Page 43 of Kingdom of Briars and Roses

I’d known I couldn’t keep this from him. Not if I wanted to keep Amanti’s part of it quiet. Not to mention keeping his belief in my loyalty intact. If he thought for one moment this vow wasn’t forcing my obedience,he’d find a much worse way to bring me to heel. So, I’d made a choice and could only hope it would prove to be the right one.

“And where has she been hiding?” he asked.

“Inside Sevanwinds borders,” I said.

“Impossible,” Koraz sniped. “No one has managed to breach those borders in years.”

“I watched her walk right through the wards,” I said, daring him to challenge my claim.

“He lies,” Koraz declared. “He wants to trap you so he can take your throne.”

“The oath prevents him from deceiving me,” Duron said wearily. For once, I didn’t blame him. This was an old and tired argument. One I was more than happy to end with the tip of my sword.

Koraz huffed and lapsed into silence.

“I believe the wards may have been cast by one of the Aine,” I said.

“Yes, I’ve heard your theories.” Duron waved me off, clearly uninterested in the origin of the magic that had hidden her for so long. Once, he’d ordered me to identify and nullify it. But when years had passed without result, he’d given up and turned his focus to other methods of gathering power.

His eyes gleamed as he asked, “Do you believe she’s the Chosen One now?”

I hesitated, not because I doubted my answer but because I knew what it would ignite in the old man. Once I opened this door, I could never close it again.

Duron’s eyes flashed with impatience. “Answer me, boy. The oath demands it.”

“Yes,” I said. “She survived Heliconia’s attack seven years ago. That in itself should’ve been impossible. But more than that, while I observed her in the Broadlands recently, she killed an Obsidian without the use of magic.”

“That proves nothing,” Lemuel, another of the advisors, muttered.

“She’s become a capable warrior,” I said, my temper and patience both straining. “And I sense power in her. Enough to make her a formidable foe if honed correctly.”

Duron’s lips curled into something resembling a smile. “And a dangerous weapon.” He stood, his thick body wrapped in a velvet cloak. He descended the steps slowly, approaching me with a faraway look in his eyes. “Find her. Bring her to me. If she is the Chosen One, she will be of great use to us.”

“The wards are impenetrable,” I reminded him.

“You will find a way,” he bellowed, his temper snapping.

I didn’t bother trying to explain that an Aine’s ward was unbreakable by anything less than the Fates themselves. Not even Heliconia had breached it these last seven years. Something told me reminding him of that would not end well.

I tried a different tactic. “She won’t come willingly,” I said, keeping my tone flat. “She made it clear she didn’t want to be found.”

His laughter was a jagged thing. “Why should that matter? Free will doesn’t factor into destiny. Didn’t you tell me that once?”

I didn’t answer, but he waved a dismissive hand, clearly uninterested in a response anyway.

“Go,” he said simply. “Use whatever resources you must. But don’t return without her.”

I bowed again, leaving the throne room as the weight of his command settled heavily on my shoulders.

Heading straight for the rear doors that would take me to the stables, I thought only of getting out of here. Getting home. Or the closest thing I had to a home anyway. Across the city, a quiet townhouse waited for me, bought and paid for using the name of a laborer who had died ten years prior. Slade and Daegel were there along with a ward line of myown that kept Duron’s spies out, and that was what mattered.

I’d nearly made it outside when a familiar voice called out behind me. “Rydian, wait.”

I stifled a groan as Callan rounded the corner. Behind him, the hallway was dark and empty. No torchlight shone in that direction, and he was completely alone, which was unusual for him. Even inside the castle, the prick usually had an escort.

He hurried up to me, his golden eyes full of arrogance and that perpetual amusement that suggested he saw life as a joke.

“I have somewhere to be,” I said.

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