Page 136 of Taken By Shadows

It was obvious why Tymon wanted it. He wanted to protect and provide for his people. Sapphine wanted it for the repayment of her marriage to Tymon. It felt so cold to see it that way, but there was no other way to read it. And Gloriya had an army if they chose to use it.

Kaed … He’d wanted to give it to his father. Whatever history was between him and Tir, it was painful enough to have taken me in the hopes of ending whatever he endured under his father.

My worry was that this news, the faebane, could only be contained for so long.

And there would be more who would lay claim to the buried power. Buried, for now. I felt my secret thrum with power as I held it close in my hands.

Green magic rippled as Gavrin removed the barrier.

Before leaving, Tymon said he would speak to the council on Kaed’s behalf. “I should have been there.” Tymon shook his head. And I wondered at the damage Sapphine had done. It wasn’t her fault Kaed had ended up in the Cage, but I couldn’t picture her being the slightest bit perturbed by the event. And I didn’t think she would be pleased to learn that her husband would now take Eryk’s place as Kaed’s representative in the city.

“Has anyone seen Audrie?” I glanced between everyone.

“I’ll find her.” Gavrin and Denora spoke at the same time, and the tension was worse than everything that came before.

And then I was alone with Kaed.

A hum of something powerful and dark swirled in the air between us. But Kaed’s darkness wasn’t anything like that which was encroaching from the Corners. His felt beautiful and comforting like the night sky. And entirely too vast to understand.

Whether Hart decided to check Viverna in search of Kaed’s source was still up for debate.

The world had gotten far more complicated than my own problems. And I was in the middle of a swirling mass of fae agendas.

Chapter forty-two

As if Kaed wanted to reclaim the small moment of peace we’d had before now, he brought me back out to the orange grove.

“How did all of this just happen?” My question wasn’t for anyone to answer, but I felt Kaed’s presence tense beside me.

“My father will do whatever he feels will benefit the Crown.” His voice was strained. “His family above anything else.” Kaed’s jaw sharpened as he held it rigid. “He has always demanded I do anything I can to protect our family. He has pushed me to be better. To be stronger. To be more. Ever since my mother …” He swallowed and darted his eyes away. “My failure is a failure of the Crown. And even if Tir lives for another thousand years, he will force the weight of the Crown on me every day until then.”

The gravity of that admission felt like lead in my blood. A few weeks ago, my biggest worry had been leaving my tiny village. Dismissing Bray’s proposal he’d flung at me had been the biggest upheaval of my life.

Until I met Kaed.

I made to leave, to sleep through this dream, but Kaed took my hand. Sparks danced up my skin where he touched me.

“Come with me. Please.”

It was the plea that undid me. And his hand on mine.

Arguing with those alone was hard enough.

But his eyes were not swimming in memories or hurt. They were hungry.

We’d left something unfinished from earlier. How had that been this afternoon? It felt like it could have been days ago that Kaed’s lips grazed mine.

He led us farther into the garden. The sky had changed from azure and sunflower yellow to a dusty blue as twilight set in, followed closely by heavy storm clouds.

Kaed pulled me by the hand as he vanished into a wall of ivy. Not vanished, but through a shrouded door that led out onto a quiet street beyond the house.

Once outside, Kaed sealed the door, and my eyes struggled to see where we’d just come from.

His lips twitched upwards. “It makes you believe there’s nothing to be seen.”

I looked harder at where the door had been and where it had vanished. As I focused on the bricks and mortar, I could just make out the frame of a door. It blended with the stone as if it were made from it rather than wood.

“Useful if someone doesn’t know what to look for. But know it’s there and you’ll see past the glamour.”