It would make it all worth it.
Moments blurred by as she searched the castle. There was little to be found. The corridors were winding tunnels, twisting and turning like a dozen angry snakes. She passed no one. According to the few whispered conversations she’d heard, few courtiers had arrived in Findius since Bolg had retaken the city. Were they too afraid to step foot inside their ancient home? Or were they plotting against the king? They’d accepted him when he’d been nothing more than a title in an old forgotten fortress. Now that he sat on the true Seat of Power, he might find enemies behind the smiling faces of his friends.
After finding nothing but empty rooms, Reyna gave up search in the eastern tower. She had backtracked to the throne room, intent on searching the west wing of the castle, when she heard voices drifting along the shadowy breeze. Both were familiar. One so much so that it made her gut quake.
“I have done everything you commanded. Now, please. I need to see Thane.” Lorcan’s booming words echoed through the throne room.
“No wonder you fell for the ice princess. You two are so alike it’s giving me a headache. Begone with you, son. I have no wish to argue with anyone about prisoners any more this day. There is somewhere I need to be. And someone I need to see. Heh.”
Reyna had noticed his leering eyes on the serving girl earlier. She had no doubt who he meant to see this night. But what had Lorcan said about Thane? Reyna inched a bit further down the corridor.
“Father,” Lorcan’s voice was low and dangerous. He almost sounded as though he wanted to rip the king to shreds…a thought that brought a slight smile to Reyna’s lips. “I have done nothing but follow your every command since we arrived in Findius. Please. Just give me this one thing. I committed the worst betrayal of my life to ensure Thane’s safety. Let me see him now.”
Reyna gripped the wall, her heart thundering.
“It is a grave thing when a father cannot trust his own son as far as he can spit,” the king answered in just as dangerous a voice. “If I allow you to see your air king, I know what you will do. You will break him out of his cage, and then you’ll free the Darragh girl, too. It seems my power over you has faded with time. My mark no longer holds the bite it once did. You found a way to force your way around it once, when I commanded Thane’s death. I have no doubt you’ll try it again. Your loyalty to this court is gone. If it was ever there to begin with.
“Heh. I should have known when my people found you in those bloody grasslands. A bastard will never replace a true-born son. I should have never given you a title. You should have stayed in that hellhole and starved. I’d send you right back there now, but…that village is full of nothing but the dead.”
Lorcan let out a roar so loud it echoed far and loud. The heavy thudding of footsteps soon followed. Reyna twisted on her heels and raced down the corridor. She ducked out of sight just in time. The throne room door flew open, slamming into the wall, only seconds after she’d slid around the corner.
Heart hammering, Reyna waited with her back against the slick stone wall, listening to the footsteps receding in the opposite direction. She couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Eislyn was not the only prisoner in these halls. Somewhere in the darkness, Thane was here, too. And Lorcan…
Suddenly, everything made sense. Horrible, twisted sense. Thane had never gone missing. When the shadow fae had attacked Lorcan and Thane in the grasslands, they had taken Thane captive.
And Lorcan’s reaction…he was loyal to Thane. Reyna could scarcely believe it. Ever since awakening in the shadow kingdom, she’d assumed Lorcan had been working against Thane all this time. But no…it was the opposite, in fact.
Lorcan had betrayed her to save Thane.
For a moment, her hardened heart softened. Regardless of who and what Lorcan was, he had always cared for Thane. They’d been brothers, even if not by blood. It was no wonder that he had done everything he could in order to spare his life.
But then her heart hardened once more. There had to have been another way. There was always another way. In order to save Thane, he’d sacrificed Reyna and her sister. Eislyn was an innocent, far more than the High King of the Air Court. As much as Reyna had come to respect Thane, she would never choose him over her sister.
Reyna could not forgive Lorcan that easily. In fact, she was certain she never would.
She might have promised herself to Bolg, but she had done no such thing to his son. If Lorcan truly had brought her sister to the shadow king, to save Thane’s life or not, she would find a way to repay him for the favor. By stabbing her blade right into his heart. And he would never see it coming.
8
Reyna
There was a shadow fae in her chambers when she returned. Reyna slowed to a stop as she held her door half open, her fingers still clutching the wood.
“What are you doing here?” she snapped at Tarrah. After hearing Lorcan’s voice and his words, she needed time alone to deal with her grief. And come up with a plan to kill him and all the rest of the shadow fae without breaking her vow.
That damn vow.
“Enjoy your stroll through the castle?” Tarrah asked. Pretty chirpily, Reyna thought, for someone whose eyes looked perpetually hollow.
Reyna narrowed her eyes. “And what of it? There were no guards at my door. If you didn’t want me to leave my chambers, your bloody king should have ordered it.”
“You may leave your chambers whenever you like. This castle is your home now.”
“It will never be my home,” she snapped.
“I understand your anger,” Tarrah said, brushing her raven hair over her shoulder. “We certainly haven’t handled this as well as we could have. That’s why I thought you might like to join us for dinner in the Great Hall. It will give you a chance to meet everyone.”
Reyna coughed out a bitter laugh. “You must be joking.”
“I’m not. You’ve been kept to your chambers for far too long.”
“I was kept there because of you.”
Tarrah pursed her lips. “Well, the offer stands. Join us in the Great Hall and meet the rest of the court. Or stay here. It’s up to you.”
Just to spite her, Reyna wanted to stay in her chambers. Going to dinner almost felt like giving in and accepting this ridiculous situation that she had been forced into against her will. Tarrah acted as though Reyna was suddenly a shadow fae, as if a few words would take the ice from her heart and burn it down to ash.
But Reyna was not dumb. She realized she had been given an opportunity to learn more about the court. At the moment, she knew very little about the shadow fae. She did not know the players in the game, the lords and the ladies, who was loyal to the king. And who wasn’t. There would always be at least one who wasn’t, who had ambitions, who craved power. If she befriended them, they might be willing to help. There might be a way for her to get out of here yet, but she would have to rely on her brains instead of her sword.
And that meant infiltrating the court.
“Fine. I will join you on one condition,” Reyna said.
Tarrah gave her a knowing smile. “I have a feeling I know what that condition is. He won’t be there tonight. I’ll make certain of it.”