I halt mid-step, swaying, biting my lip as I glare at him. The pathetic excuse for a king. For a father.
“You will clean up and sober yourself immediately. We have important news.”
I exhale, his severity dulling the pleasant burn in my veins. “What now?”
Lanneth’s smile coils through me like poison.
“She is on her way, Daedalus.”
I roll my eyes, weary of their riddles. “Who is on their way?”
“Your wife,” Father says flatly.
For a beat, I just stare at him. “I’m aware I’m drunk, but I could have sworn you just said wife.”
“I did. We told you we would not wait much longer. If you wouldn’t choose, we would.” His gaze drops to Lanneth, who lays her long fingers over his arm like she’s claiming a prize. “And we have struck a bargain that will see our house flourish.”
The wine in my blood feels as if it evaporates all at once. My shoulders square. My hand rakes through my damp hair, jaw tightening.
“Who is she, then? What Fae house have we bound ourselves to?”
Father shakes his head. “Not Fae. Human.”
No. I must have misheard him.“
A joke, then? Why would you marry me to a human? What possible advantage could that give us?”
“All you need do is your duty, Daedalus,” he says, voice flat and cold and devoid of feeling. “Wed her. Bed her. Put an heir in her belly. Then do whatever you like with her. I couldn’t care less. But until your task is complete, you will behave. Do you understand?”
“And if I don’t want to marry this human?” My voice drops to a growl. “If I don’t behave? If I cut off her head the moment I lay eyes on her just to spite you?”
Lanneth rises, skeletal fingers unfurling toward me. Her face twists, her voice turns shrill. “You will do as he commands you!”
And I feel it. The pull. The darkness. Creeping in, coiling around my mind like smoke. She doesn’t mean my father when she sayshe. She means Gygarth. The Father Below. His presence channels through her, dripping into me, inevitable as the tide. My mind screamsno, but my body knows the truth: Gygarth is eternal. He dwells in me as I dwell in him. We are one.
I clench my fists until nails pierce skin. Bite my lip until I taste copper. Fight the void’s pull with everything I have.
“At least tell me who she is,” I snarl through my teeth.
My father and Lanneth lower themselves back into their thrones, all regal precision, clasping hands between them like they’ve already won.
“You know her,” Father says. “The girl Eryndor feared was Awakened. The human in his forest. Amara, I think. I’ve already forgotten.”
But I haven’t. Not for a single day.
Amara Tyne, the woman whose golden threads twine perfectly with mine.
No, she cannot come here. If she comes, they will discover what she is. Discover I lied. And then… she will die.
“What if I take another wife instead?” I blurt, desperate. “A Fae one. It would be disgusting to pollute our bloodline.”
Father laughs, low and cold. “You had your chance. Instead you’ve spent your nights drunk, rotting on the islands of the Untold Sea. Besides…” He leans back, sighing as though this conversation bores him. “She is already on her way.”
The words land like a blade between my ribs. “She is?”
He nods. “Any day now. So clean yourself up and prepare to greet your wife.”
I stare at him, waiting for him to come to his senses. But he’s already turned to Lanneth, falling under her touch as she strokes his cheek like she’s petting a prized hound.
