“Caden?” I coughed out a humorless laugh. “I’m going to kill the sons of bitches.”
Chapter 16
After Luce had returned later with a light dinner, she wanted me to get up and move around a little, which consisted of me walking around the small room.
Then came the part I usually dreaded whenever I went to the doctor. She weighed me, and for once, seeing that I’d gained a few pounds even though I’d been a volcano of vomit the night before made me breathe a sigh of relief. She took some more blood, and after my twentieth or so lap around the room, I returned to the bed, surprised by how much that had worn me out.
“Like I said, you’re going to be weaker than usual,” she told me, slipping the vial of blood into a small bag. “But I have a feeling you’ll regain your strength quicker than even I expect.”
“The Summer Kiss, huh?” I leaned back against the mountain of pillows.
“It’s a kiss of life.” Luce placed the bag on the counter and then crossed her arms. Her gaze fell to the small table. I’d engaged the blade earlier, just in case. It was only a few inches in length, but it was long and sharp enough to do its job. “I wish you would’ve told me about that, and yes, I know I already said that, but I feel the need to restate it. I could’ve told you then that you had nothing to worry about when it came to our King choosing you—that I had nothing to worry about.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that changed things. Caden never told me,” I explained. “And I get why he didn’t. He was trying not to overwhelm me after everything, but I wish he’d told me.”
“And I’m sure he wished you’d told him about the child,” she replied, and I flinched. “I meant no offense by that. What I mean is that it seems like you and Caden could’ve benefited from a very in-depth conversation.”
I laughed dryly. “No doubt.”
“But you have both been processing a lot,” she said, picking up the bag.
“Have you seen Caden?” He hadn’t been back.
“I believe he’s still carrying out the questioning,” she answered.
I wondered who was standing guard outside because I doubted Caden was relying on a locked door. But who had Caden deemed trustworthy enough? I picked at the blanket. “Who’s playing babysitter?”
She arched a brow. “Kalen.”
A slight smile tugged at my lips. “I owe him a lot. If he hadn’t…”
Luce inclined her chin. “He would make a fine Knight for our King.”
As far as I knew, Caden hadn’t chosen any of his Knights yet. I had a feeling Aric’s betrayal all those years ago played a role in that. “He would. I’m glad to see that Caden trusts him.” I watched Luce slip the vial into her pocket, thinking about what Tink had said. I actually hadn’t really stopped thinking about it. “Can I ask you something?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“Do you really think the choice of poison had nothing to do with my pregnancy? That it’s possible that no one who knows spoke?”
“I’ve thought about this. It’s an herb that’s widely available—actually grown in our greenhouse as it has amazing healing properties. Some of the other poisons that Tink mentioned are simply not easily accessible. That could be the reason.” She smoothed the lapel of her coat. “But if Tink is right, that one of those who knows did speak, who would they have told that would’ve done something like this? Would it then be a coincidence that the person unknowingly told the fae who has been working with the Winter Court, and if not, then are we dealing with two fae who have done the unforgivable?”
I nibbled on my lower lip, mulling it over. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something. “Maybe this has nothing to do with the other fae. I mean, I’m sure there are tons of fae who would probably act upon the knowledge that I was pregnant.”
“You don’t seem to have a high opinion of the fae,” she replied, “if you think there are so many who would wish to harm an unborn child. If you’re to be our Queen, I hope that changes.”
Chastised, I realized that what I’d said hadn’t come out right. “I didn’t mean that I think there’s a ton of fae who would gladly harm a child, but I bet there are many who would do anything to protect their Court, right? Isn’t that what Kalen said about Benji’s family? That they wouldn’t even keep their own child alive if it was a risk to the Court?”
Luce’s brows puckered. “Yes. Many fae are willing to protect their Court,” she said slowly.
