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1
Khala
"I'm listening."
Hours had passed since I said those words to Cavan, High Lord of the Summer Court. I still didn't have any answers. Ryze and Wornar had stepped through the portal and away. Ryze eased it closed behind him after giving me a long, worried glance.
All I could do was look back and nod. I’d be all right. I made my choice. I’d stay and hear Cavan out.
Cavan, expression smug as hells, had Dalyth hustle me off to living quarters in another part of the palace.
To my credit, I managed not to kill her on the way. The temptation was incredible after she wiped Zared’s memory of the last couple of weeks and sent him back to Ebonfalls thinking I was living my best life in another temple somewhere.
Picturing the look on his face when Diana touched him, the way she shoved him through the portal, was like a knife in my heart.
At the same time, in the back of my mind, was the niggling understanding it was the right thing to do. Zared would be better off without me. Without remembering I wasn't human anymore.
I hated that Dalyth did the one thing I was too much of a coward to do. Send him home. That knowledge was a twist of the knife. A searing pain I’d live with for the rest of my days. That same voice in the back of my mind suggested the person I should hate should be me, not the older Fae woman. I’d consider my subconscious’ advice later.
"Your sisters will be along soon. They'll give you all the answers you need. Don't wander off." Dalyth gave me a smile like I was a child who might sneak into the kitchen and steal a cake before she left me in a wide, glass-ceilinged atrium.
The tiled floor was a pale stone I’d never seen before. Flecks of gold glittered in the sunlight that filtered through intricate lattice inset into the ceiling. The effect was that of a sparkling beach. Without the soothing lap of waves against the shore.
A variety of plants grew in pots that lined the walls: tall trees heavy with fruit, small plants dotted with dozens of flowers. Somehow they managed not to compete with each other for attention. Whoever chose their placement had a good eye. The result could have been a cluttered mess. Instead, it was a soothing garden in the top of a palace in a city. An oasis.
Low benches in stone darker than the floor, formed a ring around a circular reflecting pool placed in the centre of the atrium. Bright yellow fish darted across the water before they disappeared under lily pads covered with more flowers.
In spite of the sun coming in through both the ceiling and a picture window that overlooked the city and the harbour beyond, the atrium was comfortably cool
I could easily picture myself spending hours sitting on the benches reading a book or watching the fish. The space was serene. A moment of calm in a furious whirlwind.
That calm ended when the door opened and two women walked inside. They saw me standing beside the reflecting pool.
"Fuck," the taller one said.
She had Fae features now, like I did, but there was no mistaking the dark blonde hair and dark blue eyes.
Of course Hycanthe was one of the transformed omegas. Ofcourseshe fucking was.
The other was her dark-haired friend, Jezalyn.
"Khala." Jezalyn stepped toward me and took my hands. Her dark brown eyes took in the sight of me. "I had no idea."
"None of us did," Hycanthe said sourly. She gave me an accusing look. "Unless you did and didn't tell anyone." Her eyes were narrowed slits, gaze angry and unwelcoming.
I couldn't stop myself from bristling. I understood she was looking for someone to blame, but this was as fucked up to me as it was to her.
I managed to keep my tone civil when I responded. "I'm as surprised as you are. Where’s Tyla?" I already knew the answer, but I had to ask anyway. Five former Silent Maidens were sent to Havenmoor. The three of us standing in the atrium were the rest of a cohort of eight.
"They sent her back to Fraxius," Jezalyn confirmed. "She's human."
"Yes, she gets to go on with her life," Hycanthe said bitterly. "While we're stuck here, trying to make sense of it all."
"Dalyth said you'd have answers." I gently removed my hands from Jezalyn's and lowered myself down to one of the benches. The stone was cold under my ass.
Jezalyn sat beside me. "All we've been told is that the Summer Court sent out Fae alphas to Ebonfalls over twenty years ago to try to make more like us."
So this was going on longer than Ryze suspected. And deliberately.
