Текст книги "Bound to the shadow prince"

Автор книги: Ruby Dixon

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 34 (всего у книги 40 страниц)

“Yes.” Erynne’s voice is cold. “She was lucky. She didn’t live to see the destruction of our kingdom. After we starved for two full seasons, it was easy for the Fellians to take over. Our navy was destroyed. Our men were gone. The people left in the capital were weak, and Lionel thought he was some great commander. They captured him on the first day of the siege and after that, I knew it was just a matter of time. But I held out for as long as I could, because I knew Allionel needed a kingdom.”

A sick feeling grows in my stomach. “Where is he? Where’s the baby? Where are both of your children, Erynne?”

My sister turns her cold, unblinking eyes on me. “You don’t know?”

I shake my head.

“The Fellians stormed our castle, destroying everything in sight. They put every man to the sword. It didn’t matter how old or how young he was. If he was inside the walls, he was killed. They saved my Allionel for last, though. I held him tight in my arms, and they—they pulled him free—” She chokes.

“Don’t say it. Please don’t say it⁠—”

“They took him from my arms and flung him from the walls, Candra. Because a male human was a threat to them. He was a baby. He…”

I wrap my arms around my sister, hating every word she says. I hate them because I know they’re true. I hate them because they’ve broken my sister. While I sat safe and sound in the tower, my sister was fighting for her life. My sister had her baby ripped from her arms and murdered. “Ravendor?”

I’m terrified to find out the answer, but I know my sister has two children. If Allionel is dead…

“I don’t know.” Erynne chokes on the words, as if they’re difficult to say. Her arms tighten around me. It’s not a hug, not quite, but I’ll take it. “Once they stormed Lios, they put a collar on me. They took the women. They gave my baby to another woman. I don’t know where Ravendor is, Candra. I don’t have my babies.” A sob breaks from her. “My arms are empty. My kingdom is destroyed. And I-I-I need a knife.”

The change in conversation is so sudden I’m certain I’ve heard her wrong. I pull back. “You what?”

“I need a knife,” she tells me, frantic.

“The enchanted knife you gave me?” I shake my head. “It’s lost, stolen⁠—”

“Any knife. Do you have one?”

“No. What for?”

A smile curves my sister’s lips. “I’m going to cut Ajaxi’s throat while he sleeps. He keeps me chained to his bed so I can serve him whenever he wishes. So I’ll kill him and anyone else that tries to stop me from leaving this place.”

Chapter

Seventy-Seven

Istare at my sister in horror.

The rational part of me knows that she’s gone through hell recently. That she’s not herself. Her husband and her kingdom are destroyed. Her true love—Isabella—has died. Her son has been murdered and her other child given away. She’s been given to the enemy as a slave. Any of these things would break me, and yet my sister has endured all of them.

But the way she’s looking at me now is terrifying. The calm, rational Erynne Vestalin is gone. The Erynne who would do whatever it took to ensure the Vestalin line and the safety of our kingdom has been destroyed, just like Lios itself. I cannot stop staring at her dead eyes, at the look on her face.

I know in this moment that if I had a knife on me, she truly would murder as many people as she could, as long as they were Fellian.

“Erynne, no. That’s not the answer.”

She laughs. “Yes it is. They murdered everything I cared about. Give me a knife and I’ll make them pay.” Her eyes gleam with an unhinged light and she studies my clothing. “Do you have one on you? Hidden somewhere?”

“No!” I slap at her hands when she grabs at my dress. “Stop it!”

Her hand brushes over my rounded belly and she goes still.

Dragon shite. She knows.

Erynne draws back. Her shoulders straighten and she looks at me—really looks at me—for what feels like the first time. “How did you get out of the tower, Candra?”

“We waited for as long as we could. We waited for food. No one came, and Nemeth and I had to make a decision⁠—”

Her eyes narrow the moment I mention Nemeth’s name. “The Fellian. You didn’t kill him, then. I knew you were too weak. Too blinded by cock. Is it good? Does that monster have a fine cock? It must be excellent for you to betray your people just like that whore Riza.”

