Page 54 of A Deal with the Shadow King

The fifth figure, a tall man covered in blood from head to toe, motions for his companions to settle down, his voice sharper than the rest of them combined. “Shut up, all of you. The king is here.”

The Shadow King himself appears on the mezzanine a moment later.

Sunshine sparks off his golden mask, preventing us from looking directly at him, and I tent my hand above my brows to see better. The excited chatter dies in one breath, and the hunters all put one knee to the ground.

Caught up in the moment, James and I imitate them. One bows his head, but he doesn’t kneel, and I catch Two rolling his eyes.

The tall man covered in blood and grime raises a bovine skull to the king. “We’ve come back from our mission, My King. I present to you what’s left of the minotaur.”

A shadow detaches from the skull—or the man’s arm?—and flies off to merge with the king. His gloved hands rap along the railing, and he stands a little taller, the darkness that licks his silhouette now effervescent.

He finally nods at the leader of the hunt and whistles back inside without a word. I squint at the third floor balcony, trying to figure out which flight of stairs leads up there.

Lori runs out of the library. “Finally! I was beginning to worry. All these weeks alone with the rookies, with no one else around to haze them—” Her bright smile falters. “Wait—where is Drake?”

The leader discards the empty skull to the ground, and dried mud crusts off his back at the movement. “Dead.”

Lori gapes at him, clearly shocked. “But—how?”

“He was sloppy.”

I walk over to Lori and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. The others squint like they're seeing me for the first time, and their gazes travel from me to James, then to Mara up on the balcony.

Cary tucks his mask under his arm and raises a brow. “Three new seeds?”

Lori nods quietly, tears glossing over her clear gray eyes as I hug her.

Two rubs his hands together, drawing the group’s attention away from us. “Let’s celebrate at dinner, shall we? After you take a quick bath, of course.”

The hunters nod, and the crowd scatters in all directions. I turn around to steal a glance at One, but the knight is already gone.

A sense of dread settles in my chest, my muscles sore and my mind exhausted, but I don’t want to be left out of the loop, so I follow everyone’s lead and head to my room to change into a fresh tunic.

When I get to the banquet hall, the tables have been rearranged to form a big circle—except for the Shadow King’s throne, of course.

Lori waves me over to her. “Thank you for earlier…they were acting like nothing bad had happened, and it sucked.”

“Was Drake a good friend of yours?” I ask softly.

“Not really. I mean—he was a bit of a loner, but that doesn’t mean I wanted him to die.” She covers her face with her hands. “He was our healer, and a great one at that. If only I’d been part of the hunt…” her voice cracks.

“Do you usually go with them?”

“I was on stupid library duty because I broke the rules, but it was all for nothing—” She braces her arms over her thighs, shaking like a Hawthorn leaf in the wind. “And now Drake…”

I cover her hand with mine. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

She opens her heart-shaped mouth like she’s ready to tell me the whole story when Mara slumps down on the empty seat next to me, startling us both.

“What’s up, bitches?”

“Hey,” Lori sighs regretfully.

There’s no assigned seating, but I’d planned to save the seat for James. I glower at my fellow seed and search the room for her mentor. “Where is Two?”

“He’s running late. He had to get the dead guy’s body and bring it back to Faerie.”

Lori turns green. “See you later.”

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