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Chapter 21
Dagen
Aknock soundedon Dagen’s door, and he glanced up from his desk with a frown spread across his face. It was late. Far past midnight. Who in the name of the forest would be knocking on his door this time of night? Slowly, he stood, grabbing a poker from beside the fire and striding across the room to the door. He doubted anyone would make a move against him, especially not so blatantly inside of the castle likethis.
But he was on guard just thesame.
When he opened the door, he found Ethne’s familiar face peering up at him. His brow wrinkled. No, that was wrong. It wasn’t Ethne at all. He had seen her glamor enough times to know when the real thing was standing before him and when she wasnot.
Dagen lowered his weapon. “I should say I am surprised to see you here, but I do not think I am. I should have expectedit.”
“Where were you tonight?” she demanded, making no attempt to lower hervoice.
Dagen frowned out at the corridor. No one was there, but that did not mean there were no eyes and ears around. “Comeinside.”
Bree let out a little huff and strode into Dagen’s room, and he couldn’t help but marvel at how much of her came through the glamor, even though she was the spitting image of Ethne. It was in her every little movement. The way her narrowed eyes were lit with fire. The way her fists were balled by her sides. And the way she threw her shoulders back, just daring anyone to get in herway.
“Bree,” he said gently. “It is not wise to come here, even if you are glamored. I can tell it is you. Others may be able to as well. I am not the only fae in this castle who knows of Ethne’sgift.”
“I don’t care. I want to know where you were tonight. And I want to know where she was,too.”
Dagen frowned and gestured at his paper-strewn desk. “I have been here doing some work for the realm. Some issues have cropped up with a few of our outposts across the Black Sea. As for Ethne...” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “I am not herkeeper.”
“She said you two were incahoots.”
Dagen bit back a smile. “Cahoots? Is that some strange humanword?”
Bree narrowed her eyes. “She had me go to the feast ‘dressed’ as her, and then a massive attack on the Court happened. You’re telling me these two things aren’trelated?”
“Wait just one moment, Bree. An attack happened? What are you talkingabout?”
Bree glared at him, flicking her eyes up and down his body as if she were sizing him up. In any other situation, he might like to think she was appreciating the pants that were slung low around his hips and the way his open tunic revealed his skin. Not that hetrulywanted Bree to appreciate him while she was glamored as Ethne’s form. That wasmadness.
Still, a part of him wondered at what she saw when she stared at him sointently.
“You didn’t know?” She frowned, seeming surprised. “At the feast tonight, some masked fae stormed in and took down several members of the Court. The Prince managed to capture some of them, but no one knows who theyare.”
Outsiders. Strangers in the Court. Launching attacks during the nightlyfeast.
Dagen’s frown deepened. This was bad. And it meant that his hunch about the status of relations throughout the realm was worse off than anyone wanted to believe. If their enemies were bold enough to attack the Court inside of their castle? Well, he shuddered to think of what they might donext.
“I am sorry, Bree. You will have to excuse me. There is somewhere I need tobe.”
She propped her little fists on her hips and frowned. Such a Bree move, he couldn’t help butthink.
“Are you kidding me?” She strode forward and shoved a finger into his chest. “You and Ethne were conspicuously absent tonight, don’t you think? What, did you plan this? Or did you get a heads up that it was going to happen? So, you hid in your room so you wouldn’t bekilled?”
“You truly think I am so terrible that I would launch an attack on my ownCourt.”
“You asked me to spy on the Prince.” She shrugged. “So, you’re obviously not happy with the statusquo.”
He paused as he tried to weigh her words in his mind. As much as he hated himself for it, he was taken aback by her willingness to believe he was that kind of monster. But he should have known, and could he really blame her? Most of the Dark Fae in this castle had shown her nothing but the very worst parts of themselves, including thePrince.
The Prince, who liked to think of himself as better than all the rest ofthem.
But Dagen had shown her more. Why could she not seethat?
“There is being unhappy with the status quo, Bree.” A pause. “And then there is murdering a bunch of innocents when I have been tasked with the responsibility of keeping themsafe.”
