Page 122 of Once the Skies Fade

She killed them without a second thought—no remorse—suffocating them with such ease, just as she had nearly done with Korben in the hallway. The scene before me vanished as a memory took its place. Gabriel gasping for breath as the Shadow Keeper filled his lungs with darkness instead. I’d been helpless to stop it, incapable of helping him, as feeble then as I was now. Calla’s clicking tongue snapped me back to the present. Her shadows once again swirled slowly in front of her.

“If you wanted to stop the poison,” she said to Raven, “you should have come to me or to the Assembly.”

“How do you think my family got the poison in the first place?” Raven challenged. “All shipments from Dolobare require royal approval. For all I know, you’re the one who has been orchestrating its transport.”

“And what use would I have with a weapon against my own kind?”

“Ask your husband,” Raven spat.

Calla roared—a pained, mournful sound—and threw her hands toward Raven.

No! I wouldn’t let this happen again. I wouldn’t stand idly by and do nothing.

I bounded forward, jumping off the dais to stand in front of Raven, as if I could actually block Calla’s powers from reaching her. Yet, that’s exactly what happened. Her shadows halted, winding around my arms and legs, through my hair and over my torso, moving like a pet against its owner, who had just returned from a long absence.

Growling low, Calla glowered at me. Her face twisted in anguish and confusion as she seemed to try to get her shadows to move past me. I risked a glance at the other males still seated on the dais. Korben bore a wicked grin as if he were already picturing my execution, silently begging for her power to end me right here. Phillip’s eyes were as wide as his mouth, which he tried to hide behind splayed fingers, and Graham watched all of this with a stoic curiosity.

“Move, Matthias,” she hissed the command, but I stood firm, extending an arm out in front of my sister as well.

“No. I won’t let you do this,” I said, gently. “Not without a trial.”

She sneered, baring her teeth, but pulled her shadows back into her palms. Gesturing to the guards, she said, “Then you’ll go to the dungeons with them.”

Chapter 53

Calla

Istormed off of the dais and out of the room as the guards hauled the prisoners and Matthias away. Through the roar of anger in my ears, I could faintly hear Isa behind me instructing the crowd that the citizens’ forum was ending early. Once in the royal sitting room behind the Great Hall, I threw my shadows out around me, channeling all of my anger into my power. Paintings crashed to the floor as I tore them off the walls. Cushions exploded into clouds of feathers as I ripped them apart.

The general thought he could challenge me? And in front of everyone like that?

As good as his intentions were, he had made a fool of me.

Concealed in my shadows, I moved through the castle hallways, pausing in the darkness cast by the lamp light whenever someone walked past. The air grew colder as I made my way down the spiral stone steps to the holding cells. We rarely used these, as the forest generally kept enemies or attackers from making it very far, and we’d lived in relative peace since the war ended. Though with the number of humans who’d defied my orders, the cells had recently seen more use.

At the bottom of the stairs, I paused and listened. Matthias’s voice, though quiet, reverberated through the small space.

“Who is watching after Lorynne and Gabe? And the children you took in?” he asked, and my mind snagged on the first name, recalling how I had run my hand over Matthias’s tattoo.

Lorynne. His niece.

Was one of the women his sister?

The demi-fae.

Of course.

There had been something annoyingly familiar about her features, and that must have been why. She was the general’s half-sister. No wonder he had stepped in to protect them, though that didn’t explain his connection to the other woman.

“Lottie is staying at the house while I’m away. She had planned to make this trip, but we knew the humans in Arenysen didn’t trust fae, so I offered to come instead.”

“That was stupid of you,” Matthias said, humorlessly.

“You’re one to talk, brother. What in the stars are you doing sitting by that evil queen’s side?”

Before he could respond, the other woman’s voice chimed in. “He’s entered her tournament, competing to be the new king.”

“What? Why? You’ve never been interested in settling down,” his sister said.

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