“Riza! She’s alive, then?”

“She should be dead,” Erynne spits, hatred contorting her face. “Cavorting with the enemy. Flirting with him. Pretending like he’s something other than a Fellian monster.” Her lip curls as she looks down at my belly. “And you…you’re no better. Unless…did he rape you?”

I feel sick. Sick at how hopeful her expression is. She’d rather have me brutalized by the enemy than happily married? I shake my head. “Nemeth is kind.” When she snorts, I continue on, ignoring her. “He’s a scholar. He’s good to me. I-I married him, Erynne.”

“You always were a fool for cock,” she says in a bitter voice. “You should have killed him when you had the chance. Unless you still have that poison I sent you…?”

I get up from the bench. “You’re scaring me, Erynne. I’m not going to give you the tools to murder people.”

“Because you’re on their side now. Is that it? You’ve turned your back on your name. Your heritage. Your people.” Her eyes fill with tears. “Oh, Candra. You’re such an idiot.”

I want to cry. I want to bury my face in Nemeth’s arms and just weep for hours. This isn’t my sister. This bitter, hateful shell that wants to kill and hurt and destroy isn’t the Erynne I knew. The sister that always looked out for me and wiped away my tears is gone, replaced by this vengeful stranger. “It’s my fault,” I realize. “We left the tower. We brought the wrath of the goddess down…”

My words trail off as Erynne begins to laugh. I watch her, confused, as she holds her sides and laughs as if this is the funniest thing in the world.

“Oh Candra,” she wheezes. “Even after all this, you still think it’s about you? Hah. If only it were.” She laughs harder. “We’ve been lied to this entire time, you poor fool. And you’ve gone and married a Fellian. I had no idea you were so stupid.”

“What do you mean? Who’s lied?”

But Erynne gets a catlike look on her face, a smirk that makes my skin crawl. “Your husband can tell you. After he does, bring me the knife. I’ll do it if you don’t have the stomach for it.”

She turns away from me, hiding her face as one of the Fellian guards approaches the gazebo, and a moment later, she’s led away. I’m torn between clinging to her hand and begging them not to take her, and relief that she’s gone. It isn’t until Erynne is out of sight that I realize she’s never asked about my medicine or how I’m staying alive without it.

She hasn’t asked how I got pregnant.

She doesn’t care. I realize that. Everything she told me was to make me as broken and empty and full of hate as she is. She wants me to hate Nemeth and his people. I know that. I do.

But I can’t stop wondering what she meant when she said we were both lied to.

Nemeth returns a short time later, his mood foul.

“Went well?” I half-heartedly joke. I can tell it didn’t. He’s vibrating with tension, his mouth set into what looks like a permanent frown.

“He refuses to see me,” Nemeth says. “He’s having Ajaxi run messages between rooms and speaks to me from across the hall. It is madness. My brother has lost his wits.”

“Ajaxi?” My natural instinct is to tease a laugh out of him, because if we’re laughing, we’re not crying at least…and I definitely feel like crying at the moment.

He snorts. “Ajaxi has never had wits. Ivornath is the one that has lost his.”

That sounds more like my Nemeth. I wonder if I should tell him about my run-in with my sister. About all the awful things she told me. About the fact that she says I’ve been lied to. I don’t know how much was truth and how much was Erynne’s bitterness and her wanting to destroy my happiness with Nemeth. “So what is our next approach?”

Nemeth wraps his wings around me. “Now we return home.”

We slide through shadows, and my vision tilts dizzily. I cling to him, waiting for things to settle again. It’s silent when we’re back in his apartments, and I rub my skin, feeling safe. “Why does it feel different in here? Better?”

He grunts. “Ivornath has spells on the courtyard. He watches everything.”

Weird. “He sounds paranoid.”

“Paranoid, but alive,” Nemeth agrees. “You won’t be watched here. You’re safe.” He touches my shoulder. “But I must leave you here again. Ajaxi wishes to speak to me privately.”

