Page 40 of The Shadowbound King

“So you enslaved him,” I said, outrage building.

Andrin flashed a brief, humorless smile. “Walto begged me for the bond. I denied him for years.Go back to Purecliff, I told him. He was young, and he was his father’s only heir. I pressured him to return to Eftar and use his gifts to better the lives of his people. He would be the lord of Purecliff one day. I told him to take a wife and sire an heir of his own. But he was persistent…and charming. He was beloved in the Embervale.”

I shook my head. “That doesn’t sound like him.”

“Because it was all an act,” Rane rasped. Anger glittered in his eyes. “Walto wanted power. He deceived everyone to get it.”

“He knelt before me in this grove,” Andrin said, drawing my gaze back to him. “Walto pledged himself to my service, vowing to run the shadows between the Autumn Court and the other kingdoms. He promised to be my eyes and ears in places I couldn’t venture due to treaties and custom. He said he wanted to usher in a new era of cooperation between humans and elves. To my great shame, I believed him.”

The skeletal hand gleamed under the moon’s light. Visions of my father on the tower at Purecliff flashed in my mind. The memory of his golden fist forcing my chin up was so strong that I could almost feel the metal digging into my skin.

Andrin continued, his voice low and steady. “Walto served me, extending his mortal lifespan and increasing his magic. He was an excellent spy, as most shadowkin are. But power and magic weren’t enough for him. He wanted to live forever. So he came to this grove and ripped the Kree from the Edeloak.”

I looked at the tree, icy foreboding sliding through my veins. At the base of the trunk, some of the grass was brown. A branch I hadn’t noticed before bent toward the ground, some of its leaves dark and shriveled.

Andrin handed the box to Rane. Then he took my elbow and guided me forward, waiting as I hiked my skirts and stepped over roots. When we reached the tree’s base, he placed his palm on the trunk and closed his eyes.

The air rippled. Magic pulsed. The wind picked up, tossing the leaves above our heads. A gash as tall as Andrin appeared on the trunk. Red liquid trickled from the wound and ran down the bark.

Andrin’s features contorted. Sweat broke out on his face. His lips parted as his breathing grew heavier. Finally, he wrenched his hand away.

The wound vanished. But, of course, it hadn’t. The magic in my veins tingled, and the same instincts that told me whena bird’s wing was broken told me the tree’s injury was always there. The damage was hidden under an illusion.Andrin’sillusion. What did it cost him to maintain it?

Pale and sweating, Andrin looked at me. “The Kree is the heart of Autumn’s power. Two hundred years ago, it beat within the Edeloak. Your father ripped it out and fled across the Covenant. Autumn has always been a place of shadow and light. One cannot exist without the other. When Walto took our light, he plunged us into shadow.”

And then he’d done what Andrin encouraged him to do from the beginning. He’d taken his father’s place at Purecliff, found a wife, and sired an heir of his own. But the timeline didn’t add up.

“How?” I whispered. “I’m twenty-seven. If my father is as old as you say, how has he ruled Purecliff for two hundred years? We have servants. Someone would have noticed he never aged.”

Andrin straightened, his color returning. “I don’t pretend to know how Walto managed to deceive his people. But he’ll pay for what he’s done to mine.” In one swift movement, Andrin stepped into me and grasped my chin.

Magic snapped, the stinging current arcing through my jaw.

Andrin’s nostrils flared as he tightened his grip. “You would curse me, Mirella Lornlark. But you’re too late. I’m already cursed. My people are prisoners here. Every day, the shadows grow thicker. They creep closer, ready to devour the last patch of Autumn.”

Magic fired again, the sting like tiny needles piercing my skin. I gasped, my eyes watering as I gripped his wrist. “Please,” I rasped. “Let me go.”

“I can’t,” he said, his voice as rough as mine. “Walto won’t live forever. The Kree gives him time, but it won’t give him eternity. Men achieve immortality through their children. Walto won’t let his line fail. He’ll want you back.”

Grass rustled, and Rane appeared at the edge of my vision.

Andrin released me, and I scurried back, my head spinning from revelations I wasn’t sure I could believe. But I couldn’t deny what I’d seen in the Edelfen…or the wooden box that held the same hand my father had lost.

The box was nowhere in sight as Andrin turned to Rane.

“Go now. Spend as little time on the ground as possible, and return as quickly as you can.”

Rane bowed low. “Yes, Your Majesty.” He turned and strode away from the tree.

“And Rane?” Andrin called.

Rane paused, looking back over his shoulder. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

A long look passed between the men. Andrin swallowed.

“Be careful, my lord.”

Rane held the king’s stare a moment longer. Then he inclined his head. “I will, Your Majesty.” He turned, took two steps, and shifted into a crow. Flapping his wings, he soared into the sky and flew from the grove.

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