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“It was while I was cloaked that I just so happened to be in a hallway your father was passing through, and here’s the thing, Kai. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but the man I saw is not your father.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that I once worked with your father quite often, about a half century ago, and while he was never quite a humble man, he wasn’t that. I can’t explain it because I understand that is his body. I can still feel my fealty to his blood thrumming through his veins. But I am telling you, on the life of my wife and myself, that whoever is sitting on your throne is not your father.”
Kai made a contemplative sound, and I had to admire how he kept his voice steady as he responded.
“I am hearing what you’re saying, but I don’t know quite what to make of it. My father is my father but also isn’t my father?”
“I know it doesn’t make sense, but I know it to be true, and that’s why I came here. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was possession akin to a demon, but I also know without a doubt he isn’t exuding any arcane energy from the nether realm.”
Wait.
Wait a gods’ damned minute.
My eyes went wide, and my pulse picked up as my mind rapidly slotted several puzzle pieces right into place. Possession. The king was not himself, but also was himself, as if an entity outside of him was puppeteering his body.
An entity that made him far crueler. An entity that made him crave violence. Something that made him hungry for power in a way that couldn't be satiated.
Ravenous greed.
Unchecked cruelty.
My mind flashed back to that assassin and the way my curse had fully enveloped the inside of his body, only being drawn out when I had gone in and forced it to.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit, shit!
Swallowing hard, I looked to the enchantress, knowing my face was about as pale as a sheet.
“Yvonne?” I said, my voice little more than a croak.
“Yes?”
“What if…” I hesitated, all too aware of the weight of what I was about to suggest. “What if the king is possessed?”
“As I said, I would have been able to sense demonic influence. Euthalia and I once had to fight an entire horde off from an accidental portal when we were first courting.”
“I don’t mean by a demon.”
“Then, what?” Kai asked, squeezing my hand reassuringly. “I can tell you have something to say, Ayla. You know you can always voice your thoughts with me. What do you think could be possessing my father?”
I swallowed and forced myself to put as much steel into my voice as I could muster. “I think it’s the Shrouded Shriek.”
Chapter 24
Kai
I focused on keeping my breathing steady as the tiny boat we were on rocked violently in the waves around Lambert. After our hurried escape the first time, I hadn’t really expected to be back so soon, and certainly not without an army.
Yet that was exactly what I was doing.
It turned out we didn't need the council, and we didn't need to gather enough of a force to openly rebel against my father. All we needed was a small smuggler ship to get us to the fae underground network, and the revelation that my father had possibly been taken over by the greatest enemy to all of Camdaria.
I still couldn't quite wrap my head around it, as there were things that didn't make sense. If my father was well and truly taken over, why was he putting any resistance up against Vekas at all? One would think that with the Shrouded Shriek puppeteering the king that he’d have made us surrender ages ago, or even set things up for our people to be massacred in a way that would go down in legend.
What long game could the Shriek be playing?
