She folds the note and passes it back to me.
I hide it back in my sandal.
“Who gave that to you, April?”
“An iilra.”
Slowly, she turns her hard gaze on the lakewater. “He’s making enemies, then.”
“What?”
“The prince. By taking you to the Court, he made one hell of a statement. And that makes enemies at the Court. Enemies of his are enemies of yours.”
“Nothing can happen.” I frown at her. “He’s the prince.”
“And the iilra listen to the highest royals. The king, the queen, the first prince.”
“Elden,” I whisper, everything clicking in my mind, like pieces of torn up parchment coming together again.
She nods, silent.
“Well, he means to kill me.” I shake my head. “I just won’t go.”
“Or he means to free you.”
I swerve my stare to her. “I doubt that.”
“He can’t kill you, not without the prince’s permission,” she tells me. “There’s a bargain still in place. Not only that, with Prince Daein bringing you to the Court, it’s clear he’s announcing you as his lover. For anyone else to kill you would be a crime. It’s their way—their traditions.” She loosens a heavy spiralling breath. “So maybe he will offer you a way out of here.”
“Why would he?” I argue. “I’m free soon enough.”
She turns that pitiful look on me again. “April,” she breathes and reaches for my hand. “Do you really believe that?”
My frown digs deeper into my face. “The bargain ends in a month. Less than a month.”
“If the first prince and the iilra are getting involved, and Prince Daein is prancing you around the Court ...” she pauses to squeeze my hand. “I suspect that he has no intention of letting you go.”
“Don’t say that.” My fears come out wrapped in whispers. “Don’t.”
Terry offers me a sympathetic smile. “Look, I could be wrong,” she says. “It could all be because of the threat you pose.”
“What threat?” I scrunch up my face.
“There are rumours around the castle,” she whispers. “They say that the light is breaking through the darkness in the Wastelands.”
I turn my face to hers. Faintly, I nod. “It’s true. Elden said as much when I was in Daein’s bedchamber.”
“See?” She clicks her fingers. “That’s the threat you pose.”
“I’m not following...”
“Well, they don't know what’s causing the light breakages. All they know is that humans and kuris are infiltrating this world of the realm. The light could be piercing through because of the merge of the lands, or that dark fae are marrying humans now, or even that the darkness is stretched too thin and they need to maintain a more powerful and pure bloodline for the royals.”
“Then why would Elden be pushing for Daein to marry a litalf?”
“Better a litalf than a human,” she mumbles with a shrug. “Whatever it is, a human lover to the prince could be a threat right now. Not many of them take humans for lovers—they stick with kuris at the very least, but mostly litalves or even their own kind. Blood purity is important to them, and so is keeping to their own kind.”
“That’s why I’m a threat? They think he’s going to marry me?” It’s hard to keep the scoff from my voice.