It doesn’t help that the fae have different customs and traditions the Temple frowns upon, particularly the way fae permit the existence of solari—conjurers of celestial magic stolen from the gods. In Trova, their lives are forfeit for the crime of existing, but the fae ignore all that, which infuriates the Temple’s clerics. The more the Temple grows in power and influence, the more they preach against the evils of Filusia’s ways. If Respen thought my parents were becoming too friendly with the Temple, he might seek to punish them for it.
I hear the clattering of iron from behind the throne room door and straighten. Oclanna gives me an encouraging look.
“Don’t worry, Morgana. I’m here with you.”
A deep anger aches in my chest again as the throne doors open, and twenty guards march in, escorting a man clapped in irons between them. Something in my gut lurches with recognition, my heartbeat quickening as I recognize the figure walking toward me. He slowly raises his head and meets my gaze with a pair of fathomless gray eyes I last saw in a tavern before he turned me over to my guards.
* * *
LEON
It’s almost amusing, the sheer number of precautions the humans are taking with me. They chained me in irons, flanked by ten guards on each side, before they’d even let me out of my cell. The dull weight of the metal dampens my magic to some degree, but it doesn’t stop me from being twice as strong as any human and a far more experienced fighter. I could break myself free if I needed to. But I bide my time, remembering what my brother Fairon is always chastising me for.
You just jump into things, Leonidas, without looking where you’ll land.
I’ve always landed on my feet—but that’s no reason to get cocky. Better to wait and see how this plays out, even if it means ignoring my instincts and staying put, letting the humans think they have me locked down.
Stay, gather what information you can. Learn the lay of the land before you make your move.
Which is all incredibly boring of course, but I’ve found ways to make my fun.
I throw a grin at the soldier at my left elbow. She looks like she might be sick. The man next to her starts shaking when I so much as glance at him. Even with my powers dampened, I’ve still been able to massage their fear in their dreams whenever they steal a quick nap in the dungeon between shifts. As a result, they’re so terrified of me they can barely control themselves. Their captain had to threaten to put some of them in cells before they’d follow his orders to come fetch me.
“Where exactly are we going, human?” I ask the guard.
He doesn’t answer. Maybe he can’t summon the courage to speak in my presence. I look over to another for a response. He avoids my gaze but talks.
“To see Princess Morgana, Your Highness.”
“Since when is there a princess? I thought Lady Oclanna was the queen’s closest kin.”
A queen who very inconveniently went and got herself murdered, I add to myself. It took days to even find out the crime I’d supposedly committed. It’s not surprising the humans would think of me as a killer—once upon a time, the Angevires were very grateful for my skills in that department—but it is frustrating to have my grandfather’s plans for a harmonious diplomatic visit ruined. And now we have another player in the game, it seems. Could this mysterious princess be the one pulling the strings? She’d hardly be the first to get her hands bloody for the chance to seize power.
It’s tricky to know how to play this meeting when I don’t know anything about this woman. I can only hope Alastor, wherever he is being held, is making friends. Something I have no desire to attempt even if I would benefit from trying.
The guards pull a pair of heavy doors open, and I look up at the two women standing in front of Trova’s thrones. I recognize Lady Oclanna, now wearing the bright blue pendant of the regent. And beside her…
Princess Morgana tosses her chestnut hair but otherwise shows no sign of recognition as our eyes lock. It’s quite a contrast to the last time I saw her face, when she was looking at me with such hate I’d actually felt a glimmer of guilt.
It’s impossible that the same woman from that little backwater tavern is the princess, but there’s no mistaking the light in those hazel eyes. It burns with a quiet power that makes her stand out even in a room full of people—like the brightest star in the vast night sky.
The guards drag me up to the bottom of the jade steps, then take a few steps back, hovering uncomfortably, clearly wanting to be anywhere but here. Well, that makes two of us. I take in Lady Oclanna’s expression. She looks tense, even before she focuses on me and her face twists into a grimace of disgust.
“Good afternoon,” I say, deciding to get the first word in. “Lady Oclanna and…?”
I pretend not to know the princess’s name. Her face is a closed book, and I can’t tell if she remembers me. Maybe the glamour I wore then was enough to keep her from connecting the man who threw her to the wolves in that tavern with the one standing before her now.
“Princess Morgana,” she says. “Daughter of Queen Elowen and King Alaric Angevire.”
As far as I knew, the late rulers had no children, but the Trovians wouldn’t allow a succession this sudden without her bloodline being a certainty. I have no idea why they’d keep her a secret, but I’m not sure it matters. For better or for worse, she’s the one in charge. And from the venom in her voice, it’s clear the princess wants me dead—either because she believes I killed her parents or because she needs me to take the fall for her crime.
“And you must be the Nightmare Prince,” she continues, proceeding to look me up and down, scanning every inch of me. Her gaze sends an interesting heat creeping across my body, and I take a quick moment to enjoy it before replying.
“That’s the problem with nicknames,” I say with a shrug. “They tend to follow you around whether you want them to or not.”
“I suspect you enjoy your reputation plenty, murderer,” Oclanna spits.
I focus on the regent, letting my voice drop. “I am indeed a murderer, my lady, many times over. But I am not guilty of killing the king and queen.”
