It was safe to assume the Wolf of Winter was up to no good, but Killian couldn’t be bothered to stop him.
When he’d finally managed to drift off in the armchair beside the fireplace in his chambers, he’d jerked awake to the sound of light footsteps and whispers. Sometimes he hated being Fey, for his ears picked up on the quietest sounds. Hells, he could even hear a mouse fart. Sometimes his heart ached at the mere thought of how simple life would be if he aged like a mortal and died like a mortal.
Shuffling to the door was unnecessary, for he could’ve heard every rotten whisper that left the general’s mouth without budging an inch, but he liked to at leastpretendhe was ordinary.
Nocturne Wycherley was speaking to the general in a tone quieter than his. The smell of wet clothes and cedar wafting under his door was enough of a hint that they’d been outside. Their conversation told him this: they’d gone to the Temple of Ice. The only question now was why.
Carefully, he leaned against the door. Both the general and the omega had sharp hearing like his, and they would certainly take their conversation elsewhere if they knew he was listening. Honestly, it surprised Killian that they were even standing outside of his room talking to begin with.
By the sounds of it, the general was filling Nocturne in on what the captain and the king’s daughter were doing at the Temple of Ice. Hadrian and Avalon had left the House before Killian had even arrived. And to hear they were back in the realm days later, hiding out at the temple…
It didn’t make sense.
Killian listened harder.
Shortly after the king had arrived here, Kit was saying, a group of his men were instructed to retrieve a mask from the catacombs. The same mask Killian’s dear sister had been trapped inside ten years ago.
Sable.He drew a sharp breath in through his teeth.
It was his best-kept secret. If the king found out he’d failed at erasing the Dragon’s memories, he would surely have him executed. Ten years ago, Sable’s memory had been wiped. And when the king discovered her brother couldn’t be groomed into one of his lackeys, he’d orderedhismemory wiped as well. Little did the king know that Killian had been born a Shield—a person whose mind had a strong barrier whose only purpose was to protect him from spells. It also made him immune to glamours; if anyone was wearing a glamour around him to disguise themselves, he would see right through it.
And little did the king know that Killian was biding his time, waiting for precisely the right moment to exact revenge. He’d searched for Sable for the past ten years, discovering only recently that a curse had bound her to a mask—amaskof all things. In the months after he’d made this discovery, he’d taken every opportunity that arose to search for it, tearing apart the House of Fire and all the king’s favorite haunts, but he always came up empty—and his heart emptier than before.
Sable. Killian closed his eyes as he tried to remember her face.
The mask had beenherethis whole time, in the very place where he and Sable had been raised. Right under his nose—literallybeneath his feet, in the last place he would’ve thought to look. Killian felt stupid for not thinking of it before.
When this whole mess had first started, he was convinced the king had brought the mask with him back to the Realm of Fire. It only made sense; why would he leave something so valuable on the other side of Elderyn?This…this, he still had to find out.
The Wolf and the omega concluded their conversation, their footsteps picking up again as they strode down the corridor. But Killian had heard enough.
Avalon had found the mask. Sable lived, and every time the king’s daughter put on the mask, she couldsee.
Killian’s vision blurred with tears. Knowing that she was still in there was enough to make his knees weak with relief. But hearing that Hadrian and Avalon planned to set her free?
Nine Hells, this called for a celebratory drink.
~
Nocturne shivered as she walked to her rooms. The Wolf of Winter was at her side, his brow creased in thought. He’d insisted on escorting her, though she’d tried to refuse.
A million questions were clawing at one another inside her head, but her tongue couldn’t form words. What happened out in the temple tonight… It called for an explanation. And just as they reached her doors, she steeled herself, spun on her heel, and spoke.
“Why did you do it?”
The general blinked heavily, as if waking from a deep sleep. “Do what?”
“Why did you help the captain and the princess?” she clarified. “Why not turn them in, as the king would’ve expected you to do?” In her head she amended,Why not turn them in, asIhad expected you to do?Kit had explained everything to her, though it didn’t answer the question of why someone with a reputation like his—someone known in every realm and beyond for being the hateful monster he was—would bother helping the innocent.
Kit’s face betrayed nothing. “I do very little of what the king expects of me.”
She was starting to see that. “How does helping them benefit you? If the king found out, he’d certainly mount your head on a pike.” Her words were sharp as daggers, but she was furious. How true were the rumors circulating the realms? The very rumors that had chilled her blood and had her cowering every time the general glanced her way since she’d arrived here. In the weeks in which she had dwelled in this House, the behavior he’d allowed her to see defied every one of these rumors. Therehadto be more to this.
“It doesn’t benefit me personally so much as it might benefit the world,” said Kit, his gaze distant. Nocturne waited for him to explain, her fingers curling into fists at her sides. He glanced at her fists, and then at her face, searching her eyes. “When Sable was free, she possessed an insane amount of power—more than anyone has possessed in centuries. She was the only Fire Fey born in four hundred years. Before she was captured, she was a symbol for the world. She was a reminder that, as long as there are people willing to fight for what they believe in, the world might still stand a chance.”
Nocturne swallowed, her eyes burning.
The general took a step toward her. He drew in a ragged breath, briefly closing his eyes. He stood so close, Nocturne could feel his breath on her face, and when he opened his eyes, she could make out every fleck of silver and gold in the irises. There was an intensity behind them that made her knees shake. “I want them to unleash Sable upon the powers that be. So that what remains of the free world might again rise against the dark.”
