone grows faint and fades away. Darkness and silence claim once more the small cell that, apart from the wood I lie on, just holds stone and metal.It’s cold so deep beneath the palace, and the dried blood and sweat on my skin make matters worse.
They were careful to remove everything flammable from my cell. I look at the suppressors circling my wrist and chuckle softly. Lorcan was right. They have forgotten everything.
I don’t have to wait long before the rhythmic clicking of approaching footsteps pierces the silence again, the sound too high, too sharp to belong to the boots of a prison guard, the steps too hurried.
No, they belong to a woman in heels, and ever since I saw her face at the arena, I knew she would be coming.
The sound grows louder, soon joined by the rustle of skirts. She stops right in front of my cell, but I don’t acknowledge her, staring at the ceiling instead.
“You poor thing, they didn’t even give you a blanket. I will talk to Fred,” Deliah coos, and I snort.
“You can drop the act, Deliah. You should have suppressed your glee at the arena if you planned to continue your charade.”
She chuckles. “It was just too damn satisfying.”
“What have I ever done to you?”
“You stole my man, my crown. And you think I would just let you get away with that?”
I sit up facing her. “You and Frederick?” I ask and she laughs. But there's no warmth, no joy in that sound.
“He was mine,” she says. “And then you came along, with your family ties, your beauty, your charm, your Phoenix,” she spits out. “You stole my man, my crown, and then I had to play your friend for weeks.” I'm stunned by the venom in her voice. “You ruined everything.”
She starts pacing in front of the metal bars, fidgeting with her pendant again, the one that has the same form as the marking I saw on my opponent’s skin—three overlapping triangles—disguised as mountains.
“You are from Kystis,” I say, and she whirls around to face me. “Were you planning to marry Frederick and then kill him off and rule by yourself?”
“No,” she snarls. “I will reign by his side. I’ll fix the mess you made and show them they won’t need Alec.”
My heart stutters. “What do you mean they won’t need Alec?” But she only sneers at me. I get up and advance on her, slamming my hands against the bars, rattling them, and Deliah jerks back. It’s then that the light of the lamp she brought glints off something secured at her waist. My eyes widen.
“Where did you get this?” I ask, my eyes glued to the blade my father once gave me.
“Since you didn’t even part from it when going to a ball, I thought it would be a safe way to identify you.
Imagine my surprise when I received the message that you were dead, only for you to enter the ballroom surrounded by your friends a few days later.
” Her laugh sounds shrill. “Three times. I tried to kill you three times. So, of course, I celebrated when they arrested you.”
“And you think you’ll get away with all of this?”
She snorts. “You should pray for my success, or your precious prince will be my cousin’s puppet as soon as he sits on the throne.
” My eyes widen as more puzzle pieces fall into place, but Deliah misunderstands my surprise.
“I saw how you look at each other. I even told Frederick, but he didn’t want to listen.
He was obsessed with the thought of marrying you.
” She sneers at me, her gaze wandering over me before she turns.
“Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you are still here. Wouldn’t want you to miss your own execution. ”
I stare after her and shake my head. So Frederick didn’t share our little secret with her. Since our promise would backfire on him if he causes my death, I’m not too worried about an execution, but the news Deliah spilled is another story.
I stay where I am, holding on to the bars and listening to her fading steps until there is only silence. I straighten. Seems like I’ll have to adjust my plans. Not all of them, of course, since some are already being implemented.
I walk back to the wooden plank and lie down with a grim smile on my face.Maybe the king forgot who raised me, but I haven’t, and what should I say… I was always more of a daddy’s girl.
The warmth of familiar magic and the crinkle of paper let my eyes snap open.
And there, light on the dark ground, close to the metal bars of the cell door, lies a piece of paper.
I get up and crouch down to pick it up. It flutters with my movements like a moth lost in the dark.
The magic softly trails over my cheek before it’s gone.
I open it, and a smile warms my chest while my thumb caresses the words and the blackened, broken crown drawn beneath it.
I take care of what’s mine.