Page 89 of The Last Heir of Elsewhere

“What the fuck happened?”Ambrose paced angrily across our room, the rage practically radiating from him.

As soon as I’d dropped the head, Ambrose had whisked me from the room before the king could react. It was probably for the best. If he’d meant to kill me with his assassin he no doubt would have found a way to deny it. If perhaps he wanted to try again…well, then we would lose the opportunity to search for Bael and Scion.

“I thought we couldn’t speak,” I murmured under my breath.

“Fuck that, I don’t care,” he yelled loud enough to shake the crystal chandeliers. “Who hurt you?”

I shook my head vigorously. He might not care, but I did. I wasn’t about to destroy my chance to find both my mates and my mother, simply because he was worried about me.

Annoyed, Ambrose dragged me into the bathing room and turned on the shower. “Talk to me.”

I quickly recounted the attack, and as I spoke a small smile curved his lips. “What?”

“Nothing. I’m just pleasantly surprised at how well you have mastered your lessons. It seems you can hold a sword correctly, after all.”

“I don’t know about ‘correctly’ but I can certainly point it in the right direction.” I muttered. “But I would have preferred not to have to. If the king can see everything, how could he miss an assassin in his own home?”

“I don’t know,” Ambrose said, looking even more frustrated by that statement alone.

“True,” I agreed begrudgingly. “Why don’t the wives speak? Even when we were attacked, the queen just stood there, completely silent.”

“Again, I don’t know. They never have in all the times I’ve visited this place.” He let out a loud, frustrated growl. “I fucking hate it here. Not being able to see is infuriating.”

“Now you know how the rest of us feel.”

He glared at me. “That is not amusing. If I could see, we would know who tried to hurt you, since I doubt any servant of Gancanagh would act without orders.”

“Do they take orders from anyone but him?”

“I don’t believe so, but it seems strange he would have sent them on purpose when his own wife was put in danger.”

I paced the bathroom, thinking. “How do you know the king?”

“I told you, we do business together?—”

“No,” I said sharply. “How did you meet? Why would he know my mother?”

Ambrose sighed, running a hand through his long silver hair. “Gancanagh has always been interested in power. It’s his primary driving trait, he wants to rule and believes he was born to do so.”

“Well, he does rule,” I snapped. “He has my fucking congratulations.”

“Yes, but he has been the king of Underneath for about thirty years, which must seem long to you, but to me is hardly anything. Before then, he spent ten years or so making a bid for the crown of Elsewhere. We met because it was he who marshaled the prisoners and afflicted in Aftermath. He is the original Dullahan.”

I gasped, leaning back, as if I could evade the very implications that came with that statement. “Then how did he become king? How did you take over the army?”

He sat on the edge of the large bathtub, leaning his elbows on his knees. “After some time in Aftermath, Gancanagh made his way to the capital. He met Raewyn, and learned from her that he was unlikely to ever capture the obsidian crown.”

“Due to the curse?”

“Right. He was hardly worthy on his own, and did not have the patience to wait for Grandmother to die so another hunting season would begin. Gancanagh is not a foolish male, and decided to leave his pursuit of Elsewhere and return to Underneath to fight for that crown instead.”

I furrowed my brow “But isn’t Raewyn his mate? Why leave her?”

Ambrose shrugged. “In my opinion, he lacks the emotional range necessary to complete a mating bond. Or, perhaps it was that he was unwilling to risk his life to be with her. He’s selfish above all else, and it only took a few short years after he left for him to kill the king and assume their role. Since then, not much has changed within this court.”

“And you became the Dullahan?”

He nodded. “It really wasn’t all that difficult to imply I always had been. The mask makes it so that even some of my most loyal soldiers don’t know what I look like, and I still felt that the rebellion was necessary for the long-term benefit of the country.”

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