He glanced at my bow and offered a reassuring grin. “The twins finally fell asleep,” he whispered, getting close to me and lowering his voice further. “We’re keeping quiet to make sure it stays that way. Looks like Gayla is out too.” He jutted his chin toward the bed.
“Yeah.” I set the bow and arrow gently on top of the books.
“Hey,” Lark said, leaning so close our noses practically touched.
Recalling Alok’s earlier taunt, I nearly pulled away. He’d spoken in anger. I shouldn’t let his words get under my skin, but they’d managed to burrow in and begin to itch with Lark sharing breathing space. Needing to keep quiet, I stood my ground.
“Sorry about earlier. I hope you didn’t get into too much trouble.”
I relaxed at Lark’s apology. He’d acted like the protective brother I didn’t have. We’d grown up together, not counting all the time he and his family spent in the mortal realm and Dahlquist. Sometimes we accompanied them, but most of our time together was spent in Pinemist. My parents weren’t much for travel beyond my tournaments around the elven realm.
“My dad was mad, but my mom was cool about it,” I said.
Lark raised his eyebrows as though surprised. “Aerith wasn’t angry?”
“She’s a female. I guess she understands what I’m going through.” I shrugged. Mom had always treated me like an adult, even when I was a child. Because of this, I’d tried hard not to let her down.
“She didn’t care that you were found with a faerie?”
What an odd question. I squinted at Lark. At least he hadn’t said “servant.” That had been rude and uncalled for, no matter how angry he’d been at the time. “My uncles are faeries.”
“But you won’t see him again, right?” he pressed.
I stepped back and folded my arms. “Is this really the time to be discussing this?”
“Just answer the question, Fraya.”
Something about his tone gave me pause. I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t need you looking out for me. I’m a grown female, older than you, and I’ll see whomever I please.”
Rather than pout or scowl as I’d anticipated, a wide grin spread across Lark’s face. “I am so pleased to hear that.”
My eyes widened in alarm as Lark lurched forward, clapping one hand over my mouth while pinching my nose with his other. What in the seven hells was happening? I tried to scream. When Lark released my nose, I breathed in deeply, feeling a tickle go up my nostrils, nearly causing me to sneeze. Drowsiness overcame me from out of nowhere. My lids grew weighted. Holding my body up felt like the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. If it weren’t for Lark, I would have fallen to the floor.
If it weren’t for Lark, I wouldn’t be falling asleep as a distant part of my mind begged for consciousness.
Chapter Seven
Fraya
A mouth awoke me—the firm press of lips on mine. I gave a jerk, my eyes opening to find I was seated on a chair in the attic, Alok standing in front of me with a heated gaze probing my face. A single lantern lit the small space. It might have been romantic if I hadn’t been abducted and tied to a chair.
I jerked at the ropes binding my wrists and tried to kick out, but my ankles were secured.
“Sorry about this, Fraya.”
I glared at Alok. “Did you glamour yourself to look like Lark?”
“I did.” The flame from the lantern glinted off his teeth when he grinned.
“How?” I demanded.
“It is a skill I possess as a Fae royal.”
“Fae royal?” I blinked several times.
“A royal prince,” he stated proudly, lifting his head. I hated how gorgeous he still looked, despite his wicked betrayal. One hand propped above his hip, Alok’s chin lifted higher. “I am Alok Elmray, exiled prince of Ravensburg and son of King Albedo.”
My jaw dropped. “Albedo’s dead.”
“He impregnated my mother before Liri killed him.”
No. It wasn’t possible, was it? I’d never heard so much as a rumor that Ryo’s late brother had sired a child. But Alok couldn’t lie. My eyes widened in horror. “But Lulu adopted you.”
“My real mother arranged that—not that the simpleton knew any better.”
My lips drew back. “You shouldn’t talk about your mother that way.”
“Lulu was never my mother.”
“She raised you. Loved you.”
