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“Dealt with?” I gaped at the broad expanse of his back. “She? You mean a woman attacked me? I’ve done nothing!” It couldn’t be—no, that wouldn’t make sense. Would it? It had to have been a guard, or a spectator.
The king exhaled a short, humorless laugh. “I wouldn’t say you’ve done nothing,” he said. “You’ve managed to do something no one else has been able to do.”
“What?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve caught my attention.”
A knock on the door interrupted us before I could fully process that statement. The king turned around and exhaled, shaking his head like he was vaguely irritated—like there was more he wanted to say. I balled my hands into fists in my bloodstained lap. Capturing the king’s attention went against my entire plan. The plan was to be dull, be boring, be adequate, and then get sent home. And yet everything that I seemed to do in Efra was drawing me closer and closer to him.
I swallowed. It didn’t help that I was curious about him too. About the weight of his gaze on me—and whatever he was about to say.
He strode to the door and pulled it open. A slim man with dark hair cut close to his skull, dressed in the guard’s dress uniform, stood with Lady Glennis at his side. Lady Glennis looked like she’d just been pulled from her own quarters, in a fine but plain dress and her hair hastily pinned back.
“Roth,” the king said, waving them both over the threshold and into the room. “What’s the update?”
“Sire, the woman—she’s dead.”
The king furrowed his brow in shock.
“Dead?” I asked. “Was she executed?”
“Executed?” Roth asked with a sneer. “She was with our healers. There was nothing they could do.”
“She had a single knife wound,” I said. “How is that possible?” The blade was small—the gash had been deep but not fatally deep. I hadn’t even nicked an artery. The blood on my dress was the dark oozy blood of veins.
“We should be asking you that, Lady Reyna,” Lady Glennis said in a clipped voice. “Since you were the one who struck her with a poisoned blade.”
The king watched me carefully, his glass still in hand.
The blood drained from my face. Poisoned. So that was why Barion had insisted I not touch the blade. I simply thought it was the weapons safety he’d drilled into me since I was a little girl. But no—it was poisoned, and he hadn’t told me. I hadn’t intended to kill her, just stop her—but would I have killed her with the blade alone if I’d had to?
Yes, I realized. I would’ve done whatever it took to protect myself. My wolf and I were aligned in that way. Her instincts had pushed me to carry the knife with me, and if I hadn’t listened, my attacker would’ve torn out my throat without remorse.
“I was attacked without provocation,” I said. I met the king’s gaze steadily. “She tried to kill me. I defended myself.”
“A guest of my court cannot be carrying weapons like that,” the king said. “A scuffle should not result on the death of a wolf.”
“A scuffle?” I balked. “She tried to kill me! If I hadn’t defended myself—”
“A wolf should always defend herself,” the king said. “If a wolf threatens you, meet them as a wolf.”
Anger flared in me. I had just been attacked for no reason in the king’s own manor, and somehow I was the one who was in trouble? “Oh, forgive me for not adhering to the Nightfall code of contact for unexpected life-or-death battles in the library,” I snapped. “Perhaps you should go over those rules with your guests before you send assassins or jealous girlfriends to pick us off.”
“Lady Reyna!” Glennis hissed.
I didn’t care if it was rude. The king wasn’t going to kill me—but maybe this would be the thing that finally made him send me home. Whatever mysteries Efra had to offer, it wasn’t worth risking my life.
The king bared his teeth. His wolf surged to the surface; his eyes gleamed golden as his canines elongated in a sudden show of dominance. He didn’t shift, but the closeness of it made my own wolf whine and cower internally. The memory of his wolf form in the ballroom, sniffing me carefully, made my nape prickle.
“You speak treason,” he snarled around the shape of his fangs. “I would never endanger you.”
My wolf whined again, begging me to back down, but I was too frustrated to listen to her. It felt like all he’d done was endanger me!
“If I’m speaking treason and unintentionally breaking rules,” I said curtly, “perhaps it’s best if you just dismiss me back to Daybreak.”
“Your Highness—” Lady Glennis started, but the king simply held up his hand.
“I have my reasons for keeping you in this competition, Lady Reyna,” the king growled. He turned suddenly to Lady Glennis and Roth. “You’re dismissed,” he said curtly.
