Garnet pulled off the tan hood to reveal a young man with freckled skin and cool gray eyes.
A chill like ice swept through Roa.
Dax’s hands balled so hard into fists that his knuckles paled. In a heartbeat all trace of the feckless king was gone, replaced by something much more dangerous.
Recognizing the young man across the room, Essie shrieked with rage, her wings spreading, her eyes flashing. Hearing it, Torwin looked up, his eyes alighting on his friends.
“Well, my queen?” Rebekah’s voice chimed like glass as she stared down Roa from across the room. “My father caught for you a fugitive and a traitor to the throne. Aren’t you going to come and thank him?”
Dax’s fingers curled, as if itching to coil around Rebekah’s throat. He started to move.
Lirabel grabbed him, her fingers sinking into his arm. “Don’t let her bait you,” she murmured, holding him back. “Recklessness won’t get him out of this.”
No,thought Roa.It won’t.
And if she had told someone about the letter from Asha, this might have been prevented.
“I’ll deal with this,” she said.
Dax leveled a look at her. But Roa was already cutting across the room. Essie’s claws dug hard into her shoulder, her hawk eyes glaring at Rebekah.
Halfway there, Torwin’s voice rang out.
“Do you know who I belong to?” His gray eyes glinted like firelight on a sword.
A hush fell over the room. Roa paused, as Rebekah turned to him, her thin, black brows drawn into a vicious V.
“Do you know what she does to her enemies?”
For a moment, Roa caught a glimpse of the boy who’d fought hard for Asha’s heart. A boy made of sharpened steel. A boy who’d survived monsters and tyrants.
A boy with no sense of self-preservation.
“Have you forgotten that she was Iskari? Thedeath bringer?” The firelight caught in his hair, making it flame like the setting sun. “She’s sister to a king. Guardian of a dragon so fierce, he’ll incinerate an entire city.” He stared down Rebekah like she was beneath him. Like he’d stared down far more terrifying things in his life. “To me, she isbeloved.” His voice softened. “And the ones who keep me from her come to unfortunate ends.”
What are you doing?thought Roa. He’d just threatened the most cruel and cunning person in the room. The person who could most easily hurt him.
Rebekah came to stand before her father’s trophy, her cold eyes looking him up and down. “Perfect. The sooner she comes for you, the sooner I can carry out the sentence our king should have executed weeks ago.”
Everyone in the room knew what that sentence was.
Death.
It was clear on Rebekah’s face that she didn’t want to punish Asha because she believed in justice. No. She wanted to punish Asha because it would hurt Dax.
Roa stared at the regal girl before her, swathed in gold, her hair done up in braids. How had she become this? Someone who reveled in the pain of others?
“I accept your generous gift,” said Roa, trying to draw Rebekah’s venomous gaze away from Torwin. “We’ll transport him to—”
“No,” said Rebekah, her voice clipped. “My father and I will hold on to him, for safekeeping.” She looked across the room to Dax. “Tell me, my king: what is the punishment for aiding a criminal guilty of regicide?”
Dax glared back at her, silent as a stone.
“We’ll put it to the council then. Tomorrow.”
Roa’s heart sank. This was a game Rebekah was playing. And there was one last move—a move only Roa could make.
“Or perhaps,” said Roa, “you and I can discuss more favorable terms?”
