Page 178 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

“Shut up,” Garrik lightly snarled, and Ezander snickered.

Alora felt a flutter of warmth, amusement that wasn’t her own. A hint of mirth rippled down their silver tether before a gentle caress kissed her mind, and Garrik said,Go with Aiden.

Alora furrowed her brows as he turned to the shadow-storm.Why?

Garrik’s jaw tightened as his eyes drifted to Silas, who had somehow appeared in front of the crowd. Something mollified his expression before it hardened to stone. Garrik burned his attention into the spymaster until that blood-gaze flashed toward the king, then to the shadows, and answered,Because I do not want you seeing what I must do next.

And Alora knew … knew that he couldn’t be anything other than who the Savage Prince was known to be for the treason enacted on him.Magnelis’s beasthad done much more for less.

The darkness parted.

Gasps undulated around the room.

That male… Alora recognized him.

Had seen him sobbing over another male’s body when Garrik had first graced Kadamar’s throne room for dinner. Had seen him earlier staring at her while whispering to Ladomyr. And now, he thrashed in a fortress of darkness that sealed him by his legsinsidethat same floor.

“Lord Terious,” Garrik drawled as he took the male’s head between his palms. “Such a disappointment. And to think, my father so graciously granted you what little magic you possess to produce him weapons. I would have never imagined you to have used them to extend a treasonous hand.” The male couldn’t do anything more than scream as darkened abyss searched his soul. “It would seem in mourning your brother you have forgotten who I am. Allow me the pleasure of reminding you,Marked One.”

Alora schooled her look of shock and simmered at the reminder that nobles were the only ones who seemed to escape Magnelis’s jealous hand.

Take Soulstryker, Garrik insisted.Search for Blood. See if Life gleams.

The cold and lethal kiss of her blade dawned to her hip inside her gown. Aiden’s warmth drifted beside her as she met Thalon’s eyes from across the room, and then met Jade’s.

Choking, wet gurgles bubbled from Lord Terious’s mouth as Aiden gestured forward with his hand. “General,” he addressed her in his Shadow Order voice that was so unlike him. She hated it. Missed that fun-loving half-human temperament. “We must prepare the Marked One's escort to Galdheir once His Highness is through.”

And before anyone could speak up, Ezander curled his lip as he turned away. “I cannot stomach this. If you’ll excuse me,my lady.” He bent his waist and without another word, left the throne room as Aiden and Alora walked out to the sound of the male’s screams.

Ancient whitestone and vines of red roses decorated the hall leading to Erissa’s wing. Like inside the castle, as they strolled through the cloisters opening to private gardens, each step echoed off the tranquility and high stone arches, casting shadows on the polished pathway. With vibrant evening sunlight dappling through the mountains and treesoutside, the golden shards painted freckled designs, leaving a sense of peace and beauty that Elysian longed for.

Which was a shame because Erissa was none of those things.

What should’ve been a symphony of flowery citrus, sweet perfumes, and a delicate cradling of velvety petals saturating the air, was nothing more than the rotting dregs of self-conceit, coddling, and greed. It seeped through the solitude of the walls and settled into the very mortar holding the palace together, murmuring of danger lurking. Of Erissa’s presence lingering inside every surface.

Even as she and Aiden searched her rooms, that feeling never receded.

It was in Erissa’sthirdbedchamber that Alora studied the grandeur. Unlike the other themes—one of a whimsical forest and the other a shrine of the Stars Eternal, this one ….

This one.

Fit for the Celestial she more than likely believed herself to be, this bedchamber opened to a balcony. It appeared similar to the cloisters inside the castle, like the waterfall and its mist, magic lay there. With no door, no windows, and wholly exposed to the elements of the world beyond, only a soft breeze trickled through. Disturbing the flowing crimson curtains along the openings and the four-post golden bedframe.

A whitestone balustrade opened to four steps leading to a private garden of perfectly clipped shrubbery, flowers, and a water fountain swimming area surrounded by walls of blackstone and evergreens. Beyond the garden, hewn within the mountain peaks like jagged crowns, an outdoor balcony waited. Overlooking the splendor of the High City of Karanagar, like it was hers to rule.

Alora tried not to gawk and turned inside the room, finding Aiden with his ear pressed against a cherry-stained door while maneuvering two metal sticks inside the golden lock.Her ballgown fluttered as she turned to the dresser embossed in golden accents and the same stain as the door. Drifting Soulstryker along every surface and waiting to see if Life gleamed.

So far … nothing.

Not a starsdamned sparkle.

Aiden was inside that door within moments and exited even faster, shaking his head as he pocketed something. “Nothing but a bloody shoe closet,” he announced. “Why do females lock up shoes?”

Alora chuckled, dragging her blade along a picture of Erissa in a gown of scarlet—and the same crown as she wore that evening. “Not many females obsessed with shoes in your realm?” she asked. Though she could admit, she didn’t see the sense in barricading shoes either. Who wanted to steal a slipper?

“No,” Aiden dramatically elongated the vowel as it rolled off his tongue. “Most females in my world have fishtails.”

“Mermaids?” She beamed. Like humans, she’d only ever read about them in books, though it was rumored they existed in Elysian.

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