Ajaxi—the one that’s enslaved my sister. I swallow hard. “Take me with you?”

Nemeth shakes his head. “It’s best if you remain here. Until we know what’s going on, I don’t trust anyone. The longer we keep the news of our child from them, the better. Let me go and speak to Ajaxi. He’s not very smart, but perhaps he can be coaxed into seeing things our way.”

“And what is our way?” I ask, wanting to make sure we’re on the same page. “What is it we’re asking?”

He gazes down at me, his expression puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what is our goal? What do we want from these people? What do we want from your king?”

His frown deepens. “To accept you as my mate and give you the honor you deserve.”

“And then what?” I gesture around us, at his apartments. “We live down here and I just ignore that all my people have been murdered and my sister enslaved?”

“What would you have me do, Candra?” His expression is patient. “I am taking things one step at a time. For now, I just want to ensure your safety.”

My safety…but no one else’s. I’ve never thought of myself as particularly altruistic, but I can’t sit back and just ignore the fact that those that lived have become slaves of the people here. “Nemeth, I saw my sister when you were in the palace earlier. She was waiting where I was. Did you know your brother Ajaxi has taken her captive? She’s his bed slave.”

Nemeth’s expression doesn’t change. “I knew she was taken as a spoil of war. I found out earlier. It is to be expected that the queen of the enemy is kept as a trophy, Candra.”

“Did they tell you that my nurse is dead?” My voice wobbles, and tears threaten, but I push them back. I don’t have time to cry about them today. When we’re safe and there’s no more to worry about, then I’ll grieve Nurse’s passing. “Did they tell you that the people left in Lios were starving and broken when they raided the city and put every male to the sword? Did they tell you that they killed my nephew Allionel? He was a baby, Nemeth. A baby. And your brothers murdered him.”

“I don’t agree with what they’re doing,” Nemeth says gently. “I would never agree to kill innocents. Soldiers are one thing, but old men and children are another.” He strokes my cheek. “But I cannot right all the wrongs from a place of no power, milettahn. You want me to race to my brother and demand that he free his captives when I cannot even convince him that my mate is my equal? That you should be safe with me instead of given to one of his generals⁠—”

I gasp. “What?”

His mouth goes flat. “It won’t happen, Candra. I won’t allow it. Don’t be afraid. But know that I’m doing everything I can. Once Ivornath listens to me, I can work to have your family freed. Until then, we must be patient. Understand?”

It’s frustrating, but I do understand. I want to stomp my foot like a spoiled little girl, but that won’t solve anything. “I hate this. I hate all of this.”

“I know. But will you trust me a bit longer? Please? Even you cannot woo someone in the space of a day. It took you over a year to seduce me.”

My mouth twitches, though I try not to smile and fail. “It’s because you’re far too honorable.”

“Then trust my honorable nature.”

“Ugh.” I do stomp my foot this time. “I hate your honorable nature sometimes. I think I’d prefer if you’d rush in and cut their throats.”

“Would you do the same to your sister?”

I glare at him, because he knows the answer to that. I might defy my sister, but at the end of the day, she’s still my family. “You⁠—”

There’s a knock at the door below.

Nemeth immediately pulls me behind him, his wings flaring protectively. I duck under his arm, worried. “Who’s here?”

“I don’t know. They cannot come in. I have my home warded. No one can come in through the front door without my express permission.” He frowns darkly at the offending door below. When there’s not a second knock, he touches my shoulder, pulling away. “Wait here, love.”

It’s not as if I can go anywhere, I want to point out. There are no stairs. But when he strides off the ledge and extends his wings, floating down, I move to the edge and kneel, peering down. I watch as he heads to the doors at the front and opens them. Even though I can only catch a glimpse of Nemeth’s head and his array of horns, I can tell by his reaction that there’s no one at the door. He reaches to pull something from a box next to the door, then frowns and tucks it under his wing.

When he shuts the door and turns away, I call out. “Who was it?”

