Page 148 of Fate of the Sun King

If Tyr gives the order and I’m forced to reveal Lor, then Tyr’s life will be forfeit. If I’d known this was the potential outcome, I would have told her to run and hide forever.

“Shut up,” Atlas snarls. “I should have done this a long time ago.”

He points the blade at his brother. “Say it! None of your bullshit, Tyr. Say it.”

Tyr opens his mouth, and I try to object again, but it’s no use.

“You will tell them where the girl is,” Tyr says, his voice soft but steady. “And you will find her and bring her here.”

The words fall over the room, landing on each of us like a noose coated in acid.

Finally, Atlas lets me go, shoving me so hard I stumble and trip, landing on the hard stone. Several warders go to help me, but Atlas stops them.

“No,” he says, and they freeze into stillness. “Leave him to squirm on the floor like the worm he is.”

Atlas approaches and crouches down on his haunches. “Where is she, Gabriel?”

The pressure of my tether cinches around my heart, forcing me to give an answer.

“In Aphelion,” I say, and every single person in the room reacts.

“Where in Aphelion?” Atlas asks with a feverish light of triumph in his eyes.

“In the Eighth,” I say. “Staying in the house of some High Fae.”

He furrows his brows and cocks his head. “Who is she with?”

Fuck. I was really hoping he wouldn’t ask that.

“With her brother and sister,” I say, praying he’ll leave it at that. Keeping Nadir’s presence a secret feels like giving them a chance.

“She got them out of Nostraza?” he asks.

Lor said Nadir helped liberate her family, but I don’t technically know who got them out, so I nod, hoping that’s close enough to the truth. But pain wrenches against my ribs, causing me to gasp.

“Who else is with her?” Atlas says, picking up on my discomfort.

“The Aurora Prince,” I choke out, and that answer definitely confuses Atlas. Thankfully he doesn’t ask me why, but then I recall my conversation with Nadir in the café.

If he’s in a relationship with Lor and Atlas thinks he’s going to take her, then this will turn into a bloodbath before this is over. The Aurora Prince doesn’t take kindly to anyone interfering with what’s his. Will it be enough to protect her, though?

Atlas leans in, baring his teeth. “You’re going to go and retrieve her right now. All of you. Is that understood? If you have to kill the others, then do so. I don’t care.”

My shoulders sag. I have no choice anymore. Even if I resist, the others can’t. Even if they could, they don’t understand what’s at stake.

“I don’t know why you’ve been lying to me, Gabriel,” Atlas says as I struggle to my feet. “But understand there will be consequences for this.” I nod as our gazes meet. I know what those consequences will be. What they’ve always been.

“Go,” Atlas orders, and then we file out of the room. I look back, hating the idea of leaving Tyr alone with Atlas, but for now, the true king is safe. If we return with Lor, then I don’t know what happens next.

When we emerge at the base of the tower, the warders turn to me. They won’t begrudge me for my lies. They won’t judge me. They understand enough to know why I had to do it. They, too, find ways to work around their leashes. I’m just not sure any of them has ever had this much to lose.

I pass through the line of them, saying nothing as I march through the palace before we spill into the crowded streets.

My brothers march behind me silently, passing a line of wagons carting in supplies for the ceremony. We’ve probably scraped half the countryside clean of food and alcohol and everything else needed to pull off this sham of a bonding.

There are people in every direction we walk, celebrating and drinking without a care in the world. I want to scream at their obliviousness.

The noise swells around us as we walk, ten silent specters passing through the boisterous crowd. Some people stop to gawk, but most are too drunk or having too much fun to care that we travel in their midst.