Lucan cleared his throat and crouched in front of me, putting his face in line with mine. “Tell me, Maeve, how do you sleep?”
“What?”
“Are you prone to nightmares?”
I scoffed with a shake of my head.
“You enjoy journaling, is that correct?”
I didn't answer until my scalp burned as my hair was tugged once more. “Fucking hell,” I swore in pain. “Yes. Why?”
“I should be thanking you, because all of your pathetically sad admissions and shredded book pages have been quite helpful in this process.” Lucan shook his head in false disappointment. “You should know better than to write things on paper that you wish to keep private.”
My expression turned dull. He found my journal entries? I had written everything down on those loose pages of parchment.Everything. “When I saw you in the soldiers’ quarters, before the winter gala, you were going to break into my room?”
“Goodness no. I would never invade a young woman's privacy like that.” He glanced up. “Calvin however does not uphold the same moral standards. It was quite easy for someone so charming to convince a house maiden to create him a master key. When you moved to the soldiers’ quarters, it got even easier for him. He even helped you pack. How kind.”
I was lost for words, remembering the way my papers were crumpled when I first moved rooms—like someone had looked through them.
Lucan rose to his feet. “Prince Hawthorne, huh?” He leaned back against the wall. “Never would have expected that. Does his father know? I can't imagine that would go over well.”
Rampant palpitations took over the normal rhythm of my heart.
“What were you doing in the king's study when we found you?” I asked, knowing damn well he wasn't gathering data. “You said you were going to see the duke when you left, but Duke Sinclair was at the meeting in the throne room…you weren’t.”
“Funny you should ask. That actually had to do with you! What are the odds?” Lucan responded facetiously. “I was planning to leave him some evidence of your failure to wield—glad to see you're gaining some weight back, by the way—in hopes that Aldous would just hand you over. But you and yourboyfriendinterrupted me. I planned to go back at a later time, but decided it was too risky after you two saw me.”
“So why would you give me Ridgeroot at the trials if you were just going to try and get King Hawthorne to hand me over?”
“Because you very well would have died at the trials without the Ridgeroot, and then you would have been of no use to anyone.”
“Huh. Well, you may be interested to know that I never even took the damn capsule. I’m no cheater,” I spat.
“My dear, utilizing your resources is not cheating. But I suppose maybe you aren't as weak as I thought. Although I would have expected someone with power such as yours to have won their first trial. Never mind that now, though.”
“What do you want from me?” I asked again, anger coating my tongue like sap.
“I already told you.”
The man clearly was no fool. He wouldn't just trust that I would keep this information to myself if I declined his offer. No. If Lucan was telling me all this, then he only planned for one of two things. Either I’d give myself to Draemor or give myself to death.
Despite my best efforts, the gash on my elbow continued to leak thick, crimson blood. If I needed to reach for my dagger—which seemed like a likely possibility—I would have to let the bleeding flow freely.
“And if I decline?” I asked, though I dreaded the answer.
Lucan's features contorted him into someone almost unrecognizable as he bent down in front of me again. This was not the man who had helped ease my nerves in the throne on my very first day here. This man was corrupt. Malicious.
“It would be very unwise of you to decline,” he hissed, his breath smelling like smoke when it slithered its way into my nostrils.
Although panic threatened to break my composure, I held on to every bit of it that I could. “I did not ask if declining was wise, I asked what would happen if I did,” I spat, causing him to abruptly pull back.
“Let me rephrase,” Lucan glowered at me while wiping the moisture off his face. “Youarecoming with me to Draemor.You can come willingly or forcefully. That, I’ll leave up to you.”
I'd hate myself for it later, but I considered the offer. I'd already been the cause of so much bad in Caelestis, and this could solve the problems of so many.
If I was gone, Sebastian wouldn't have to worry about watching over me. He wouldn't have tokillanymore because of me. Sawyer would no longer have to face the person who was vicariously responsible for the death of the woman he loved. If I went, the lives of those I cared for would no longer be in jeopardy.
But there was also the possibility that nothing changed. Beaumont could still declare war and my loved ones could still be hurt even if I went with Lucan. Their best chance at survival was if I stayed.
