“I didn’t say I didn’t leave a few things out.” A flicker of remorse runs over Kyrian’s face. “But the emotions, those were real Chaos. Hurting you was never my intention.”
He sounds sincere. But I don’t want to believe him. I don’t want to feel the ache in his words, I don't want to let it touch any of the parts inside me that haven’t already been razed to ash. But the truth is that it does. It touches everything. Even in light of the laid bare truth, the connection I have to these males runs soul deep.
“Right,” I lean away from him. “Hurting me was never the intention. Just kidnapping me and forcing me to turn on my kingdom?” The words taste bitter. “Let me guess, Logan is a prince of something too?”
“No,” says Kyrian. “He-”
Before he can finish, the tent flap rustles open, letting in a burst of cold air and a smug looking messenger. "Prince Theron requests the pleasure of your company tonight,” she informs the four of us, placing a large platter with fruit, nuts and thin very raw meat slices onto a table. “I am at your disposal to assist preparations in any way I can.”
"Splendid." Kyrian flicks his hand in a gesture of dismissal, the genial set of his face crumbling the instant the messenger slips out. He and Kai trade a long look—a silent, sharp exchange that saturates the air until it feels like the tent’s canvas might tear from the growing tension.
“Do you think Theron truly sent a messenger to Slait?” Kai asks at last, voice low.
“Absolutely.”
Kai swears under his breath, then turns to me with the kind of patience that looks like it costs him. “Whether or not you trust anything we just told you, understand that on this side of the wards, it is taken as truth. The only thing keeping you alive—and in one piece—is our claim of impending marriage vows. Theron won’t risk provoking the Slait court by killing off a royal bride, and my paragon of perfection will protect a beloved mate, whether or not she’s politically convenient. Which is where the catch lies.”
“There is a catch? Because it all seems so straight forward and logical otherwise.”
Kai ignores me. “While Prince Theron couldn’t care less whether or not you’re thrilled to be shackled to me for eternity, my family will turn the universe inside out to ensure they aren’t being played. If there is even a hint that our looming nuptials are a sham?—”
“—the consequences will be bloody,” Kyrian finishes, voice flat. “And not just for you.”
Chapter 7
Rowan
"So you are saying dinner for the happy couple isn't optional," Ellie says helpfully, grabbing an apple from the platter. The wet crunch of fruit makes my stomach rumble but I’m too anxious to eat.
"Pretending you're betrothed is our only shield at this point," Kyrian confirms. He holds a piece of cheese out to me, not relenting until I take it. "And by betrothed, I mean madly in love, can't keep your hands off each other like paid entertainment. Like he’s hung the moon and stars specifically for your viewing pleasure, while you’d follow him barefoot across broken glass just to fetch his slippers.”
"That's just disturbing," Ellie mutters.
Kai growls, showing his canines.
Ellie snorts and quickly covers her mouth with her palm. As if that helps anything.
Kyrian grins. “You know, I'm starting to see the upside to this insanity.” He turns to me. “Because what our fearless leader might have failed to mention is that he’s hung not just your life on this acting prowess you both possess in spades, but the possible war between two fae courts. So this will very much be ajointeffort of love and devotion. Please eat, Chaos. Death isn’t a good color for you.”
"So this is the part where I just...what? Smile adoringly at you and pick out table settings?" My voice comes out sharper than I intended. I can’t believe I’m entertaining this notion, but I can’t dismiss it either. Not unless I come up with a better plan, of which I’m fresh out.
Kai‘s shadows wrap around my wrist, forcing the cheese toward my mouth. "This is the part where you decide whether you want to keep your hands attached to your body."
I glance down at my fingers, flexing them unconsciously then finally eat the cheese. It tastes incredible. Kyrian hands me another piece, and an apple to go with it. For kidnappers, these two are curiously concerned about my nutrition. And if Kyrian is correct about Kai having risked a declaration of war to keep me in one piece—it all begs a question I should have asked well before now. “Why are you doing this?”
“Which this?” Ellie asks, raising her hands when everyone turns to her.“What? It’s bad enough that those two talk in circles, without you doing it as well.”
I redouble my glare but clarify. “Why did you launch this alchemy kidnapping scheme to begin with? Who ordered it? What do you—or they, I suppose—want from me?”
“The mission to find and kidnap a Spire alchemist was sanctioned by neither fae court,” Kai says curtly.
“You all were freelancing?”
“Correct.”
I try to run my hand through my hair, but it's too tangled to let my finger pass and I settle for rubbing my temples. With the food, my head pounds marginally less, but I know that good fortune will run out eventually. Without my tonics I am every inch the walking disaster my mother says I am. “And what is it you all hoped to get from my esteemed company?”
Kyrian looks at Kai, but Kai’s ice blue gaze doesn’t waver from mine. “To convince you to create an antidote. By any means necessary.”