Alok scowled. He stomped over, gripping my chair as he leaned close. I tried to lean back, but there was nowhere to go. Alok laughed. “What about you, Fraya? Did you love me before discovering we were enemies?” His gaze dropped to my lips, reminding me of his kiss moments before as though I’d been Sleeping Beauty and he the prince come to wake and rescue me. Ugh. There was no fairy-tale ending in our future, just bitter disgust.
“Why are we enemies?” I asked. “Aren’t we family?”
Alok pushed away from the chair, shaking his head. “We’re not family. We have no blood relation, not like you and your cousins. Lark’s father betrayed mine. His uncle made my mother a widow before she’d given birth.”
My heart twisted into knots tighter than the ones binding my wrists and ankles. “Alok, what have you done with Lark?” Cold dread iced over my skin.
Grinning, Alok walked around me to the back of my chair and spun me around in it. The legs scraped over the attic’s dusty floor. Once turned, I saw Lark tied to a chair on the other side of the attic, head slumped to one side.
“Sound asleep and no threat at all,” Alok said beside my ear.
“What about my father, Folas, and the twins?” I demanded.
“Sleeping. I only gave you a small pinch of the powder. Everyone else got the full dose. But don’t fret, Fraya. I mean none of you harm.”
“Then what is it you want?”
“The crown, of course.”
“Are you insane? You think you can single-handedly take over Dahlquist and rule over the kingdom?”
Had Alok always been mad? If so, he’d hidden it well. I’d believed him to be the handsome and attentive adopted son of Lulu. I didn’t recognize the male who stood in front of me now.
“This isn’t for me. It’s for my mother. And for the memory of my father. Malon will help us.”
“Malon’s dead.”
Alok smirked. “You mean the guard he glamoured to look like him?”
Overcome by dizziness, I sagged against the back of the chair. Everything in me grew cold as though winter had fallen over the castle. Unlike back home, it was the hot season in Dahlquist. Despite the chills racking my body, there’d be no white Christmas in Dahlquist, no Christmas at all if we didn’t stop Malon and Alok. How could I have been so blind? Father was right. I was stupid.
No, not stupid. I’d been tricked. Betrayed. I could berate myself later. Right now, I had to figure out a way to outsmart Alok. Maybe I could use his feelings for me to gain the upper hand.
“That was a clever performance on my uncle’s part,” Alok continued proudly. “‘He’s coming! He’s got sleeping dust!’” he mocked before chuckling. “The rest of the guards rushed forward to stab the decoy before he could get a word out.”
My heart pounded and ears rang. “You got an innocent guard killed.” I glared up at him.
I didn’t have my mother’s calm cool. I couldn’t sit quietly listening to Alok’s revolting actions. I hated that I’d ever kissed him. I hated sharing breathing space with the duplicitous scoundrel. I’d heard all about his villain of a father and shrew of a mother from Aunt Mel. Apparently the rotten apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
Alok clenched his teeth. “It wasn’t my intention for anyone to die. Malon was protecting himself. No one else has to get harmed so long as they do as we say.”
“You make me sick,” I spat.
Anger flashed through Alok’s eyes. He stomped up to me. “Lies,” he hissed as he gripped the back of my chair and tilted me forward. He crouched down until we were at eye level. His dark brown irise
s seemed to swirl around his pupils. “You wanted me to be your first, Fraya. Me!”
“I wanted the nice male I knew—Lulu’s son, not this monster you’ve been hiding.” My upper lip curled.
Alok stood and set my chair back level with the ground. His shoulders relaxed. “I was always myself with you, Fraya. And you deserve more than a servant’s son. You should be with a Fae prince.”
I scowled up at him. “Don’t you dare tell me you’re doing this for me.”
Alok’s shoulders dropped. He strolled toward Lark, making my heart pound against my rib cage. “As I said, I’m doing it for my mother. That doesn’t change the fact that you belong with royalty—a worthy male who isn’t related to you by blood.” He stopped and stared at Lark then spun around, facing me. “I know all about the past. I know my father first tried to woo your mother and failed miserably. I succeeded where he did not. I made her daughter fall for me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I snarled. “Do you think you’re the first boy I’ve kissed? There have been others . . . back home. You were nothing special.”
