Page 40 of Shadows of Ruin

“Oh, Ian, you look… What have they done?—”

“Don’t worry about me, Your Majesty,” I interrupted, cutting off her concerns. She had enough on her plate without worrying about me. “Please tell me why you're here. You’ve put yourself in grave danger.”

“Do you know where she is?” The queen’s voice cracked. “Is she alive?”

I squeezed her hand between mine. “I have to believe we’d know if she wasn’t. Though I don’t know what happened or where she’d go.”

She nodded, and her body shook. “Losing them both—” She raised her other hand to her mouth, closing her eyes. “Well, there wouldn’t be much left for me if I lose them both.”

“Don’t say that. They’d want you to be strong. The king would want you to fight.”

She whimpered, then fell forward, letting go of my hands and clutching the bars.

“Your Majesty?” I asked, frantically trying to see if she had an injury I’d missed. I reached through, touching the cloak she wore.

“Ian, you must escape. You must find her.” The queen’s delicate fingers traced over the bars as her voice grew more distressed. “Illiana is the key to our kingdom’s survival. Alister insisted she return to Valeford should anything ever happen. He made me swear to it over and over. Especially in these last few months as his health deteriorated.”

Her lips trembled and she winced. I reached for her hand, needing to reassure her somehow. To do something. Anything, because right now, it appeared the queen was fighting an adversary I couldn’t see. And losing.

Her once brilliantly optimistic and kind eyes met mine. They’d deadened, and the sight of it hit me harder than I expected.

“Do you understand what I’m saying, Ian? Illianamustget to Valeford.”

“Why Valeford? What must she do? Does she know?” A thousand thoughts raced through my mind as Queen Roxana shivered again, violently.

She needed to get out of this dark, damp place. Lana couldn’t lose her mother too.

Queen Roxana shook her head. “I do not know. He couldn’t tell me specifics.” She cried out. “I just know there is something she must do, and it begins in Valeford.” She finished the sentence through gritted teeth.

Her body convulsed and a tiny amount of blood formed beneath her nostrils.

“Your Majesty! What’s happening?”

“Andras’s mind magic is strong.” Her voice came out barely a whisper. “Fighting it is getting harder. Too hard. I must go before I am caught out of my chambers. Remember, my sweet boy, she needs you. I need you. This kingdom needs Illiana. By royal decree, I order you to accompany Princess Illiana to Valeford, Captain Stronholm.”

Nodding and placing my hand over my heart, I swore, “With my dying breath, I will ensure Lana accomplishes what she needs to. We will save this kingdom, Your Majesty. We will save you.”

One last breath, one last look, was all she gave me, before she turned and fled into the darkness of the night. I listened to the whisper of her slippers on the stone floors until they disappeared up the stairs before I took my next breath.

She had given me a royal decree, and I would be damned if I didn’t follow it until my dying breath. Just as I’d sworn.

Lana would make it to Valeford if it was the last thing I did in this world.

Chapter 12

Lana

My entire body rebelled as the morning light cascaded into the room.

It couldn’t be morning. I hadn't even slept an hour with the unnerving sensation of Raya watching me through the night. I swear the hyper-focused Fae slept with one eye open.

And unnerving was putting it mildly.

Beyond the sensation of my jailer’s watchful gaze, I couldn’t stop replaying what Kade had told me about my father and his death. It was achoice.A choice he’d made for me, if I were to believe Kade. It certainly didn’t feel like a lie last night. Or now.

Then, even more shocking than his request for Kade to kill him, my father had a mate. How many times had they told me mates didn’t exist in this world? The strongest bond in every fantasy, every myth in our libraries, and he sacrificed it for me. How much pain had his decision caused my mother? Would she forgive me once she discovered the truth?

The weight of his love, of his final moments, felt like too much to truly comprehend.

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