Before I could argue, darkness surrounded us. A second later, we stood before the palace, and a priest was already walking down the stone steps. He was older, the heavy robes weighing down his steps as he fumbled forward.
“My Lord,” he panted, making his way toward us. “I cannot stop you, but Iimplorethat you seekreason. She is one of our oldest?—”
He wasn’t given the chance to finish his sentence. Kaiden shoved past him, knocking the man’s shoulder out of the way. “Bring her to the dining hall,” he ordered, and I didn’t bother waiting around to watch the priest’s reaction.
The best way to handle Kaiden during one of his “episodes” was to let him get the anger out almost immediately. He needed a source for the rage that spent far too long in the darkness hidden within him. I could only assume that was Ryuk’s doing.
Gods… even after he had found…
In an instant, my stomach dropped—twisting into a balled knot that made me physically sick.It makes so much sense now. Glaring into the back of his head, I wondered if he had put it together himself. Was that why he hated her so much?
And the most important question…
Did Morrigan know?
Memory
300 YEARS AGO…
My father had his dagger out, placed at the center of our table like a decorative piece.
“Is this really necessary?” I hissed under my breath, as if anyone else had been in the room with us.
“Quite,” he answered curtly, just as a gentle knock turned our heads to the door.
Before my father could move, I pointed a finger at him and narrowed my eyes. “Don’t you dare chase him away.”
His laugh was light and hearty, but his usual, intimidating demeanor seemed to slip into place as he stood. “If he can be chased away, then he’s nowhere close to worthy of my daughter.”
“He’s a lord. The gods chose him. Ryuk himself trains him at his side?—”
“And I am a father,” he interrupted. “You’ll learn quickly that the strength of the love that a parent bears for their child holds more power than that of a god. Now…”
Cracking his neck, he plucked the dagger from the table and examined it, pulling a strap of leather from his pocket and swiping it over the edges.
“Let’s put that so-called worth to test.”
Chapter 7
KAIDEN
The moment the priest entered with the seer in hand, I could feel my pulse in my ears.
The hag knew something. I could see it in the calmness of her cloudy eyes. By the time we had arrived in the tunnels, Morrigan had only been missing for almost an hour. If we had gone when I first visited this palace, Morrigan… She’d be here right now.
I crossed the room, tracking her every move as she sat down. Bending over, I gripped the top of her chair, feeling the splintering of wood as I tightened my fingers around it. “Where is she?” I demanded.
Her head tilted up to meet me, and there wasn’t even a single bead of sweat on her skin. If anything, she appeared amused by my evident anger. “Where she needs to be.”
I wasn’t thinking anymore—I hadn’t been since Morrigan first disappeared almost a month ago. I grabbed the glass of water that the priest had set on the table for the seer and chucked it at the wall, watching the glass shatter into a million little fragments. When I turned back to her, she had an unnerving smile hinted on the corners of her lips, just enoughformeto notice.
“Where is she?!” I yelled once more.
“Kaiden,” Naaz drawled in warning. “You’re slipping.”
I looked down to see my shadows slowly rising from my markings—like a small fog ghosting over my arms. Thankfully, Naaz caught it in time, and I was able to reel myself back in.
With my hand settled on the pommel of my dagger, I returned to the seer. “You lied to us.”