“And how many fae would see me as a risk to the Court? Even before the pregnancy. After all, Tatiana came to me before I knew I was pregnant,” I reasoned. “Without them knowing I’d been given the Summer Kiss, wouldn’t they see this child as a threat to their future? It’s why I hadn’t told Caden that I was pregnant. It’s why you agreed to remain silent, as did the others.”
“I see what you’re saying.” She sighed wearily. “It’s just that I have a hard time believing that those who knew would’ve said anything. That knowledge in the wrong hands doesn’t only mean someone viewing you as a threat, but it could also cause panic.”
“Then…then that person may have told someone they trusted. Someone who may have…” Someone who may not have been sent into a panic. Who would’ve already known that Caden was in love with me. Suspicion dawned, and I was grateful that I wasn’t hooked up to the heart monitor.
“What?” Luce asked.
I didn’t want to say anything in case I was wrong. “Can you do me a favor? Can you get Tanner for me?”
“Why do you want to see him?”
“I just thought of something he said to me, and I’m not sure if I heard him right,” I lied. “Please? Tanner cannot possibly be banned from seeing me.”
“The King decreed that no one without his express approval—”
“Or I can just go find Tanner myself. I doubt you’re going to chain me to my bed. So, do you think Caden would be more upset with me roaming around, or you getting Tanner for me?”
Her eyes narrowed. “That sounds like blackmail.”
“More like presenting you with options,” I suggested.
One side of her lips curved up. “Uh-huh. I doubt you’ll have any problems assuming the role of our Queen.” She turned away. “I’ll go find Tanner now.”
“Thank you,” I said, unsure if her comment about the whole Queen thing was a compliment or not.
But I didn’t have the brain space to really deal with that. If my suspicions were on point, then I might know who poisoned the drinks.
When a soft knock came about fifteen minutes later, I knew Luce had done what I asked. Tanner stepped in, quietly closing the door behind him.
“Luce said you needed to speak with me?” he asked.
I nodded. “Thank you for coming, even though I have a feeling that Caden has told everyone to stay away from me.”
A faint smile appeared. “He has, but Luce said that she sensed it was important.” Walking forward, he sat in the chair. He looked rough, as if he hadn’t slept well. Whether or not my suspicion was correct, he had to have a lot on his mind. “Luce told us that the child is well, which I’m grateful to hear. But how are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. Just a little tired. Thank you for asking.”
The shadows under his eyes looked like bruises as he nodded. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m confident that Kalen didn’t even want to allow me into the room. I imagine the only reason I was allowed is because the King is with Faye and her family.”
Benji.
Jesus, I’d practically forgotten about him. “He hasn’t gotten better, has he?”
Tanner shook his head sadly. “He is…he is lost to us.”
Sadness found its way into my already crowded heart. “They’ll…” What had Caden said? Peace. “They’ll give him peace now?”
He nodded. “Yes. Our King is there in case they have need of him.”
I glanced at the door, wanting to go and find where they were. I wanted to be there for Caden, even if he
didn’t have to be the one to end Benji’s young life. That suddenly seemed as important as why I’d asked for Tanner.
“I wouldn’t want to further displease the King,” Tanner said. “What did you want to see me about?”
“Understood.” I drew in a shallow breath, fighting the urge to run off and find Caden. While I’d threatened to do that earlier, even I wasn’t that stupid when there was someone out there actively trying to harm the baby and me. “I want to ask you something, and I hope you’ll be honest. It’s an uncomfortable question.”
Tanner nodded for me to continue.
“Did you tell anyone that I was pregnant?” I asked, watching him closely. A muscle twitched near his right eye. “And I’m not suggesting that I think you told someone thinking they’d do what they did, but I know I told you to do whatever was necessary to make sure Caden chose a fae as his Queen, and I don’t think you would’ve told just anyone because of the panic or risk it could cause. I know you would do anything to protect your Court, and maybe that included telling someone that I was pregnant. Maybe so they’d pursue Caden, knowing that Caden would eventually find out that I was pregnant.”
