Page 74 of Court of Treachery

She glanced to one side of her chair, to see Dimitri placing a small table within arm’s reach. Fine foods—the likes of which did not belong in spoiled halls overrun by goblins—piled high upon it.

Could it be poisoned?Her stomach grumbled, tight and empty. If she was to escape, she needed strength—and she reasoned if he wanted her dead, she already would be. She fell upon the offerings without a further worry of any taint upon the food. It tasted like ash in her mouth, and her stomach roiled with nausea, threatening to expel the lot of it, but she ate regardless. She had no idea if and when her next meal would come.

“Good, good,” Saradon said approvingly as he settled on the throne to her other side and picked at his own private pile of food. Dimitri stood still, like a sculpture.

“How goes Pelenor, Lord Ellarian?”

Dimitri stirred. “Events progress apace, Lord Ravakian. I have not attended court in some days, to make sure things here are… managed. The court continues to crumble. The king is primed to withdraw, and the general of the Winged Kingsguardto assume temporary regency to maintain order. The curse spreads through the court as planned. My allies are poised and waiting, though scared, to shore up control of the court.”

Harper did not have enough wit to truly take in his words and the level of deception and scheming Dimitri was involved in—and the master of—and nor did she want to.

“Excellent. I thank you for the sustenance, Lord Ellarian. Much nicer fare than the carrion amongst these halls.”

Dimitri bowed and murmured his welcome.

“Now, daughter, this day is for you. I want to use all my time to become familiar with you.” Saradon smiled, and Harper’s heart sank. She dropped her gaze, not wanting to meet his piercing violet eyes.

“Tell me of your life, daughter.” His voice was silky smooth, inviting. The magic in her blood, his magic, coaxed her.

Tell him. Oh, wouldn’t it be so nice to tell him?She shook her head. “N-No,” she stuttered, forcing her will to shove against his. “You already saw it.” Why did he need to hear it from her?

“But, daughter, I wish to hear tales from your own lips, hear your voice. You have the sound of my own dear mother, may she rest in peace. In you, I hear the timbre of her voice. I miss it so.”

An aching sadness filled her at his loss and grief, eliciting sympathy and a desire to comfort him.He’s controlling you,she told herself doggedly.Don’t give in.

“You must give him something,” Dimitri said into her mind. “Else he will shatter your mind and take what he will. Then you will be good to nobody and nothing.”

A lazy, slow apprehension reared at his words. “I don’t know what you want,” she said dully, her tongue feeling large and clumsy, sticking in her mouth, as though she were a drunkard. A warm rush of magic stroked over her—a gift from Dimitri. It banished some of the fuzziness within her mind and her limbs seemed to lighten. She sat up straighter. “I am a nobody. Mylife has been boring. Meaningless.”And it’s none of your damn business.

“And yetyouare hardly meaningless, are you, daughter? The bearer of Erendriel’s own edict.” He spoke with honey in his voice, but she could not miss the spike of venom at Erendriel’s name.

“I don’t claim to bear anything,” she said guardedly.

“I saw the vision. Erendriel, for all her faults, does not lie.” He watched her out of the corner of his eye.

What did he want her to say? Did he want her to admit that she was some prophetic chosen one? Harper did not even know what Erendriel’s words meant. “Then you know more than I.” Harper lifted her chin. “I’ve been nothing but a pauper, scrounging from the land. I’ve spent more years starving than I have full, and never more than a couple of coppers away from destitution. There’s nothing gifted in that.”

“Those who made it so will pay for the crime, do not worry, daughter. I will see them suffer several times over that you did not have the life you were entitled to as my heir.” Saradon’s voice was dark once more, and his displeasure crackled through the halls.

Harper’s skin crawled. She knew who had killed her mother. She knew who he would make suffer.Raedon. Will he punish Aedon for Raedon’s crimes?She pushed the thought from her mind as quickly as it arrived, though she was certain Saradon already knew.She sent a desperate plea to the heavens that Aedon would not be punished in Raedon’s place.

The doors swung open and a band of writhing goblins dragged in two bedraggled figures. Saradon clapped his hands together, the sound booming around the hall. “Ah! Excellent. Our entertainment arrives.”

Harper’s shoulders sagged with relief that his attention had diverted from her, then suddenly straightened again when she perceived who their “entertainment” was.

“No!” she cried out involuntarily, jumping up.

64

HARPER

Saradon frowned and motioned for the goblins to bring Brand and Erika forward, even as he froze Harper.

“Sit!”

His command forced her to sink onto the throne once more. Brand and Erika’s attention snapped to her at his command. She shuddered against his will, her limbs locking, but it was no use. Their eyes widened when they saw Harper seated next to Saradon. She knew they would be wondering at her presence—and her place beside their captor.

Harper tried to surge forward, but Saradon’s bond held her in place. Slowly, despite her strangled screams of anger, her body subsided onto her chair once more. Saradon’s magic forced her to sit, back straight, even raising her chin so she glared imperiously at her friends below her. Furious tears streamed down her cheeks, and she raged against the magic that held her there, to no avail. Her companions were almost unrecognisable—beaten, bruised, and dirty. Erika’s furs were crusted with dirt and blood, and Brand’s wings were tattered and covered in gore.

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