While the healing draft made me feel physically better, I’m still tired. I need to rest and gather my thoughts. So much has happened.
My father and my mother…
Tears well in my eyes at the thought of her.
She was my entire world growing up. My father was stern, constantly training and teaching me lessons about how to be a king, while my mother would sneak me candies after dinner when he said no. She would sing to me softly each night before bed, stroking the hair from my face. That I will never feel the softness of her kiss on my forehead again twists a knife in my heart.
If I look at those memories too closely, I’m afraid I will crumble, and I can’t—I won’t do that. So I push back the grief and thrust it into the pit of my soul.
If I shove the pain down far enough, it will fester and turn to rage.
Next chance I get, I’ll let this new darkness devour Niethal, allowing the beasts inside me to rip him apart.
Magic vibrates inside me, begging for release, and it’s as if faint claws trace the path of the shadows beneath my skin. When my eyes close, the darkness is a welcome friend. The shadowed void that now lives in my soul gapes, and I willingly toss myself into it, hoping for sleep.
CHAPTER 27
GRACE
“W
e are staying at Castle Thorne now?” I say through puffs of breath. I’m trying to keep pace with Reagan, but he’s all but running down the hall.
He hasn’t answered my questions about what we are doing. So I plant my feet to force him to. He lets out an exasperated sigh but stops and turns to face me. “The king does not share his plans with me. I usually do as I am told, just as I wish you would.” He moves down the main hall again, and thankfully, he’s not sprinting this time.
“I’m just trying to make sure I fully cooperate. If I knew the plan, then I—”
“You’d what? Go tell Isiah? Have you even tried to see him yet?”
I turn away from him and stare down the hall.
I haven’t tried to go to see Isiah yet because once I do, I’ll have to tell him about the bargain Gabriel and Alessandra made. The one that promised me to Niethal. I keep trying to think of a way out of it, but it seems like I’m trapped with their bargain and now my own.
“Am I allowed in the dungeon? I assumed Niethal would’ve barred me from visiting him.” I can’t imagine why he’d let me unless he wants me to witness how truly at his mercy I am.
“The king has not brought it up, which leads me to believe it’s allowed. Youshouldgo.”
“Why?”
It feels like a trap, but Reagan doesn’t answer.
We keep walking until we reach a large wooden door. Inside is a massive library. Books line every wall from floor to ceiling, and tables are scattered throughout the space.
“What are we doing here? I thought we were meeting Niethal.”
An unfamiliar voice answers from across the room, “You are here to see me, child. Come, have a seat.”
Reagan doesn’t seem startled by the stranger. So this is what he wouldn’t tell me we were doing.
The first thing I notice about the male is how light his eyes are, so pale blue they’re nearly white, and around their corners are fine creases. I’ve never heard of the fae aging, but this male appears to have.
“You may leave us, Reagan.”
I expect to find anger or irritation on Reagan’s face at the dismissal. Instead, he bows deeply and leaves without a word.
“We won’t have much time, so hold your questions until the end. Please.” He gestures to the seat across from him, and I lower myself into the chair. “The bargain you made was foolish, Grace. It has only tied you closer tohim. The Fates long ago decided your path.” He gazes down and rubs his hand across an ancient leather book almost comfortingly, before looking at me with a grave expression. “I have seen multiple visions of your life, and all end with your death during the ritual.”
I hear his words but feel numb, as if he is talking about a stranger, not me.