Tanner stared at me in silence for several heartbeats. “You think I spoke to Tatiana?”
I nodded. That’s exactly what I suspected—that he’d told Tatiana, maybe even her brother. “It would make sense. Tatiana and Sterling already knew what was happening in terms of the engagement. They would have a reason to view the child as a real threat. I don’t want to believe it,” I quickly added as Tanner’s eyes widened. “I honestly think that Tatiana came to me in the beginning out of concern and not to get me to leave Caden. So, I’m not saying this out of jealousy or anything like that. Caden loves me.” Even if he wasn’t quite sure about that now. That thought hurt, but my suspicion wasn’t coming from making the other woman who wasn’t even really the other woman the villain. “It just makes sense.”
Tanner leaned forward. “Tatiana would never do such a thing. Neither would her brother. I know you don’t know them well, and I can even understand why you’d think it was them, but those misdeeds cannot be placed on them.”
“Are you sure? How well do you know them?” I asked.
“I don’t know either extremely well.” Lifting a hand, he dragged it over his head, clasping the back of his neck. “But I know they had nothing to do with this tragedy.”
Tragedy? As if what had happened was due to an unexpected car accident. “You mean attempted murder?”
His silvery skin paled as he tipped back, recoiling from what I’d said. A moment passed. “You’re right. It was attempted murder. I…” He dropped his hand to the arm of the chair. “Caden gave you the Summer Kiss. He did this years ago?”
Caught off guard by the change of topic, it took me a moment. “Yes. When I was injured by Aric and the other fae. It was why I didn’t die then.”
“You are his mortuus,” he said, his voice thickening as his gaze roamed over my face. “You hold a piece of his soul. That makes you a far more worthy choice than any fae that could be presented to him. The entire Court, once they are aware, will not only support his choice but will celebrate such a union. It is rare for one to find their mortuus.”
“That’s what Caden told me.” Emotion clogged my throat, and I couldn’t think about how things were now. “I didn’t know what it meant until yesterday. He hadn’t wanted to overwhelm me. If I knew, I never would’ve tried to hide my pregnancy from him, and I wouldn’t have asked you to do that or to help make sure he chose someone else.”
“I know.” A small, sad smile appeared as his eyes glistened. “I wish he had told you. I wish I had paid attention enough to realize what you meant to him. Looking back, it was obvious. I should have known. I found my mortuus once, but I lost her.”
“I’m sorry,” I told him.
“It wasn’t Tatiana or her brother.” A tear slid unchecked down his cheek. “It was me.”
Chapter 17
“I can barely live with myself now,” Tanner said. “I can’t let someone else take the blame for my actions. Not when this reckoning was always coming.”
Blood pounded in my ears as I stared at Tanner in disbelief.
“When I saw him with you, I thought you’d changed your mind. That he’d convinced you to stay with him,” he explained, staring at his open hands. “And I believed that after everything I’d done, the dirt I’d sunk my hands into, that it was all for nothing. That our King was going to forsake our entire Court.”
I couldn’t think.
“I didn’t know if you’d already told him about the baby. I thought you hadn’t, because if you had, I couldn’t imagine that he’d allow you into the room with that poor youngling,” he continued. “I thought that if I could at least end the pregnancy, it would cut one of the threads that bound him to you, and you to him. After all, it would not be the worst sin I have committed to protect the Court.”
I couldn’t move.
“In the beginning, I thought you were just a passing fancy and then a distraction. I knew he cared for you. Deeply enough that even if I hadn’t known you were his mortuus, I saw that he would not easily choose another.” His voice rasped, barely audible. “Aric lied to you, Brighton. There was no Summer fae willing to work with the Winter Court to release that monster. There was only me.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“I knew I could get a message to him through Neal, and I did. I met with him twice, and there was a moment when I considered killing him. I’d brought a sheathed dagger with me. I could’ve done it. The Ancient was so arrogant. I had a window of opportunity.” He continued staring at his hands. “But I didn’t take it. Not the first time when I told him that…that you were important to our King, and not the second when he told me that he planned to use you to force Caden to open the gateway. I didn’t know then that was possible. I thought…”
The shock of what he’d admitted snapped me out of my stupor. “You…you’re the reason Aric came for me? You knew that he had me alive? That he was keeping me there, torturing—?”
