Page 157 of Bound to the Shadow Prince

Erynne draws back. Her shoulders straighten and she looks at me—really looks at me—for what feels like the first time. “How did you get out of the tower, Candra?”

“We waited for as long as we could. We waited for food. No one came, and Nemeth and I had to make a decision?—”

Her eyes narrow the moment I mention Nemeth’s name. “The Fellian. You didn’t kill him, then. I knew you were too weak. Too blinded by cock. Is it good? Does that monster have a fine cock? It must be excellent for you to betray your people just like that whore Riza.”

“Riza! She’s alive, then?”

“She should be dead,” Erynne spits, hatred contorting her face. “Cavorting with the enemy. Flirting with him. Pretending like he’s something other than a Fellianmonster.” Her lip curls as she looks down at my belly. “And you…you’re no better. Unless…did he rape you?”

I feel sick. Sick at how hopeful her expression is. She’d rather have me brutalized by the enemy than happily married? I shake my head. “Nemeth is kind.” When she snorts, I continue on, ignoring her. “He’s a scholar. He’s good to me. I-I married him, Erynne.”

“You always were a fool for cock,” she says in a bitter voice. “You should have killed him when you had the chance. Unless you still have that poison I sent you…?”

I get up from the bench. “You’re scaring me, Erynne. I’m not going to give you the tools to murder people.”

“Because you’re on their side now. Is that it? You’ve turned your back on your name. Your heritage. Your people.” Her eyes fill with tears. “Oh, Candra. You’re such an idiot.”

I want to cry. I want to bury my face in Nemeth’s arms and just weep for hours. This isn’t my sister. This bitter, hateful shell that wants to kill and hurt and destroy isn’t the Erynne I knew. The sister that always looked out for me and wiped away my tears is gone, replaced by this vengeful stranger. “It’s my fault,” I realize. “We left the tower. We brought the wrath of the goddess down…”

My words trail off as Erynne begins to laugh. I watch her, confused, as she holds her sides and laughs as if this is the funniest thing in the world.

“Oh Candra,” she wheezes. “Even after all this, you still think it’s about you? Hah. If only it were.” She laughs harder. “We’ve been lied to this entire time, you poor fool. And you’ve gone and married a Fellian. I had no idea you were so stupid.”

“What do you mean? Who’s lied?”

But Erynne gets a catlike look on her face, a smirk that makes my skin crawl. “Your husband can tell you. After he does, bring me the knife. I’ll do it if you don’t have the stomach for it.”

She turns away from me, hiding her face as one of the Fellian guards approaches the gazebo, and a moment later, she’s led away. I’m torn between clinging to her hand and begging them not to take her, and relief that she’s gone. It isn’t until Erynne is out of sight that I realize she’s never asked about my medicine or how I’m staying alive without it.

She hasn’t asked how I got pregnant.

She doesn’t care. I realize that. Everything she told me was to make me as broken and empty and full of hate as she is. She wants me to hate Nemeth and his people. I know that. I do.

But I can’t stop wondering what she meant when she said we were both lied to.

Nemeth returns a short time later,his mood foul.

“Went well?” I half-heartedly joke. I can tell it didn’t. He’s vibrating with tension, his mouth set into what looks like a permanent frown.

“He refuses to see me,” Nemeth says. “He’s having Ajaxi run messages between rooms and speaks to me from across the hall. It is madness. My brother has lost his wits.”

“Ajaxi?” My natural instinct is to tease a laugh out of him, because if we’re laughing, we’re not crying at least…and I definitely feel like crying at the moment.

He snorts. “Ajaxi has never had wits. Ivornath is the one that has lost his.”

That sounds more like my Nemeth. I wonder if I should tell him about my run-in with my sister. About all the awful things she told me. About the fact that she says I’ve been lied to. I don’t know how much was truth and how much was Erynne’s bitterness and her wanting to destroy my happiness with Nemeth. “So what is our next approach?”

Nemeth wraps his wings around me. “Now we return home.”

We slide through shadows, and my vision tilts dizzily. I cling to him, waiting for things to settle again. It’s silent when we’re back in his apartments, and I rub my skin, feeling safe. “Why does it feel different in here? Better?”

He grunts. “Ivornath has spells on the courtyard. He watches everything.”

Weird. “He sounds paranoid.”

“Paranoid, but alive,” Nemeth agrees. “You won’t be watched here. You’re safe.” He touches my shoulder. “But I must leave you here again. Ajaxi wishes to speak to me privately.”

Ajaxi—the one that’s enslaved my sister. I swallow hard. “Take me with you?”

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