Alok’s eyes sparkled when he grinned. “It must be nice having the ability to lie.”
“I despise you, Alok, and that is one hundred percent the truth.”
“You’re angry,” he corrected. “For that, I am sorry. But this is something I must do.”
I couldn’t even watch him walk away, only listen to his boot steps as they left the attic. As much as I loathed being around him, I didn’t want him to leave. My father, Folas, Gayla, and the twins were all incapacitated. My mother and Uncle Ryo thought Malon was no longer a threat.
“Wait!” I cried, yanking at the bindings.
Alok didn’t answer. He continued walking toward the stairwell that led back down to the castle. My heart dropped with each footfall that faded away.
“Lark!” I yelled. “Lark!”
My screams were no use. My cousin remained slumped over his chair, not giving the slightest twitch. I needed him to wake the freak up.
My mind reeled. When had Alok gotten to Lark? Had he blown the cursed sleeping dust over him after they’d left the attic? Had he used the disguise to gain entrance into the dungeons before knocking out the guards? I shuddered at how well he’d played the part of my cousin. Alok had the advantage of having grown up at the castle. He’d had years to observe Lark, plenty of occasions to study us all.
I ground my teeth, angry at Alok and mad at myself for being duped.
How long had he been planning this, and why now? Perhaps Aunt Mel’s and Uncle Lyklor’s absence had presented the best opportunity. Everyone knew King Liri was ruthless. Uncle Ryo, on the other hand, was a kind and caring king. Alok and Malon probably intended to exploit that.
Gritting my teeth, I threw my body weight forward. I managed to scoot the chair forward bit by bit. I didn’t know what good it would do reaching Lark, but I made my way across the attic to him, gasping with breath once I reached him. He didn’t look comfortable with his head hanging to one side, blond bangs falling over his closed eyelids.
“Lark!”
Nothing. Nope. Yelling directly into his face didn’t work either.
Screaming in frustration, I shoved against the ground, sending my chair careening backward. As I tumbled, I curled my chin to my chest to avoid hitting the back of my head on the hard ground. Didn’t need to knock myself out.
Wood cracked between the hard floor and my weight. I rolled to one side then back to the other, grinding the chair into the floor. I wiggled my arms and pushed at the ropes circling my wrists until the bindings loosened. I was able to slip my right hand out first. Hissing at the rope burn as it bit at my wrist, I untied my left wrist followed by my ankles. On my feet, I untied Lark then grabbed him under the arms and dragged him to the attic stairs. I couldn’t leave my cousin up there unconscious in case Alok returned.
Lark’s boots clunked against each stair as I pulled him down, down, down to the corridor flanking the castle ballroom. Guards who had stood earlier against the walls were now strewn across the floor, sleeping. My heart jackhammered.
There wasn’t time to take Lark to the suite—Alok knew its location, anyway. So I dragged my cousin into the ballroom and set him gently on the floor beside the doors. If Alok had put him to sleep first, maybe he’d wake up first—hopefully soon.
Closing the ballroom doors behind me, I raced down the hall, heading back to the suite and the bow and arrows I’d left atop the Christmas books on the dresser.
Chapter Eight
Aerith
“Our scouts have detected no movement in the surrounding fields. No one has tried to leave or enter the castle this eve, Your Highness,” the big burly captain of Dahlquist’s outer defenses assured Ryo.
I scanned the courtyard for anything suspicious while Ryo finished questioning the captain of the guards.
Mel’s entourage, as she called them—Gem, Magnolia, Lulu, and Heath—was helping us out by questioning the servants. If anyone refused to answer, the nearest guards were to escort them down to the dungeon where Ryo would take over the interrogation—that or wait for Mel and Lyklor to return and help. This was one of the few times I wouldn’t have minded having Liri around. Feelings aside, this sort of task was his specialty.
“All the outer guards have been accounted for and assembled for your questioning, Your Highness,” the captain said.
A line curved around the courtyard walls.