“Just a message,” he says, and sets it down next to the door. It’s sealed with wax, a square of parchment with a splash of blood red on the center and a scrawl on the front that looks suspiciously as if it begins with a “C”.

“A message from who?”

He hesitates, and I get the sinking feeling that he doesn’t want to tell me. “Commander Tolian from Second House,” he admits after a long pause. “He is a rival. No doubt he is seeking information.”

“Is that my name on it?”

Nemeth disappears from below and a moment later he’s next to me. He helps me to my feet, rubbing my arm. “It’s nothing, Candra. I promise.”

Dragon shite it’s nothing. His reaction is bothering me.

He knows it, too. He leans in, searching my gaze with his. “Trust me for a bit longer? Please?”

I nod. How can I not? We’ve had each other’s backs from the beginning. I don’t like it, but I do trust Nemeth.

I trust him with my life.

The baby twitches and flutters all night long, making me toss and turn. Nemeth takes pity on my sleeplessness and makes me an herbal potion. “This is made from a mushroom here in Darkfell,” he tells me, adding a bit of honey to the small cup. “It is boiled and distilled down, a bit like your potion. One drop will make you sleep peacefully. Never take more than that.” He gives me a crooked smile. “Ironically, it doesn’t work on Fellians.”

“It doesn’t?” I sip the drink, and it has a sweet, pleasant taste.

“Just humans.” He kisses my brow. “Sleep well, my love.”

I curl up in bed with him, and despite my worries and the active baby, I do sleep…for a time. I wake up in the middle of the night, however, wide awake. The bed is empty.

Nemeth is gone.

Hugging the covers to my chest, I wait in the darkness. I tell myself he’s at the lavatory. Then I tell myself he’s taking a walk. Then I stop lying to myself and just wonder what he could possibly be doing in the middle of the night.

Sometime near dawn, I drift off again, and when I wake up, Nemeth is in bed with me, naked, as if he’s been there the entire time. He tugs me against him, rubbing my hip. “You feel good this morning.”

I push him away and sit up, disturbed. “Where did you go last night?”

He frowns, sitting up as well. “You woke up?”

“Your potion must not have worked well on me thanks to my Fellian blood and my curse. So spill it. Who’s the lover?”

Nemeth looks so aghast that I immediately know there’s no one else. “Why would I take a lover?”

“I don’t know. Why are you acting so suspicious? Where did you go last night?”

His expression grows defeated. “To see my brother. Or to try to. King Ivornath yet refuses to see me. I thought maybe if I went in the middle of the night, when all was quiet, that perhaps he’d relent.” Nemeth hangs his head. “I am failing you.”

I reach out and take his hands. “You’re not. Maybe I can somehow sneak in and see him. Try to wheedle my way in. I’m good at getting my way⁠—”

There’s a knock downstairs, just like yesterday.

Nemeth stiffens, and in the next moment, he disappears in a swirl of shadows. Damn it! I race towards the ledge, just in time to see him flinging another note away. This time, I clearly see my name on the missive. “That’s for me,” I call out. “Bring it to me.”

“It’s nothing, Candra. Leave it be.”

I stare down at my husband in shock. Several floors separate us, and the irony is not lost on me. I’ve never felt further away from him. Is this how Ravendor felt after she left the tower? Did her husband keep a hundred secrets—poorly—and make her wonder about his motives?

But Ravendor murdered her lover…and I am not her. I love Nemeth. I love him. I know him…or at least I thought I did. This secretive Nemeth feels like a stranger. “Why won’t you let me see those messages?”

Nemeth gazes up at me, his eyes glimmering. He looks as deflated as I feel. “Because I cannot.”

It’s impossible for me to hide my hurt. “Why won’t you talk to me, Nemeth? I feel as if I’m losing you.”

He’s standing right below me, a few floors away, and yet I feel as if we’ve become strangers all over again.

