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He shrugged. “That’s easy. A glamor. I had it done when I left the court. I wasn’t hiding from you, specifically, Morgan. Don’t flatter yourself.” The words stung me. “I was hiding who I was from everyone on Eskira. You really think your brother knew the truth?”
“Why hide?” I demanded. “Why go to all the trouble? Whatarethe Siabra, anyhow?”
“A good question, for another day. And a long story.”
“Another day?” I was incredulous. “You brought me home with you and you don’t think I deserve to know who the hell you really are? Who your people are?”
“I’ll tell you everything. Just not all at once. You need to rest.” He paused. “Another thing. Don’t leave this suite. For now.”
“Oh, so now I’m officially your prisoner, am I? At least it’s refreshing to finally have you say it.”
Draven rolled his eyes. “You’re not my prisoner. Do you think prisoners have rooms this luxurious? This is my personal suite.”
“Your personal...” Should I have been flattered, I wondered? I thought back to Lyrastra and Ulpheas’s quaint little visit. “Your sister-in-law. Lyrastra?”
“What about her?”
“She wasn’t pleased to find me here. Not at all.”
“So what?” Draven said dismissively. “It’s none of her concern.”
“So she called me your ‘prize.’ Your ‘whore.’ What do you make of that?”
The lines of his face became flinty. “She called you that?”
I nodded. “They seemed to think I was some sort of... I don’t know. Captive. Like your spoils of war or a trophy you found in Valtain or something. Why would they think that?”
“Some Siabra hate the Valtain fae,” Draven replied.
“But youarefae. Aren’t you?”
“We split with the Valtain, long ago. We don’t think of ourselves that way anymore. We’re Siabra.”
I thought of the mosaics Merlin had shown me in the temple. All this time, I had thought the other side of the wall simply depicted a darker side of the fae. But it hadn’t shown the same fae at all. It showed Draven’s people. The Siabra. With their horns. With their snake eyes.
Yet the room I was in wasn’t a dark cavern but the most lavish of royal apartments. There was clearly more to the Siabra than what the mosaics suggested. And if I was stuck here–not that I planned to be for long–then I was going to discover the truth of what they really were.
“Lyrastra and Ulpheas and the others... they don’t know much about you. Or where you really come from. I would prefer that it stay that way,” Draven continued.
“You mean they don’t know I’m a half-fae, half-human princess you’ve kidnapped from Pendrath, a kingdom at war with all of its neighbors?” I clarified.
“Something like that. They don’t really give a damn what’s going on in Eskira though. So if you’re expecting sympathy from those two, you won’t find it. They won’t care that you’re a princess either. Human royalty is... well, next to meaningless to them.”
I wasn’t going to let his bluntness sting me again. “I see. Well, I wasn’t about to run up and down the hall screaming that I was a lost princess in need of saving, don’t worry.”
I could save myself, thank you very fucking much.
“How reassuring.” He shocked me with a brief and glorious grin, but I refused to return it.
“No, I think I’ll just leave,” I continued, deciding to test the waters. “You know, walk out the door. Unless you plan to try to restrain me.” I couldn’t help it. I thought of our conversation long ago in the forest when he offhandedly mentioned women asking him to gag them in bed and felt a betraying heat suffuse my cheeks.
“Is that an invitation?” Draven said lightly, his green eyes flickering over me briefly.
He rose from the bed and crossed over to a large floor-to-ceiling window in the corner and looked out. “You’re welcome to try. But if you’re simply fishing for information, then yes, there’s a barrier on the door for now. I hope to remove it soon. As I’ve said, you’re not a prisoner. It’s to protect you more than anything.”
A barrier spell, he meant. And Lyrastra had magicked me into stillness. Who were these Siabra that they used magic with such ease? Had the Valtain fae been the same? It was strange to consider using it for small things after my own magic had so far been only blunt and destructive.
“But considering where we are... Well, good luck finding your way out.”
