Page 49 of A Deal with the Shadow King

Sweat gathers on my palms at the prospect of seeing One again, until his deep voice echoes from the floor below. “—to not overthink this.”

“What are you hiding?” A snarkier voice answers. Two.

“Nothing.”

Three looks over his shoulder and offers me an enigmatic smile. The third brother is the one skulking in the dark. The way he moves is so telling—so incredibly specific and bewitching—I feel as though he’s weaving words with his body.

He puts one finger over his mouth and motions me closer. Come. Quietly.

“You can’t speak, can you?” I murmur.

He shakes his head without shame or regret. No. With his book tucked under his left arm, he peers cautiously around the end of the stack.

Lori has deserted the front desk, probably busy with a customer on the floor above. I risk a glance to the ground floor and catch a glimpse of Two. The cocky brother steps closer to his twin until their masked faces are inches apart.

The differences between them are glaring, the second knight’s movements jerky and less fluid. One possesses more of a deadly, feline grace, while Three is so stealthy, he might as well be made of smoke.

The cynical curve of Two’s mouth deepens. “If nothing happened, why would you alter the schedule? Did she see something she shouldn’t have? Is that why?—”

“No! The kingdom needs magic, and she’s got it in spades. The sooner she passes the first three trials, the better. I can teach her how to hunt later,” One answers.

Wait… They’re talking about me.

Three represses a full bodied laugh, quaking soundlessly beside me. He leans on the shelf behind him and removes his hood, shaking his head. He’s got slightly longer hair than his brothers, but I spot a familiar cluster of tattoos behind his ear, and my cheeks flush.

Oblivious to our presence, Two walks over to a table layered with parchments and returns one of them to a scroll holder. “We can’t agree to disagree on this. We’ve got to be on the same page, and that page has got Darcy’s name on it. If she saw too much in the gardens or if she can’t handle nightmares?—”

One angles his chin to the sky, clearly annoyed. “She saw nothing, and she passed the first trial without a hitch.”

Two picks up a book from the table and waves it in the space between them. “Then why are you getting rid of her?”

“I’m not arguing with you about this. You will do as I say.”

Two freezes mid-step. “Excuse me?” He slides the volume he was holding in its rightful place with a chilling accuracy. “Need I remind you…the princess belongs to the king.”

“I know.”

A hard ball of nerves sinks in my stomach, and I glance sideways at the third triplet, but his face is shrouded in darkness.

On the floor below, Two whips his head around to face his brother. “She’s meant to serve the king’s needs. If it’s better for the king for you to train her first, then that’s what you shall do.”

“The king’s needs come first. Always,” One says in one breath, the way you repeat a prayer—or rather a mantra.

The two men measure each other. One looks about to punch his brother out cold, but before he makes up his mind, Two turns on his heels and storms out, curses echoing in his wake.

Three brings two fingers to his forehead in lieu of goodbye and sneaks out the exit.

As soon as he’s gone, I dart out of the stacks to ambush One before he leaves, too. “You’re getting rid of me?” I shout without preamble, my knuckles white over the railing.

Not waiting for an answer, I scurry to the narrow stairs and take them two at a time.

If One is surprised by my arrival, he doesn’t show it. He sits on the table he was using like everything is going according to plan and brings a large parchment up between us, his tone withdrawn and dismissive. “It’s time for you to train with Two. Considering the strength of your powers, I’m confident you can pass the first three trials and sprout quickly, which will bring in more magic.”

I clench my fists to keep from trembling. “Horseshit.”

He doesn’t glance up from the page he so clearly only picked up to avoid looking at me.

“You’re switching me with Mara because of the kiss?—”

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