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“Oh.” Despite the wild pounding of my heart, I tried to sound unaffected while helping Aurora pour cream and sugar into her tea. “What else did they say?”
“May I have more sugar, Auntie?” Aurora asked.
“No, dear,” I answered firmly when she pouted. “One spoonful is enough.” I used tongs to give each of us a savory-smelling tart with swirls of green leaves.
“They said you’re right not to trust the nurses.”
I accidentally dropped the tongs. They hit the porcelain dish with aclank. “Did they?” I smoothed my trembling hands down my skirts. “Did they say why?”
Aurora pointed her spoon at me. “Your cheeks are turning red, Auntie.”
“Eat your spinach tart, dearest.” I forced a smile, nodding toward the pretty tarts with red centers at the top of the tray. “And then you can have a sweet one.”
“They can see their darkness,” Ember answered.
All moisture evaporated from my mouth. I had to force myself to take several gulps of tea. “What darkness?” I finally asked after I set the cup back down with trembling hands.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged while biting into her tart. “I don’t always understand them.”
I wondered what else these ghosts knew. I contemplated telling Draevyn, but would he believe us, or would he think we’d gone insane? And would he judge Ember harshly for her abilities? Mediums were usually ostracized in the Fae world, even by other witches. I wouldn’t subject my niece to his scorn, too. As soon as Blaze arrived, I’d tell him. I prayed he’d return to me soon.
I swallowed back a lump of emotion while trying to quell my trembling limbs. “Tell them I said ‘thank you,’” I said to Ember.
She laughed. “They can hear you, Auntie.”
“Oh.” I shot up straight, the tiny chair’s unforgiving wood digging into my spine. “What other friends do you have with you?” Namely, were my mates’ parents here, and could they tell her who murdered them?
“I don’t know their names yet,” she said, her legs swinging beneath her as she nibbled her tart. “They’re shy, but they said to keep the nurses away from Nikkos.”
“I certainly will.” Dread poured through my veins like poison leaching into my soul. What had those nurses done to him? After I finished tea with the girls, I was determined to force it out of them. I eyed my niece while taking a sip of tea. “Did you just meet these new friends?”
She nodded.
“I see.” I did my best to infuse a note of neutrality into my voice. I couldn’t let her know I was agitated. “Are they from this castle?”
“Yes.”
Elements. It might be Lord and Lady Inferni. Would they tell us who killed them? Would I want to know? “Will you tell me when you learn their names?” I asked her sweetly, pretending as if we were talking about something as mundane as the weather.
“Okay.” She heaved a dramatic sigh. “I’m tired of talking about my friends.”
“Me, too!” Aurora blurted. “You haven’t even seen all our new books.”
I rubbed their backs, forcing a smile. “After tea,” I said. “I can’t wait to see them.”
I was rewarded with broad smiles, a balm to my troubled heart, for very soon I feared we’d have the answers we sought, and the answers we dreaded. What if my parents had somehow been the killers? Or worse, what if it was Malvolia? Would my newly forged bond with my mates be able to withstand the brutal aftermath of such a discovery? For if Malvolia had killed my mates’ parents in an attempt to frame my parents, I feared that I would become the white witch in her prophecy, and I wouldn’t rest until I had the sorceress queen’s blackened heart on a platter.
* * *
Draevyn
Istood outside Shirina’sbedchamber, my hand poised above the door, summoning the nerve to knock. What a coward I’d been reduced to. She’d summoned me, after all. Besides, I was Lord of the Manor, and I didn’t need permission to visit my fated mate. I couldn’t get the image of Shirina crying in Euphemia’s arms from my mind. It should have been me holding her, comforting her. But, no, I’d ruined my chances with her, possibly forever. And now my baby brother was near death after I’d abandoned my mate and brothers. All this could’ve been avoided had I stayed with them. I would’ve recognized the danger and ordered them to fly around the trolls. It was taking every last scrap of willpower for me to hold myself together, to be the Lord of the Manor my people needed when all I wanted to do was clip my wings and hurl myself from the tallest tower.
Heaving a trembling breath, I finally knocked on the door, tensing while waiting to push it open. I knew Shirina wouldn’t beckon me to come inside. She’d already made it clear she wanted me nowhere near her, but I couldn’t stay away. That pull between us beckoned me like a siren calling a ship to shore. I finally pushed open the door, my heart plummeting when she sat up and looked at me, disappointment reflecting in her eyes. I knew she was hoping I’d been Blaze.
“How is he?” I asked as I went to their bedside. The smell coming from my brother’s wound was unbearable. I had no idea how Shirina could stand it. I noticed bowls of lavender petals everywhere. Lavender petals were even scattered across the bed. It didn’t mask the putrid stench, though. That wound had festered, looking like a fist growing out of the top of my brother’s head.
“Not as feverish as before,” she said as she mopped his brow with a wet cloth, tenderly dabbing at the wound. “I summoned the nurses for questioning, but the servants report their bedchamber is empty.” Shadows fell across her features. “Did you know they were leaving?”
