Page 64 of Ira

After the dust had settled, after the shadows had cleared, all would be well. We would find our way back to one another. I would trust in that.

“Your parents are expecting you,” the king added. “You have much to learn about your new role. I assured them you would make your way to Sunlis as soon as you arrived, provided that you were in good health and free of the Pit. As you fit both conditions, you may go there directly. Soren will escort you.”

I straightened up as best I could, trying to maintain the last few shreds of my tattered dignity. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Chapter 22

“Where are they taking Verner?” I demanded, wrenching my arm free of Astrid’s grip and planting my hands on my hips to glare at her. I wasn’t taking one step inside the palace until I knew Verner wasn’t being sent away. Tallulah and Ophelia were there too, and while I knew they were trying to offer me support, I felt caged in and outnumbered.

“He’s fine,” Astrid replied, clearly as annoyed as I was and doing an equally poor job of hiding it. “Are you injured? What do you need?”

“I need the answer to my question.”

Astrid huffed dramatically. “He’s going to chat to the king about what the two of you have been up to.”

“In the Pit?” I pressed.

Astrid narrowed her eyes. “Why would Verner need to be in the Pit, Meera?”

“He doesn’t. Obviously. I was just asking.”

“Astrid,” Tallulah interjected softly, immediately trying to bring the temperature down. “Perhaps this isn’t the best venue for this conversation. Meera, we thought you might need to go to the healers wing—”

“I don’t need that. I’m fine. Can’t I go to the meeting with the king?”

“No,” Astrid replied firmly. “If you don’t want to go to the healers wing then we can return to your room—I’ll send down to the kitchen for whatever you want. But we are going to talk, Meera.WithoutVerner. You up and left, convinced the Hunters in Elverston House to lie for you, disappeared for over a day, then swanned back in with a massive chip on your shoulder that you never seemed to have before. I mean, come on. You don’t think you owe us a fucking explanation?”

Tallulah and Ophelia winced, watching me like they expected me to crumple like tissue paper under the force of Astrid’s rage.

But I had plenty of rage of my own. Enough to fuel an argument. Enough to maybe take down an entire organization, if I’d directed it well enough.

“I told you I could replace him myself,” I reminded her.

Astrid frowned. “This is about Randal Jackman? I mean, I know yousaidthat, but you didn’t mean it.”

“Astrid,” Ophelia chided gently. “Maybe she did.”

Tallulah was looking at me like she’d never seen me before, and guilt churned uneasily in my stomach. Not at what I’d done—for the most part, I felt pretty good about that—but at the idea of letting any of them down. I’d misled them. They thought I was a good person. A calm, rational person who always exercised good judgment and didn’t make impulsive decisions.

That had never been true. I’d just been pretending that it had been for years.

“Why don’t we sit outside?” Ophelia suggested, gesturing to a circular stone table with curved benches around it, surrounded by a manicured flower bed.

I infinitely preferred that idea to being trapped in my room, surrounded by glowering and/or confused faces, so I immediately made my way over, sitting down next to Ophelia while Tallulah and Astrid took the seats opposite.

While it made sense that Verity wasn’t here since she no longer lived at court, I desperately wished she was. The two of us had never been the closest out of the group—probably because our personalities were like chalk and cheese. But our backgrounds weren’t. If I laid out to the group what I’d done and why, I’d probably find Verity the most understanding out of all of them. Well, except for the new ex-Hunters in Elverston House, but I doubted I’d even have to explain things to them. They would just get it.

The Hunters had a pecking order, and life was not all college scholarships, free housing, and immediate job offers for those at the bottom of it.

“Where’s Iris?” I asked.

“The nursery,” Ophelia replied. “She’s a popular guest there—the babies adore her.”

Of course they did—Iris was the sweetest soul in the shadow realm. I should probably spend less time with her, lest I taint her goodness with my anger.

“Enough small talk,” Astrid cut in. “Where have you been? What do you mean you were going to replace Randal yourself? Where exactly did you go?”

“I had a meeting.” I knew I was being obstinate, but sitting in front of the three of them for an interrogation had put me on the defensive.

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