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All because the female I’d trusted most in this world, the one that Ihadunwittingly called mother and had raised me, had also lied to me and helped pave the way for me to murder the woman who’d birthed me. Even if she was a foul creature and deserved to die…I deserved to know.
And my soulbound had known.
How cruel was fate the people I should be able to trust most in the world had lied to me for as long as they had known me?
“She’s in the dungeons… We thought you might want to… speak with her,” Roderick said gently.
So alive.
I couldn’t help but wonder if that had been deliberate or unintentional on Mareina’s part. Though considering the fact my mate was a veteran of murder, I found it hard to believe that she’d make such a mistake.
A minuscule and traitorous part of me found relief in that. That perhaps Mareina hadn’t killed her for my sake. And due to the fact that, no matter how horrific Zurie was, I felt a visceral need to meet the woman from whose flesh I’d been born.
“The dungeons…In her own palace?”
“Miroslav and Malekai ordered the palace guards away from the western wing of the palace… The dungeon is in the north wing. Where we are now.”
“So… No one knows yet…?”
“No… But… Suspicions will start rising if we don’t do something soon.”
“Take me to her.”
Thalia seemed to know her way around this part of Zurie’s palace. And not a soul in sight. I could only hope that Miroslav and Malekai would manage to keep anyone from asking questions for the time being. It had been such a remarkably successful and seamless ordeal, it seemed… Too good to be true.
The dungeon, to my surprise, was empty. Either they’d cleared the dungeons, or Zurie didn’t keep any prisoners.
She kills them all,My Knowingness whispered.
Yes… That seemed highly probable.
Even with the palladium collar Mareina had put around her neck, I could feel her magic. The palladium collar just kept it out of her reach.
The cells appeared to have been carved directly into the stone beneath the ground on which the palace sat at the foot of the Falcweard Mountains.
Without any spoken direction, we were drawn to the furthest cell at the right of the long, musty corridor. At the end was a stone archway leading into an alcove where a single spear of light illuminated the space. As we approached, runes I didn’t recognize were carved into a stone dais in the center of the floor. The shaft of light came from where a hole had been carved into the ceiling, allowing sunlight to peek through. Something powerful seemed to call me to this space, though I had no idea why. When I reached for my Knowingness, it remained utterly silent, as it so often had as of late.
I reluctantly turned away from the door towards the thick wrought iron door of the last cell on our right. Thalia placed a hesitant hand on the cell door, casting me a compassionate glance as if to ask,are you ready?
I gave her a subtle nod. A second look at the door revealed it was nothing more than an iron barrier indicating the location of a cell. Under her breath, she murmured something in ancient fae, and the barrier disappeared. How exactly she knew precisely which words to invoke was something I would have to ask her later.
It took no small amount of effort to train my face into something coldly neutral.
Zurie sat on the floor directly across from the entrance, leaning against that wall, still dressed in her torn and blood-soaked gown.
Her eyes widened at the sight of me, her breath stilling. After only a few silent moments, something I hadn’t fathomed her capable of glistened in her eyes.
Emotion.
Had she given me away?
My mind reeled, trying to imagine the life I’d have had growing up in this palace.As a prince.
Would I have turned out as wicked as her if I’d been raised by her?
I finally managed to take a single step forward into the cell. The question cut through me to reach her.
“How?”
