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“You’ll have to take this up with the prince,” Odessa said bluntly. “Prince Kairos said you stay put for now. So you stay put.”
I glared at her. She stared back sternly. I couldn’t help but feel angry–with her more than her brother, as she had not even attempted to mince her words.
Worse, I felt the familiar sensation of tears pricking at my eyes. I didn’t want to be here, arguing with two strangers about whether I deserved to be let out of my room. I wanted to go home. I wanted to see Kaye. I needed to tell Lancelet’s family she wouldn’t be coming home.
I lifted my chin so Odessa wouldn’t see my eyes glisten. “Fine. Then go and get your prince. I want to speak with him.”
Odessa and Crescent exchanged a glance. “We can’t do that.”
“Why not?” I demanded. “He’s told you I’m his paramour, hasn’t he? That implies a measure of care for me, does it not? Yet he has restrained me in these rooms as if I were a child. Or worse. A prisoner. That does not seem particularly respectful or caring to me.”
“I’m sure the prince loves you very much, Lady Morgan,” Crescent said gently. “We are confident he has done this only for your protection.”
It took everything I had not to burst out in maniacal laughter. Crescent was so sweetly sincere that I had no wish to offend him, but he thought Dravenlovedme? He couldn’t have been more wrong.
“I’m sure when the prince is finished meeting with his mother, he’ll return to you soon,” Crescent finished.
My eyebrows shot up as Odessa elbowed her brother sharply in the ribs with a frown. “His mother? He’s gone to meet with his mother?”
If Draven had a mother, then she must be the queen. Was she the ruler of the Siabra Empire? Was that why Draven was still only a prince?
Crescent rubbed the spot his sister had hit him, but otherwise seemed intent on ignoring the rebuff. “Yes. Prince Kairos’s return has caused quite the stir, you know. The Queen Regent had nearly given up hope of ever seeing her son again.”
“Just how long was Prince Kairos gone exactly?” I asked curiously.
The siblings exchanged another look.
Good. That meant I was asking the right questions.
“More than twenty years. He left when his brother...Oof.” Another elbow to the ribs had been delivered mercilessly by Odessa.
“She probably knows most of this already, Odessa,” Crescent protested, rubbing his torso.
I lifted a hand and began to study my fingernails. Surprisingly they were clean. “Oh, I do,” I said, striving for the appearance of perfect innocence. “Draven... I mean, Prince Kairos... used to speak of his dear mother all of the time. But his brother. I find I can’t recall much about him.”
There was silence. An awkward silence. I raised my head finally to see Crescent biting his lip.
“What?”
“Prince Kairos’s brother is... dead.”
“Did he pass while Draven was away?” I felt a pang of guilt, but needed to know more. “That’s very sad.”
Crescent was shaking his head. “No. Not while he was away. You really don’t remember him speaking of this?”
“I must have been distracted. You know how things get... between lovers.” I tried not to vomit as I spoke the word. “He used to tell tales of his family so very often though.”
I fluttered my eyelashes and tried to look as stupid as possible. It was such a turnaround though that I didn’t expect either of them to fall for it. Indeed, Odessa was practically rolling her eyes.
“Prince Kairos killed his brother, my lady,” Crescent said quietly. “It is a hard thing to forget.”
A shiver crossed my skin.
“He killed him?” I whispered.
“Which is why it’s so odd you should say he mentioned his ‘dear mother,’” Odessa piped up. “When the queen was the one who banished him for treason.”
I gulped. “Banished? Treason?”