Inwardly, I groaned. I couldn’t imagine the accomplice waiting patiently for Ryo’s questions. The culprit could be hiding in any number of places inside the castle. But we had to start somewhere, and it made the most sense that this individual had headed to the stables to make his or her getaway the moment Malon was brought down.
“Thank you, Gnax. Keep your eyes and ears open,” Ryo said to the captain.
We walked side by side to the start of the line. Before reaching the first guard, I pressed my hand over Ryo’s shoulder, stopping him. He turned a questioning gaze to me.
“Should we bring Liri over to help?”
Ryo grimaced before blowing out a breathy sigh. “I suppose he’d be useful.”
“He better be. He’s the reason we’re in this mess,” I grumbled.
Ryo nodded, frowning. “I can open a portal, but I can’t risk going through. Everything should be fine now, but if I weren’t able to make the return trip . . .” He let his sentence hang in the night. Finishing wasn’t necessary. If Ryo somehow got stuck in the mortal realm, the castle would be left without a king. Teryani had learned that lesson the hard way.
“I can’t go through either.” No risk, no matter how minor, was worth being separated from my family. “We’ll have to send a trusted guard. Someone nearby,” I added.
Not wasting another second, Ryo strode to the line, looking over the guards as he walked swiftly past the watchful faces. He came to a stop in front of a tall, lean guard with brown hair bound in a long ponytail. “Kral, please join me and my sister-and-law for a moment.” The guard followed Ryo as he clipped back to me, jaw set. “Kral was one of the guards who accompanied Mel and me to Pinemist and helped defeat the ogres way back when.”
Way back when? Ha. I didn’t feel like we were that old, but yeah, back in the days before anyone of us were mated parents.
“Thanks for your service,” I told Kral.
He nodded. “It was my pleasure to help set things right.”
Ryo cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to have to do this, but I need you to tell me you had nothing to do with Malon’s escape.”
Kral didn’t so much as blink. “I had no part in Malon’s escape, nor do I know anything leading up to or following the event. It is an honor to serve the kings of Dahlquist—you, my liege; King Lyklor; and King Liri. I would serve no other.”
Ryo nodded. “Thank you for your loyal service, Kral. Now I need to send you to the mortal realm to tell Liri what has happened. Tell him we need his immediate help.”
; “It is my honor,” Kral answered.
“Come. I will open a portal.”
Kral waited to follow us as Ryo led the way to the nearest portal access point behind the stable. I stood to the side and watched as Ryo opened his arms. He frowned and lowered them.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
Ryo’s frown cut grooves along his chin. “I cannot open a portal.”
“But that would mean . . .” My heart nearly stopped.
Ryo’s hand went to the hilt of the sword tethered to his hip. “Malon isn’t dead.”
Boots pounded behind us as Ryo led an army of two dozen guards to the throne room doors. Three of the sentinels were females, all armed with swords. I wanted to run straight back to the suites to warn Jhaeros and Folas, but Ryo insisted we’d find Malon in the throne room.
He stopped in front of the large doors and waited as two guards threw them open. Six more of Ryo’s sentinels ran into the throne room first.
“Your Majesty, he’s here . . . on the dais!” one of the males yelled.
Heart pounding against my chest, I followed Ryo in with the rest of the guards.
Malon said nothing as we stormed in. He sat slouched on the throne, looking as sickly as his glamour had. Without so much as a weapon, he didn’t appear to be any threat, but just the fact that he was loose from his cage was enough to put my senses on full alert.
I scanned every dark corner of the room. Too much blood had already been spilled in here when Albedo tried to take the crown. Chills wafted over me, goose bumps rising on my arms. I nocked an arrow in my bow and held it up, trained on Malon, ready to let it loose if he tried anything.
“Hello, Brother,” Malon said evenly, as though too tired to muster a sneer.
Blade at his side, Ryo stopped several paces from the dais. “Who let you out?”
Malon chuckled, which led to coughing. Once he got hold of himself, he grinned through the gloom. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
“Indeed, I will,” Ryo said, puffing out his chest. “You can wait in your cell while we track down your accomplice.”
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