AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Where is he?” she asked again.
“I’ve no idea. I’d prefer never to see that traitor again.”
The third blow tipped me out of the chair and onto my knees. Blood dribbled from my lip and nose. Numb inside, I watched it drip and pool on the floor and tried to ride out the pain. Each drop of blood was another moment passing, another heartbeat in time. Each passing moment was a win.
“I see you’ve stolen my pet.” Razak’s bitterly cold, clipped voice filled the council chamber. I looked up, choking on fear—Razak was here! He’d returned from Justice?!—then saw the purple gloves. Relief chased the heady fearful rush away. I blinked, clearing my vision, and wiped blood from my chin. Razak’s smile said it all: He was in control.
He strode on by, stopping at the end of the long council table. “I’ll forget for a moment how you dared summon me here like a dog on a leash, and ask instead, why has Love’s prince been taken from my room without my permission?”
Slumping against the chair, I kept my eyes downcast, careful to school all emotion from my face. Lark was a marvel, his performance so perfect the council had no choice but to believe him. I couldn’t ruin this as well as everything else.
I’d feared they may have caught him too. But no, he was here, and his lies would wrap around them all as they had done in my court.
Did he have the crown? He must have. We just needed to keep up the act, as we had in the foyer. Make thembelievewe were enemies. “I’m not your pet.”
“I did not give you permission to speak,” he snapped back.
I chuckled for them all to hear. “Do you hold the reins to this court, or does she?”
Lark came at me like a hawk with its talons out. His hand arched over his shoulder and came down in a vicious slap, leaving me breathless and reeling, my vision spinning.
And now we were even, I supposed, after I’d made a show of assaulting him in his chambers so many moons ago it seemed like another lifetime.
I peered through swimming tears and caught his furious glare, almost believing it. He marched back to the table.
His lies were formidable. But I’d learned to seek the softness in his eyes, and it had been there, buried so deep no other could see it.
“Your return, Razak,” the woman began, “does not match witness accounts.”
“What does it matter, Malvina? I’m here, and I brought you the Prince of Love.” Lark flicked his fingers toward me. “Thehowis a mere distraction. Results speak for themselves.”
There appeared to be a power play at work here. Malvina was respected; the others had been silent this entire time. She and Razak had likely clashed many times before. “The how is important, as we must now consider how to maneuver you into Justice,” she said, keeping her voice level. “Where you claimed you’d find the keys. Not here, dallying with the boy. Prince Arin is the distraction. Get rid of him and focus on breaking Justice. This power game of yours is becoming decidedly tiresome.”
Lark braced both hands on the table and peered down its length at them all. “It is no game. Order me again and Justice Ines’s corpse won’t be the only one hanging from a tree.”
Finally, Malvina balked. She stiffened, lifted her chin, and leaned back, switching from aggression to submissive in moments. “That will not be necessary, my prince. I merely have your own well-being at heart.”
My chuckle slipped free, and I dabbed again at my split lip and cheek. My face burned, but I’d live. We both would. Lark had these people dancing to his tune. He was damned good at what he did, even as it galled me to admit I’d been his victim too.
“Are we done?” he asked. When nobody replied, he strode to me, hooked me off the floor, and dragged me toward the door. “After this unnecessary interruption, I’m not to be disturbed for the day.”
“Razak, there is one more request,” Malvina called. “Won’t you remove the gloves?”
Lark half turned his head.
Her tone had changed again. The fear we’d all heard moments ago had shifted into curiosity, and something more.
She knew.
Lark’s glance caught mine. His eyes narrowed, and in that brilliant head of his, he juggled our options. Draven had said Lark would always be the last man standing, and he was right. This was his world. He knew how to play them, how to twist them. He knew their secrets, their lies—he had to. He always knew which card to play, and if they didn’t have the right cards, he’d have one tucked down his boot. Magic. He’d know what to do.
He flung open the door and shoved me through. “Run.”
Run?That wasn’t a plan. I bolted, with Lark a step behind.
“Stop them!” Malvina shrieked.
We spilled down a stairwell, spiraling down and down so fast the torches flickered, and the only sound was that of our hammering feet and hearts. A door slammed above. Thundering feet joined the sound of our own.