“Candra, no.” He disappears from below, and a moment later, his warm hand is upon my shoulder. He’s appeared behind me and holds a hand out. I take it automatically, but I can’t help but give him a wary look. The pain in his eyes deepens, and he takes both of my hands in his. “Please, please trust me, milettahn. Everything I do, I do for us. For our future. But you have to trust me a little longer.”

“I do trust you,” I tell him softly, searching his face. “I just wish I understood.”

“I will tell you everything when the time is right.” He presses a kiss to the back of one hand and then the other. “For now, I just ask you to put your faith in your mate. Believe in me.”

“Blindly?”

He flinches, and then his shoulders sag. “Aye, even if it must be blindly.”

I don’t understand this, any of it. I don’t understand why he won’t tell me what’s going on, or what’s so terrible a secret that he has to hide it from me. Is there a listening spell cast upon his home? Some sort of enchantment that forbids him from speaking certain things aloud? I wish desperately that I understood.

But I do know that I trust Nemeth. “Then blindly it is.”

A worn smile creases his face. He looks so tired, my beloved mate. So world-weary. When he pulls me into his arms, I hug him and then press kisses to his chest, my hand reaching under his kilt. I’m determined to make him forget, even if it’s for just a little while. To make the darkness lift from his eyes.

We make love, and afterward, Nemeth holds me against him so tightly it’s as if he fears he’ll lose me forever. I say nothing about it, of course.

But the next morning, when I find him gone again? I move to the teleportation circle and nudge the placeholder stone out of the way.

Chapter

Seventy-Eight

I’m not sure who I’m expecting to come through the teleportation circle, but I suspect it has something to do with the notes that have appeared on the door twice now. So I prepare myself. I comb and braid my hair, dressing it with gold chains twined throughout. I put on my finest Fellian gown and slippers, and I wait.

When a large, deep gray unfamiliar Fellian steps through and looks around, I get to my feet, rising from the bed, and hold myself like the princess I am. “You’ve been looking for me?”

“You’re the princess Candromeda?” he asks. “From Lios?”

I incline my chin, holding a shawl around my shoulders as I do, pretending to be chilled, but more so I can hide my belly. “Were you expecting other humans to be hidden away in Prince Nemeth’s apartments?”

He does the wing-flutter thing that tells me he’s embarrassed, and gives me a quick bow. “I have been sent by a friend. Do you know Riza?”

Even though I’m not entirely sure that this isn’t a trap, just hearing her name makes me burst into tears. “Is she with you? Is she safe?”

“Aye,” the Fellian says. “She’s been trying to contact you for the last two days. Have you not received her missives?”

I shake my head, a knot in my throat. I don’t want to betray Nemeth, but if Riza is the one sending me notes, how can he keep them from me? He knows how much I miss her. “Can you take me to her?”

He gives me an uncertain look. “I will have to fly you through Darkfell itself⁠—”

“You can teleport me,” I blurt. “I have Fellian blood.”

He looks utterly shocked. “You…what?”

“I have Fellian blood,” I state again. “Nemeth can teleport me.”

“How is this possible?”

“I shall be happy to tell you everything,” I say in my loftiest princess voice, “But only in the presence of Riza. If she’s truly here as you say, you’ll take me to her right now.”

The male nods immediately and holds out his hand. “Then come with me, princess.”

This might be a mistake. This male, for all his polite manner, might be Nemeth’s enemy. I could be walking into a trap. And yet…Riza. I think of the notes she’s sent, notes that Nemeth has withheld from me.

I trust Nemeth. I trust him with my life.

But I need to know what’s going on. So I put my hand in the stranger’s grasp and let him teleport me away.

The world tilts, my vision fogging like it always does when Nemeth teleports with me. I blink rapidly until everything settles again, and when I can see, I notice we’re in an unfamiliar place. It’s a house, but it’s unlike Nemeth’s. There’s a winding set of stairs, for one. But everything seems more spread out, more sprawled and open. There’s a stone ceiling high above me, covered with frescoes and held up by carved marble columns, and a fresh airiness to the rooms that I didn’t feel deeper inside the mountain.

