AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He did what I hoped he would do. He kept you safe.”
My eyes widened. “Are you saying you had no idea what he would really do? That you hadn’t actually spoken to him about it?”
“How could I have possibly spoken to him? It would have put him in a very dangerous position. As well as myself.”
“So you sent me off with a man youhopedwas not as brutal as the rumors claimed. And with a potion youknewcould kill me.”
“I had heard enough of Kairos Draven to know he was much more than he seemed—and that a man of strength and some decency lay beneath.”
“‘Some’ decency,” I muttered.
A smile flickered over my uncle’s face. “Too much is not always a good thing.”
“He’s just as brutal as the rumors,” I snapped. “Perhaps you got a lot wrong.”
“Not, however, a slayer of infants.” My uncle’s smile became annoyingly cherubic.
“Not that I’ve been able to confirm,” I said, narrowing my eyes.
“Nor have I,” my uncle said. “A rumor I highly doubt has any basis in reality. But your brother enjoyed hearing it.” His eyes fastened on mine. “Convincing him Draven was a cruel man made it easier when I suggested that the guard captain be the one assigned to assassinate you if the need arose.”
“Well, did you want me dead or not?” I exploded. “Was I supposed to have died from the potion or from Whitehorn or from Draven? Or perhaps the sword was to have done me in at the end?”
My uncle tilted his head to one side. “To tell you truly, I don’t think even Arthur could tell you that.”
I looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean your brother has very confused feelings about you, Morgan. I don’t think he knows himself if he wants you dead or alive. Which is why his instructions to Whitehorn were one thing and his instructions to Kairos Draven quite another.”
I wondered if my brother was smart enough to have known that Whitehorn had been too much of an idiot to succeed. Perhaps he simply sent him to weaken Florian’s father, Agravaine, his most trusted advisor–and one who held a great deal of sway at court.
Though if it weren’t for Draven, Whitehorn might have succeeded. I hadn’t exactly been in any condition to protect myself when Whitehorn had tried to strap me to his horse.
“Forgive me if I don’t find that particularly heartening,” I said.
“No, I don’t suppose you would,” he murmured. “Family is such a complicated thing, isn’t it? Still, I hope you will believe that this old man would have been very regretful to hear of your passing, and that it was never my intention to do you long-lasting harm, niece.”
Long-lasting harm. I supposed in the Pendragon family, that was as good as it was going to get.
I snorted without meeting his eyes.
“You traveled to Valtain. You saw the ruins of Meridium,” my uncle said, his gaze becoming a little more astute, a little more prodding. “You must have learned a great deal. Seen much.”
“Meridium was only the beginning of what I’ve seen.”
He smiled. “Ah, so you have met the Siabra then.”
If I’d been drinking a beverage, I would have spewed it across the passage then.
“You know of the Siabra?”
He gestured to the mosaics that surrounded us. “Why do you think I chose this place for our meeting?”
“Merlin said the mosaics showed the two sides of the fae. The dark and the light.”
“Well, in a sense they do. Don’t they?”
This dancing around was becoming exhausting. I decided to be blunt. Very blunt. “How much do you know, Uncle? Do you know who I am? Truly?”
