By the time they rowed onto the stony shore, the sky had shifted to near darkness.
Draevyn looked to the others and then back to the palace. “Let’s go.”
The elven castle loomed like a polished blade ahead, all silver towers and violet banners flapping high against the night’s wind. From the woods just beyond the castle’s outer edge, shadowed shapes lingered in the underbrush as Jak and the other pirates crouched low, silent and waiting.
Boots crunched over gravel as Draevyn walked toward the gates, flanked by Sam and Tommy. He kept his shoulders high, his strideunbroken, trying to act casual and like a man who had every right to be there.
Like an advisor.
Would this work? If it didn’t, they would be fucked. But if what the man said was true, and Atlas hadn’t disclosed Draevyn’s treachery to the realm yet, then this would be his only chance.
As they approached the grand palace of House Everhartt, guards appeared at the gates. Swords and several smaller blades were strapped to their backs and at their hips, but Draevyn knew those weren’t the weapons they would use if it came to that.
The elvens would use their mind-weaving magic.
One stepped forward, his voice sharp. “State your name.”
Draevyn’s steps halted several feet before the male. “I hardly think that will be necessary,” he said, his tone irritated.
He held out the palm of his hand, and flames burst from his fingertips, flickering in the darkness.
The two guards exchanged a wary glance. “We weren’t expecting you,” one of them admitted. “King Rowe arrived several hours ago. Where have you been?”
It was odd hearing the titleKing Rowein reference to his brother.
Draevyn lowered his hand. “Finished my duties down at the docks. Forgive me for taking longer than I intended. But the armada still must be led, even while being Advisor to the King.”
Sam and Tommy shifted behind him. He sensed their uneasiness as the lies continued to pour from his mouth.
The guards turned toward one another while murmuring, clearly unsure of what to do with him. Between every other word, they eyed his men like they might sprout fangs.
Draevyn desperately worked to calm his nerves as the tension stretched. He didn’t fidget or blink. Just stood there, glaring at the guards.
Finally, the gate creaked open.
“Fine,” one of them muttered as he stepped aside. “But your men stay close. There will be no wandering.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Draevyn said smoothly, though his eyesflicked toward the spires above. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat, ignoring his racing heart.
Where are you, Wildfire?
“I will escort you to King Everhartt’s throne room so you can meet with your king,” the guard finished.
As they stepped inside the walls, Draevyn glanced back toward the woods, where two round, golden eyes shone brightly, high above in the branches. He knew they were all watching, and Jak was now listening for a possible way in.
Draevyn had never set foot inside the elven castle, but the moment he passed beneath its vaulted archways, he understood why songs had tried and failed to capture its beauty.
Moonlight filtered through crystalline windows high above and was the only source of light as it bathed everything in a silvery sheen. Vines laced the polished marble columns, reaching up toward the impossibly high ceilings as their blossoms seemed to glow. The halls of the palace were still and serene, the silence feeling impossibly loud as if the fortress itself was watching him and listening.
It set him even more on edge.
Each step he took echoed too loudly in his ears as Sam and Tommy remained quiet and alert. Several more guards joined them as they entered, forming a loose half-circle around them as they walked. He’d given them no reason to detain him, but they still looked at him like a weapon not yet drawn.
Perhaps that’s exactly what I am.
His eyes scanned over every inch they walked, his mind moving impossibly fast.
Most of the windows were too narrow to escape. Several servants’ doors were left unguarded, but where did they lead? The further they walked, the deeper the knot in his chest grew. And every step he took brought him closer to his gilded lie, but most importantly to her.
