“I suppose that’s enough,” Thaan said, striking a lazy hand out and grasping the dagger from Kye’s hand. From a corner of the room I couldn’t see, Cain chuckled. Thaan didn’t laugh. He watched the dagger with bored interest as he flipped it over to examine the back.
“Do not toy with me, Maren,” he drawled. “Do not think you will outsmart me. Do not think that because you’re a princess, you outrank me. Do not make the same mistake as Aegir, believing you are anything other than a clever but expendable means to an end. You think you need tocorda-cruorwith Nikolaos in order for me to get what I need from you? Look at yourself. Tell me if I can control you without acordae.”
I’m certain he’d meant the question to be rhetorical, but my lips betrayed me, my blood intent on obeying his orders. “You can.”
He puffed a laugh through his nose, tossing the dagger to the floor. “Next time you arm yourself for battle,” he said, pausing and waiting for Cain at the door, “join the fray with more than awooden stick. In a game of wit, you lost before you stepped onto the board.”
Thaan snapped his fingers as he turned on his heel. "Sleep." Kye drooped and fell, unconscious and heavy, He crashed into my naked body, his muscles melting against mine in an instant.
“We leave for Calder City at dawn,” Thaan said. “You can stay like this for now; I will release you when we arrive at the palace. I’m sure he will be close behind us. Once he arrives, I’ll give you three days. Three days, Maren.Cordaewith the human. Or I’ll kill him.”
50
Maren
Aches came, my body sore from the strain of fighting Thaan. I laid with a dreaming Kye, unable to sleep or move my limbs, and watched the sun finally stain the ceiling with light.
He’d long since faded into soft snores, tucking his hands around me and nuzzling in. His shoulder lay just beyond my open palm. I wished I could run my fingertips down his arm, or maybe through the ends of his curls. But I lay trapped instead, isolated by the prison of my own body.
The moon-damned wedding rings might have come in handy. I wondered if they would have allowed us to speak, though I was smart enough to cut that curiosity off before delving too deeply into it. I couldn’t bear the thought of Kye in my mind, listening as I’d unraveled, punching and slamming myself against my own skin.
At least he wouldn’t remember any of it.
Thaan didn’t knock when he came. He opened the door with a low creak, not even bothering to step into the room.
Get up,he ordered into my head.Don’t wake him unless you want meincantinghim again. The mountain scouts will come to wake him soon enough.
Hatred seared into my blood as I slithered out from under Kye, careful to not disturb him. Door still open wide, Thaan sighed a breath of impatience, facing me fully, and I mentally tossed a flaming gulp of hot poison down my own throat. “You have five minutes to dress and gather what you need. Your horse is already saddled. Don’t keep me waiting.”
Kolibri flattened her ears as I approached. I wondered if she could sense that I wasn’t myself. That Thaan lurked somewhere in my blood, controlling my bones. She stiffened as I climbed onto her back, and I realized a number of horses stood saddled around us.
We were riding back with an entourage.
“Good morning, Lady Maren,” Prince Hadrian said, stopping at the roan beside Kolibri and flipping the saddle bag open. “Is Nikolaos coming to say goodbye to you?”
My blood didn’t even allow me to look directly at him. “No,” my mouth said.
He blinked at me, and I inwardly cringed, knowing etiquette demanded a much more respectful greeting toward the heir to the throne.
“Already said it in your room, then?”
“No.”
Hadrian frowned. “Does he know you’re leaving?”
“No.”
He glanced at the inn, bathed in morning light. “Did…” He scratched his jaw in a way that reminded me of Kye. “Did my father speak to you?”
The King was here? In Winterlight? “No.”
His sharp look of confusion left me sinking within myself. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes.”
Hadrian stepped away from his horse, circling around Kolibri’s side. The black mare snapped her jaws at him, and he halted a short distance away, though his eyes never left mine. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
I struggled inside myself for an answer that I could give, not that my mouth let me choose my own moon-forsaken words. “Kye is asleep.”