There’s also the scent of salt. “Are we near the ocean?”

“Aye,” the Fellian says. “This is my family’s waterfront home. We have another deeper inside the mountain, but my mate prefers it here.”

“Your mate?” I ask as he moves forward, opening a pair of delicate double doors to reveal a balcony outside. It’s raining, because of course it is, but there’s a canopy protecting the balcony itself from the downpour.

And standing under the canopy in the gray sunlight is my once-servant, Riza.

Even though I knew I was coming here to meet her, I still gasp at the sight. There’s a gray streak in her dark blonde hair now, and it frames her face. Her hair is soft and loose instead of the tight bun she always wore back at the palace. She wears a dress similar to mine, a shawl around her arms, and she turns as the Fellian approaches.

Her gaze turns to me and she staggers, leaning against the stone railing of the balcony. “Oh…gods!”

“Riza,” I weep, surging forward to hug her. She puts her arms out and I fall into them, just as I did as a child. “It’s you!”

“Thank the gods,” she breathes, clinging to me tightly. “Oh, Candromeda. You look so different! You’re so thin and pale.” She pulls back and studies my face, cupping it in her work-roughened hands. “I don’t like it!”

I manage a wobbly laugh. “Starving in a tower will do that to you.”

She flinches. “You were starving?”

“Among other things.” I study her dear face. More than even Erynne, Riza is my family. She’s the one that taught me to be a lady, the one that read stories to me at night when I was a child. She’s the one that wiped away my tears and bandaged my scrapes. She’s the one I remember giving me my potion when I was a child, and then Nurse, who came in later on. I remember gentle hands and loving eyes. Her face is tired and a bit more time-worn, but she’s still the same beloved Riza. “I missed you so.”

“You sweet, foolish thing,” she chides. “I’m no one.”

“You’re my family,” I tell her.

Her mouth trembles and she smiles, then pulls me in for another long hug. “Tell me what happened,” she says. “Why are you here in Darkfell and not in the tower?”

So I tell her my story. I want to be brief, but there’s so much to cover. I tell her of how I ran out of supplies the first year, and how Nemeth rescued me. How we became friends and then something more. She and her mate exchange a look as I mention that we’ve married. Perhaps they’re thinking of their own vows.

I keep speaking. I tell Riza of cold and lonely stretches in the tower. The men that broke in to rob us. How we ran out of supplies when no one brought us any and we had no choice but to leave. I tell her of our journey back to Lios, the abandoned villages we found along the way, and her eyes well with tears.

“It’s been so hard for the last two years,” she says. “The villages were empty long before Darkfell came to the capital’s walls. So many starved to death through the long winter.” She shakes her head. “We were broken by the time Darkfell arrived, and some of us were glad. At least here in Darkfell, there are things to eat. Nothing can grow above. The goddess’s tears are never-ending.”

I shake my head, my hands tightly clasped in hers. We’ve moved to chairs just inside the doors, and the large Fellian lurks nearby but doesn’t speak. Instead, he brings drinks and a plate of fresh mushrooms for us to nibble on as we talk. I ignore the food, focusing on Riza. “I swear to you, we stayed in the tower up until the very last moment. It’s only been weeks since we left. I don’t know why the goddess is so angry.”

Riza exchanges a look with the Fellian and then turns back to me. “We have a theory.”

“What is it?”

She shakes her head, then gives my fingers a gentle squeeze. “I should tell my side of the story first.”

“Of course.” I try to hide my unease. I don’t know how long Nemeth will be gone, and I worry what will happen if I’m found speaking to Riza. I don’t want to endanger them…but I also don’t know if they’re my enemy or not.

If I have to choose between Riza and Nemeth, it will wound me to my soul…but I would still choose Nemeth.

Riza takes a sip of the mushroom-and-spices tea that the Fellian has brought to us. She speaks slowly, as if the memories are painful, and tells me of Lios. What it was like after I first left. My sister had fallen into a depression, only relieved by the birth of Allionel, her son.

