AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He stepped forward, and my knees shook, wanting to buckle all over again. “I always thought you would grow up to be interesting. I wish you’d managed to be polite as well, but alas, polite and interesting so often contradict each other.”
“I will be far more impolite if you don’t answer my question.”
“You know my name. Is it not only fair?”
I bared my teeth at him. If I had not already known that this male was truly a prince of Elsewhere, that answer alone would have made me believe it. He spoke in a way that was opaque at best, answering nothing, nearly threatening, while staring at me in a way that left me unsure if he meant to kill me or fuck me right here on the lawn while the castle burned behind us.
I closed my eyes, willing myself not to panic.It may not matter,I reminded myself. If he didn’t have the power to control me… There was some faint glimmer, I supposed. A tiny hope that even knowing my name, he could not use it.
I didn’t believe that one bit, but I was happy to tell myself the lie.
“Well?” I asked, willing my voice to sound even. “You wanted to see me, and after this display, I hope there is a good reason.”
The rebel leader laughed, and the sound seemed to wrap around me. “I am very pleased to finally see you. As for the reason, I suppose that depends what you mean by ‘good.’”
Another nonanswer. An Everlast answer, which we hardly had time for. “I’ve played far and away enough fairy games this year. If you do not intend to speak plainly, say nothing at all.”
“I’d hoped to have this conversation under more pleasant circumstances.”
“Then perhaps you should not have attacked the castle.”
“Do you care? After how we met, I would have thought you’d hold no love for my family.”
He’d fit so much into so few words—the fact that he’d been in the dungeon with me, his acknowledgment of his family, his opinions on my feelings. “Do not pretend you know me. And of course I care—you are burning the home of hundreds, not only your half dozen family members. You’re murdering people.”
He cocked his head at me. “Some deaths are necessary or even justified, don’t you think?”
“I—” My mind finally wrapped around what he was saying. “Did you kill your family?”
My heart beat in my ears, too loud, too fast.Which ones? When?
I could do without, perhaps, Lysander or Raewyn. He was more than welcome to take Mordant right along with them, though he was not technically family, but Scion? Bael? I’d strangle him with my bare hands.
That, in itself, was an alarming realization.
Ambrose pressed his lips together, watching me intently, as if he knew exactly what was running through my mind. “I have killed some of them, yes. So have you. What does that say about us, do you think?”
I wanted to scream. “Which ones?”
Again, he sidestepped my question, seeming almost to take pleasure in it. “Would you believe that my mother was pleased to see me? She wanted to leave. I suppose being silent in this castle for so long makes my life look like a pleasant alternative.”
I could feel my hands shaking, tingling. Part of me feared the possibility of the afflicted, and another part could not, would not, find the will to care. “And the others?”
“That’s up to you, I believe. No one will be shadow walking out of the tower as injured as they are, and I do not believe even Bael can take five others with him at once…if he manages to fight his way through every rebel in the corridor to reach them, that is.”
I quickly assessed. Five? That was probably Gwydion, Thalia, and Aine…who else, I wasn’t sure.
I made a noise I hardly recognized—nearly animalistic—and took in a sharp breath through my nose. Clenching my fists at my sides, I tried desperately to hold in my rage. There was no time for this, and he had to know that. Or else, he was hoping to stall me so long that the fire engulfed the hall, turning my nightmare into a reality.
Even now, Scion might be looking for the crown to no avail. Bael might have run out of power.They might be fighting off waves of rebels while the fire raged around them.
“Either tell me what you want or attack now. We do not have time for pleasantries or games.”
His expression twisted into annoyance for the first time. “I told you. I wish to offer you a bargain.”
Told me in my dream, he must mean. So, he knew. How odd.
My eyes flashed. “And I told you, I would rather die.”
