Page 61 of Fate of the Sun King

“I’ll direct people to the water then,” he said, and she nodded.

“Yes. Do that.”

He nodded and then turned to leave. She watched until he cleared the doorway, and then, with a heavy sigh, lay back down on her soft divan and closed her eyes.

She was listening to the sounds from the beach and the soft sighs of the courtiers when a cool breeze pulled her eyes open.

The scene around her had changed. She no longer lay on her divan but on a hard, foreign surface.

Above her curved an arched ceiling—at least it seemed like a ceiling, except that it looked like the sky. Most importantly, the air was cool. Blissfully, beautifully cool.

She sighed and brushed her arms and legs against the marble until someone cleared their throat, alerting her to the fact she wasn’t alone.

Quickly, she shot up and looked behind her to find several figures she recognized.

Amara, the queen of Heart. Terra, the king of Tor. And though she’d never met him, she assumed the man with the long chestnut hair must be Hawthorne, the Woodlands King.

She pushed herself up as they watched her, and she became conscious of how little she was wearing.

“What is going on?” she asked as she tiptoed closer, taking a place next to Amara.

“We’re not sure,” she replied. “We’re waiting. I think.”

Zerra nodded, wrapping her arms around herself, and for the first time in months, she shivered.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

LOR

THE WOODLANDS: PRESENT DAY

King Cedar approaches me in two long strides as I process his words, exchanging nervous glances with Tristan. The king towers over me when he comes to a stop, long brown hair curling over his shoulders and the tips of his leathery brown wings stretching towards the sky.

He knows who we are? I remember him from the Sun Queen Ball. Had he known then?

“Did you think I wouldn’t know when my kin returned home?” Cedar asks Nadir. “The question is, what are they doing with you, and why have you brought them here?”

Nadir rubs the back of his neck. Clearly, he hadn’t anticipated this development. “I didn’t bring them here. Or at least I didn’t bring them to you. We needed to hide.”

I can tell it guts Nadir to admit that, but there really isn’t any other reasonable explanation for our presence. “And as to why they’re with me, that is really none of your business.”

Nadir wraps a hand around my arm and pulls me towards him. “So, if you’d ask your goons to lower their weapons, we’ll be on our way. We have no quarrel with you, Cedar. Don’t start one.”

Cedar raises a hand, and his soldiers press in closer, their weapons still pointed at us. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that.” And then, before Nadir can protest, Cedar adds, “I mean you no harm. None of you. But I can’t let you leave without some explanation and a moment to talk.”

“How do you know who we are?” Tristan asks, attempting to approach only to find a pair of spears drop across his path. He stops short, glaring at the soldiers holding him back until Cedar waves a hand.

“Let him come.”

As Tristan draws closer, Cedar watches him, his eyes scanning my brother from head to toe.

“I have wards set on my borders to trigger when anyone of Woodlands royal blood crosses the perimeter. I felt it the day you were taken, and I felt it a few hours ago.”

Tristan and I exchange another glance, our expressions conveying the same shock at those words. He knew. He knew when we were taken. And he did nothing? I have so many questions that I can’t figure out where to begin.

“Please,” Cedar says. “I’d be happy to explain more, but I’d be remiss in my manners if we had such an important conversation standing out here in the middle of the forest. Come to the Fort and be my guests for a few days. I give you my word that you will be safe.” He peers at Nadir. “And if your need to hide means no one can know of your presence within my borders, then consider your secrets safe with me.”

“What about everyone else?” Nadir asks.