In the beginning, no one thought there was a problem. King Lionel’s fleet had sailed off to war, and if it was a little rainy, the weather always changed patterns slightly with the arrival of the Golden Moon Goddess. Spies had reassured the queen that Princess Candromeda was safely ensconced in the tower, and all was well. Without Candra to tend to, Riza attended the queen and her baby.

And then came the army’s return, battered and broken. And the rain kept falling, turning to snow in the winter. It was a lean and hungry time, the villages emptying out as people sought food and shelter at the capital. Lionel took the men and went to war again, and the women and elderly stayed home.

And starved. Nurse died in that time, along with so many others.

The next year, Erynne gave birth to another baby, the girl Ravendor, shortly before Lionel returned once more, Darkfell hot on his heels. The enemy appeared at Lios’s gates and conquered them in a pitifully short amount of time…only to put all the males, no matter how young or old, to the sword. The women were collared and taken as slaves to Darkfell to serve the Fellian victors.

“Allionel’s death broke your sister. How could it not?” Riza wipes a tear from her eyes. “He was such a bright, wonderful boy, and the king slaughtered him because if there was an heir, the people would rise up.” She shakes her head. “Erynne wasn’t even allowed to keep little Ravendor. The baby was given away to another and your sister enslaved to Ajaxi. I was given to Tolian.”

She turns and smiles up at the Fellian hovering nearby, and he gives her a warm, affectionate look before heading to the balcony, giving us some semblance of privacy.

“And are we…glad about that?” I ask in a low voice. “Or are we wanting our freedom?”

My friend blushes, smoothing her long hair back. As she does, I see a bite on the inside of her palm, just below the thumb. “I’m happy. He’s a good man, and kind. But I know many of the women here see me as a betrayer for finding some small bit of joy amongst this misery.”

I lift my hand, pointing to my claiming bite as well. “You won’t find judgment from me.”

Her eyes brighten, crinkling at the edges. “I’m glad that you’ve found contentment, Candra. I just wish it wasn’t with one of the First House. I fear the king has lost his mind. We both fear it.” She glances past me, her gaze settling on her mate, Tolian. “Something must change. Quickly.”

“What sort of change?”

“Darkfell is cursed,” Riza says in a low voice.

“Don’t tell me,” I joke. “You have to give it a potion daily so it won’t be sick.”

Riza makes a face at my attempt at humor. “I’m serious, Candromeda. Everything that could go wrong in the last two years has. I thought we’d be safe under the mountains here in Darkfell. Even if we were captives, we’d be alive, yes?” Her smile turns brittle. “But the goddess remains displeased. If she cannot kill us with the weather and starvation, she will kill us in other ways. There is plague here.”

I swallow hard, all levity gone. “Did you say plague?”

She nods. “It began sweeping through Darkfell shortly after the human captives arrived. You’ve seen the doors with the red symbols? It’s an old Fellian symbol that marks a house stricken with plague.”

I bite back a gasp. I’ve seen those doors, all right. I’ve seen them…and Nemeth refused to tell me what they were. That he thought he knew the answer, but wasn’t sure. It’s just more that he’s been hiding from me.

“We are suffering through a purging, just as the Liosians did,” Tolian says, moving to Riza’s side. She reaches for him and he puts a large hand upon her shoulder.

I also cannot help but notice that he’s missing the first two claws upon his hand, filed down, and I feel as if I suddenly know too much about Riza’s sex life.

“The plague hits quickly,” Tolian continues, unaware of my indiscreet thoughts. “One day a person will be fine and then the next, they cannot get out of bed. Their lungs fill with fluid and by the time their skin is covered in a dark rash, it is too late. Those that are lucky die quickly. Those that are unlucky…”

“It touches Fellians and destroys entire families in the space of days,” Riza adds. “Everyone is afraid it will move to their house next. That is why the streets are empty. That is why the doors are marked. That is why people cover their faces when humans are near. They think we brought this upon them.”