“I have no desire to play with a fae lord’s seconds,” he seethed.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
ASHLYN
When Eva brought pastries and tea, I indulged in them.
Eating was the only thing I could do to pass the time—and maybe if I was lucky enough, whatever they put in my food would numb the pain I felt.
I didn’t want to feel any of it.
I had taken everything from Fyn with just a kiss.
Soren knocked on the door. When I cracked it, he pushed it wide open.
“You can’t be in here.” The irony was too much to bear.
“Since when does propriety matter to you? Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?” He eyed the plate I had wiped clean. “Eating again, I see.”
“The good news is that within the hour I should be utterly complacent.”
“There’s nothing in your food. I would hate to endure the wrath that a calming tonic stirs in you.” Calming tonic—it sounded so harmlesswhen he said it.
But it wasn’t. It was my undoing. Maybe I was never meant to be calm. “Have you gone to see him?”
“By him, I assume you mean your fae lord?” He turned the chair and straddled it as he sat.
“Is he hurt?” I asked.
“His accommodations could be more comfortable, but he appears to be in one piece.” He scanned me, waiting for my response.
“When will he be sent back to Nythrel?” I would out the king’s lie if I needed to, use it as leverage, even if I outed myself.
“You heard my father.”
“I don’t believe it.” It was a bold accusation to make—to say that a king had lied, but I made it anyway.
“There’s something about you. I can never quite place my finger on it.” He slid his hand down the back of the chair. Streaks remained where his fingers had been.
“I read people well.” I said it like a threat, because it was. It was the only thing I had left to threaten anyone with.
He wouldn’t suspect me of magic—of the starlight that cursed me with whatever this was.
“Yet you miss so many things. Much to your own detriment.” He pinched the fabric between his fingers. “And now you’re left with very few options.”
I didn’t require more reminders. “I am well aware.”
“If things could be different.” Soren peered around the room. “If you could return with him, would you?”
It wasn’t a question to entertain. “You’re enjoying this far too much. Him in there. Me in here.”
“Paint a picture for me, Ashlyn. What would your life be like there?”
Borrowed clothes. Borrowed space. Borrowed everything. “Much simpler.”
“But you’re a princess. It’s only natural you want this life over anything that could be given to you there.”
This back and forth was getting more ridiculous by the moment. “I don’t see why it matters now. The pact’s been finalized. No other future exists.”
