Page 139 of A Ballad of Beasts and Brothers

"What have you done to them?"

"The same thing I did to you, of course," he says, and Thrane stiffens beside him. "Have you not figured it out yet, Aurelia? Pity. I thought you were more intuitive than that."

I wrack my brain, trying to understand what he's saying and then in dawns on me. If Atlas and Sylvane don't have their powers, it's because their magic has been suppressed, meaning…

"You gave them the tea." I glare up at the Frost King and all the pieces of the puzzle snap into place. Sylvane pales, as if she's also figuring out what her father has done.

"The plant is called, sugovan. You aren't able to taste the leaves once they dissolve, but just a few drops and any magic wielder is rendered powerless. My guards made sure they drank an entire vial."

I take a heavy step forward and the two soldiers flanking the foot of Armas' dais aim their spears at me. "It was you! You sent me away!"

"Everyone knew Garren and Keres Kitarni had trouble conceiving. For years, they tried and failed. Right before the Great War, she fell pregnant. Everyone knew of it, since the kingdoms were united to fight Drogon, but a couple of weeks after the war ended, she became ill and lost her unborn child. Other than the Kitarnis, the only person privy to that information was me."

"And why would they trust you with that information?" I snarl.

"I make it my business to have eyes and ears in every kingdom," he spits viciously, clearly irritated by my interruption. "In an act of kindness, I offered them a Frost Elf orphan who needed a loving home, since her mother died in childbirth and her father died in the Great War. No one needed to know the baby wasn't theirs by blood. Keres jumped at the chance. All she wanted was a baby to love, and Garren would finally have his heir. My terms were simple. Give the girl a serum nightly to hide her true features and not breathe a word of the truth to anyone. They were all too happy to agree and once I had your mother cleared for dragon duty, I took you. It was easy. No one suspects the baby's grandfather of ill-intent."

"You killed your own people – "

"To get rid of you? Yes, I did, and I would do it again without an ounce of remorse." He rises from his throne, thunder rumbling in his voice. Sylvane attempts to break free but is immediately struck against her back and subdued. "You are not only a stain on my legacy," Armas continues, "but a threat to our House. Your father's blood put a target on us and if a word of your existence reached Drogon's minions who survived, they would stop at nothing to find you and use you."

"Garren and Keres really don't know who I am, do they?" I say softly, regretting all the terrible thoughts I had about them stealing me in the middle of the night.

"Those two idiots couldn't strap up their own boots without a servant's help, much less plot a successful kidnapping from Stelara." He shakes his head, furrowing his brow. "Had your mother remembered her place, she never would have defiled herself by breeding with those beneath us."

"My father is a Celestial!" I shout, denying him the opportunity to defame my bloodline again. "Had he not come to lead you against the armies of Drogon, your head would be on a spit!"

"Your very existence is a threat to my people! Your father closed the portals and trapped himself inside Orabelle because he knew the value of his blood. Only his or his descendants would be the key in restoring those gateways again. But he left you here as a liability, a scapegoat – "

"You and I both know my father left me here because my mother asked him to." I point at him, "Our people will learn of your treachery and – "

"You think they will believe you over their king, conqueror and hero?" He laughs, and the sound echoes through the great hall. "No one is going to save you or those you love from me."

I glance up at Thrane, who has not only remained quiet, but stoic, the entire meeting. He wasn't visibly surprised to see Atlas or Sylvane, but then again, he warned me earlier that I'd made an enemy of my grandfather and told to watch my back. I failed to do that, thinking I had more time. He must feel my blatant stare, because when our eyes meet, I'm immediately filled with a calm I can't explain. I'm not sure he will be willing or able to help me now, but I doubt he will stop me from what I'm about to do.

My hands light up and I take a defensive stance. My blatant defiance of him is an act Armas Basilius has not likely seen before.

"Oh," he coos, "the mongrel wants to play, does she?"

"Let them go and I'll let you live," I challenge.

"You are in no position to demand anything of me, procruer!" Angrily, he breathes ice at me like a dragon, but I easily shield myself against the attack.

Atlas tries to wiggle free from the guards pinning him to the floor but fails. Even without his magic, he's strong and skilled, but being bound and gagged has rendered him powerless against them.

When the ice blast subsides and the Frost King is panting from the exertion, I tsk, rising to my feet and taunting him. "Seems you are out of practice, Grandfather. Pity. I thought you were stronger than that."

"Your insolence knows no bounds. Something you have regrettably inherited from your mother."

Before I have the opportunity to respond, the doors behind the dais fly open and my mouth drops. "Ah," Armas flashes a wickedly triumphant smile, "right on time."

Forty-One

Shaye

Iblink several times, forcing the flashes of my haunting nightmares to flee my mind. My throat tightens and my heart constricts, but when I open my eyes, I realize that this isn't one of my nightmares.

"Shaye!" Relief floods Bastian's face as he lunges toward me, but before he can embrace me, I throw a golden barrier between us, halting his advance. In awe, his gaze glides across the shield until he meets my line of sight through the translucent golden wall.

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