Page 112 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

Alora crossed her arms, scanning Ladomyr with wicked satisfaction, then swept to Garrik’s face.

Something … something was … off.Are you okay?

A look of consideration cloaked Garrik’s features. Then he glimpsed Ladomyr, who’d fallen a sickly shade of green, and wolfishly grinned.I have wished to do that for … decades.Saying nothing more, as if to conceal a secret, he carelessly paced.

Garrik spoke to no one in particular. “My patience draws thin. Show us to the High King’s mountain. We will retain his accommodations for our stay.”

Gripping his bruising fingers, Ladomyr dared to question, “And just how long will that be?”

“For as long as I see fit,” Garrik roared, rattling the floor, the walls, the portraits. “Have a feast prepared for my soldiers. And Ladomyr … I expect a banquet this evening. I do not possess a solitary shit if you planned anything else. Your traditions will wait.”

The High King’smountainwas exactly that. Hewn within the blackstone and only reachable by a bridge connecting the innards of the two castles. Its slopes were crowned with lofty, arching cloisters, erected across the middle depths of the mountain. The grand structure culminated in a pair of towering, night-dark doors, each engraved with the High King’s Raven crest much like …

Alora willed herself not to swallow as her feet threatened to stop mid-step.

Nevilier.Magnelis’s half-skeletal raven that’d stolen Garrik before his birthday.

Garrik’s face was a calm storm beside her as a muscle feathered in his cheek. Appearing handsomely bored as he observed it and the twelve members of Ladomyr’s High Guard positioned there when a High Fae-looking male faded out from within the ranks.

Black locks as straight as a wooden board cascaded over his right shoulder, framing cheekbones that seemed to be molded like broken glass. Few pieces fell over swirling, inked runes that marked half his porcelain forehead and twirled over his eyelid to his cheek, darkening his deep crimson eyes even more. Markings like the swirls were shaved into his head above his left ear, leaving no locks covering a broad scar proudly displayed as if in warning.

The male stepped forward from the shadows. A long, golden chain and ruby earring connected from the tip of his pointed ear to the base, illuminated by faelight lanterns flanking the doors as his authority forced the High Guard at attention. He cupped his hands behind his lean body, disturbing the fine charcoal jacket and ornate black tunic half unbuttoned underneath.

Alora’s attention snapped to the very same markings down his neck and chest when a serpentine smile twisted on his handsome face, capturing her exploration.

Like a snake constricting its meal, those crimson eyes didn’t leave her as the Shadow Order, followed by Draven’s battalion, approached the end of the bridge.

“Spymaster,” Garrik growled in way of greeting, stepping forward as if to shield those behind him, demanding the male’s attention.

But that piercing blood-gaze burned like starfire against Alora’s skin, unmoving as if he could see through her.

“It is amusing how you still believe that shit will protect you.” Gesturing with a harsh nod upward, Garrik toyed with a baiting grin, boring his darkened eyes at a marking resembling a bleeding eye. “Especially from me.”

But the male’s smile never faltered, not even when his head swept slowly across the Dragon-storm before him, considering each face before slowly finding oblivion in Garrik’s eyes. “They have their purposes,” the spymaster drawled, his expression dropping wholly bored.

“To what do we owe the pleasure, Silas?”

Silas.She’d heard that name before. The mercenaries were going to sell her to him.

Alora stiffened.

Garrik must’ve known because a rush of shadowy calm brushed her mind.You are safe, clever girl.

The spymaster uncupped his hands and cleared a speck of dirt from his jacket, assessing the fabric as he spoke. “Haven’t you heard?” Crimson flickered to Alora. “There is a powerful Marked One within Kadamar’s borders.” That critical gaze snapped to Garrik. “I thought it best I usher him to his father’s mountain. You never know what dangers lie within.”

Garrik scoffed. His cruel smile widened. “Silas … I am touched. I never knew you cared.”

Silas’s expression was as if it were carved in stone. “Indeed.” With a sway of his arm, he gestured to the raven-crested doors. “I am quite certain you remember the way. Should you require anything … I would be happy to assist.”

“I am certain you would be, Silas. But we will not require yourcarefuleye.”

That cunning grin twitched on Silas’s mouth. “Even so.” He gracefully side-stepped, allowing room for Garrik to pass beforehis stare fell on Alora. She was nearly passed when he leaned in, drawing close to her shoulder to whisper, “Welcome to Kadamar, white-hair.”

If it were anyone else, perhaps she would’ve smiled. But laced within his sharp tongue, it sounded more of a threat than anything.

With a wary nod, Alora glanced over her shoulder to Thalon directly behind her, and Jade and Aiden steps behind. That warm smile she knew so well was nowhere to be seen. The illusion of barbarity under the Savage Prince’s order reigned. But glowing golden eyes locked on her, and he nodded as if to sayeverything is alrightbefore stopping just outside the threshold and turning to speak to the guardsmen.

Static energy like strikes of lightning undulated through her the moment she crossed the threshold. For a moment, Alora’s eyes closed, allowing the sensation raising the hairs on her arms to sink deeply into her bones, reveling in the taste of metal and satisfying silent protection of her High Prince’s shield. When she opened them, what had been dreary and dark blackstone and the aroma of molded earth under waterfalls transformed into a grand spectacle.

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