Page 18 of Shadows of Ruin

“What are you laughing at?” I snapped.

“Oh, I’m more than happy to tell Jax and Raya all about our adventures in Brookmere. I think they will be particularly intrigued to know about your escapades these last few months.”

Raya sat silently, shaking her head, already annoyed. She always had little patience for our banter, just wanting the facts as quickly as possible.

“Well, friends,” Storm began, leaning in, “let me tell you a tale of a land far away, where we met a fair maiden in the woods. Kade held her at knife point, and then tried to win her hand in the deadliest marriage trials I’ve ever heard of. Trials that would have led to Kade becoming the King of Brookmere.”

Jax had taken a swig of water and promptly spit it everywhere. “Marriagetrials?”

“But it doesn’t stop there,” Storm continued.

Sparks flew toward the sky in an impressive display as Raya rolled her eyes at Storm’s theatrics.

Jax flicked the knife he had been using to cut the bread in his hand, waiting. “Come on, what happened next.”

“You’re a child,” Raya huffed.

Storm laughed, some of the tension from the day fading away. “The icing on the honey cake from our time away, besides me having to hunt him down after he spent the night with our dear princess, had to be watching him attempt to flirt. It’s been eons since he has tried to woo a lady, and it was…awkward as fuck. Disastrous.”

“Apparently not disastrous enough to keep them apart.” Jax grinned.

I growled. “Enough.”

“Yes, enough,” Raya said sharply. “If you're going to take all day to get to what matters, I’ll start on our end. You have been gone too long and our list of excuses ran dry weeks ago. We must return to the palace.”

The humor faded instantly, drying up to die, like the land around us. Returning to the palace was unavoidable. My eyes darted toward my tent where Lana slept, shadows pulsing, wanting to keep her far away from the king. Raya’s chocolate eyes bore into me until I met hers.

“I know we do,” I said. “I’m sorry for the pressures you were left with.”

“There is going to be hell to pay since you haven’t been here to enforce the king’s psychotic laws.” Raya stared deep into my eyes. “It’s getting worse.”

“I already apologized,” I said a little harsher this time, refusing to break Raya’s stare.

Storm cleared his throat, apparently sensing the mounting violence filling the space between us. “I am going to train with Lana. We need her sharp, ready. Ian taught her well, so it will not be hard to hone her skills further.”

“Train her so she’s more capable of stabbing him?” Raya pointed exasperatedly at me. "All while we’re also fighting against the king? Brilliant plan, Storm.”

“She’s already able to stab him,” Storm said. Raya frowned at the comment and Jax shook his head in silent disbelief. I merely shrugged.

Storm stretched his arms over his head, cracking his back and staring me down. “He wouldn’t even fight back at this point.”

My jaw twitched as I clenched it hard. “Your point?”

“She needs to know everything. Including why you killed her father.”

“What?” Raya gasped.

Jax stared, mouth agape.

I glared at my best friend, knowing full well he was not only going to make me face my guilt, face Lana, and handle this, but also ensure our friends knew exactly what happened in Brookmere. All at once.

“He begged me to,” I said, clenching my hands into fists asdark shadows built around me, like they could somehow protect me from my own guilt.

“Which you need to tellher,” he insisted.

“I tried.”

“Try harder,” Storm countered, unwilling to accept my retort.

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