Page 5 of Shadows of Ruin

I yanked at the vines.Enough. Enough of his vitriol.

Andras met my eyes, and a sickening smile, hidden from the crowd just for me, spread over his elongated face. “Traitors like our weak, pathetic captain of the guard, Ian Stronholm.”

Unaware my body could become any straighter, it shocked me when it did, freezing rigidly. Guards stepped closer with their swords drawn. I’d take them down one by one if I could escape this disaster. They’d die before taking me away without knowing Lana’s location.

“No!” someone shouted. “He’s no traitor!” Voices rose from the crowd, coming to my defense.

The sea of Fae shifted, restless. Hearing Andras lie about Lana without her here was an easy manipulation. Itdidn’t seem to work quite as well when I still stood before them.

Angry shouts continued to fill the air as their support for the hatred Andras spouted faltered.

“Enough.” Andras’s voice rose above the crowd. He bowed his head. “I trusted him, too,” his voice broken in a way which would never ring true. “But the king is dead. Captain Stronholm stood witness to the entire event.”

Heavy, deathly silence overtook the crowd instantly.

The leaden reality finally sank in.

I raised my head higher, my mouth so dry, I could not even speak. Desperation tore through me to find someone to reject Andras's lies. One of my eyes was swelled, a stabbing pain directly in the cheek underneath it. Beads of sweat pooled at my hairline and rolled down my face.

There.

Corbin’s and Leif's faces appeared through the crowd directly in front of me. Leif’s leg, though wrapped, continued to bleed through the gauze. I quietly thanked the Fates they’d survived the siege with so few injuries.

Corbin met my gaze.

His eyes burned with too many questions, mimicking my own. Did he know if Lana had fled to safety? Or if what Andras said was true instead? I tried to ask, through raised brows, praying he understood what I was trying to convey. Willing my thoughts to him, wishing desperately for just one moment alone with my friends.

The slightest shake of his head was the only indication he understood my question from afar. He didn’t know her location either. I slumped, giving in to the vines as they twisted harder.

“I never thought I’d see the king destroyed, especially by his own daughter.”

The faces in the crowd were wary, waiting for whatever might come next.

"I will ensure justice be brought to Ian Stronholm.” Andras’s voice echoed over the crowd of Fae who now grimaced toward me. Turned by pretty words and lies.

“And when we’ve taken care of his treachery, we’ll hunt down Princess Illiana.” He paused, a sinister smile spreading across his face. “She will pay for her crimes against our kingdom.”

Chapter 2

Lana

Iam Illiana Dresden, and I am stronger than the darkness within me.

After all, I’d survived torture as a child.

I survived the panic attacks in the aftermath.

The never-ending barrage of pain and grief.

I survived by reminding myself of what I knew. What was real. Now, all of it crumbled at my feet, threatening to pull me under for good.

Holding on to reality? Now that would be impossible. Mytruthwas all a lie.

It seemed as if everything, my entire existence, had been built on a throne of lies, exacerbated by the king of Brookmere.

The king. My father...or who Ithoughtto be my father.

For now, the distinction between king and father would have to wait. As would processing the remaining shattered pieces of my heart crumbling inside me, and the other revelations his last words ushered. There were more pressing matters at hand.

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