Page 152 of Fate of the Sun King

“Do you have a better idea then, Heart Queen?”

“Not yet,” I say. “I’m thinking.”

“We drug the guards’ food and water,” Mael says, and before I can object to that, he raises a hand to silence me. “Just enough to knock them out, not to kill them. Okay?”

I close my mouth and nod. Okay. I can live with that.

“Do you think Willow can access the guards’ kitchen?” Etienne asks. “I have something she can use. It won’t affect everyone, but if we hit them at breakfast, it should knock out enough at the right time.”

“What about your magic?” I ask Etienne. “Could you shift us inside? Or get in and poison the food yourself?”

He shakes his head. “There are safeguards against that,” he says. “Otherwise, anyone with similar magic could slip in and out. It would be too dangerous without wards in place. Every stronghold in Ouranos is protected similarly.”

I knew that would be too easy.

“What else does the letter say?” Tristan asks.

Nadir continues reading, and I notice his shoulders tense.

“Father is here,” he says to Amya before he looks at me.

“What is he doing here?” she asks, echoing everyone’s confusion. “Atlas invited him? I thought we were all banished.”

“Are they working together?” I ask. Cloris spilled our secrets to both kings. Have they found some common ground?

Nadir shakes his head. “If they are, then Father must plan to double-cross him. If we know Atlas wants to bond with you, then how would my father use you? He’s not going to share you.”

“Father can’t bond to Lor,” Amya says.

“No,” Nadir replies. “Not only because it’s impossible but because I’d destroy him.”

“Is it possible for Atlas to bond to Lor now?” Tristan asks. “What with the whole mate thing?”

Nadir shakes his head, a wicked grin sliding onto his face.

“No, he cannot.”

I’m not sure why that answer surprises me so much, but it makes sense. The Mirror refused to allow me to become queen of Aphelion, because it claimed I had another destiny to fulfill, but what if it was about more than being the heir to Heart?

“Your father,” I say, grabbing Nadir’s arm as a flash of clarity finally coalesces in my head. Ever since Cloris mentioned the arks, it’s been nagging me.

“What?” he asks.

“He’s looking for the ark too.”

Our gazes meet, and his head shakes imperceptibly.

“What are you talking about?”

“Our last night in the Keep when I was talking to Vale. He said he’d been tasked with searching for an object of great power. He called it an ark.”

The entire room goes silent enough to hear a pin tumble to the ground.

Nadir groans and rubs his face. “You’re sure that’s what he said?”

I nod. “I dismissed it at the time because I was so sure he was going to tell me about the Crown. And then with everything else that’s happened, I forgot about it.”

“Fuck,” Nadir says.