“I thought he would kill you. I didn’t know he’d keep you alive,” he said without looking up.
“You thought…he would kill me. As if that makes a difference, makes it better,” I whispered, disbelieving what I was hearing.
This was Tanner.
Prim and proper Tanner, who wore polo shirts and khaki pants. Who I could easily imagine playing golf on the weekends. Tanner, who was nice and always calm, who I knew had harbored a crush for my mother and had been genuinely upset over her murder.
Murder carried out by the Ancient he’d later all but handed me over to.
And now he’d tried to kill my child.
“How could you?” I demanded, hands shaking. The betrayal cut so deeply that it was all I could feel. It hurt, because never in a million years would I have expected that he’d do something like this. It hurt.
“It wasn’t personal.”
“Are you serious?” I cried. “How could this get any more personal?”
“I know that sounds absurd. I like you, and you know I liked your mother—”
“How could you do this? I trusted you. My mom trusted you.” A rising tide of anger chipped away at the pain of his betrayal. “Caden trusted you.”
“I know.” He lifted his head then. Tears tracked down his face, and seeing them made me even more furious. What right did he have to be upset? He’d tried to kill our child. He was responsible for my seemingly never-ending weeks in hell. “I thought I was doing the right thing.” He sat back, arms limp at his sides. “Caden thought he was doing the right thing by not telling you everything. You thought you were doing the right thing by pushing him away and not telling him about the baby. And I thought I was—”
“What you did is not even remotely the same,” I snapped. “We were trying to protect one another. You—”
“And I was trying to protect the entire Court and the world!” His shoulders shook. “Th
at’s what I was trying to do.”
I stared at him, trembling. The rage building inside of me diminished everything else—the betrayal, the disbelief, and the pain. I’d told Tink that I would kill whoever had been responsible. I wasn’t being overdramatic then, and that was before I knew that the person responsible for nearly ending my child’s life was also responsible for the horror I’d suffered at Aric’s hands. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the cuff and blade on the table.
Murderous fury was a cyclone inside of me. I liked Tanner. I trusted him. My mom had trusted him, and maybe later, the pain of his betrayal would haunt me, but the bitter burn of vengeance consumed me now. I moved without thinking, twisting at the waist as I kicked the blanket off. I reached for the cuff, fully intending to slam the blade deep into his throat. I would sever his head from his shoulders, ensuring his death.
Tanner was quick, like all fae were, no matter if they fed or not.
He shot from his chair, knocking it over as he swiped up the cuff with a linen napkin that had been left beside it.
Shit.
Sliding off the bed, I grabbed the lamp just as the door burst open. I yanked the lamp from where it was plugged in and swung it at Tanner as Kalen burst into the room.
“What the hell is going on?” Kalen demanded as Tanner jumped back, blocking the blow with his other arm. The ceramic base shattered, cutting into his flesh. “Brighton!”
“It’s him!” I shouted, refusing to take my eyes off Tanner. “He poisoned me. He handed me over to Aric!”
“What?” Disbelief filled Kalen’s voice.
“It’s true.” Tanner backed up, his gaze briefly darting to where Kalen stood inside the room. “She speaks the truth.”
“What?” Kalen repeated, denial still evident in his tone.
“I was trying to protect the Court.” Tanner kept backing up.
“I don’t care what you were trying to do!” I screamed. “We trusted you!”
“Tanner.” Horror had replaced the shock in Kalen’s voice. “Our King will kill you.”
The Summer King Bundle: 3 Stories by Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 50