Page 215 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

“I just want to do the right thing,” I whisper.

She laughs at that, truly laughs, throwing her head back. “Huh. That’s adorable and the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time. Heartwarming, really. You just made my day.”

“Everyone here seems to love Caryan as a king. They… adore him,” I say carefully, ignoring the barb.

Her gaze cuts through me. “And you don’t. Was he mean to you, little human?”

I take a deep breath. “I think he can be dangerous.Isdangerous.”

Her face changes as she takes me in, as if seeing me in a different light. “You’re an interesting little creature,” she murmurs, seemingly more to herself again. “I must say, you do not have much of your mother.Yet.” The last word sounds like a warning.

“You haven’t answered my question,” I say.

“You haven’t asked one,” she says back, her tone like a knife.

I grind my teeth and make myself ask, “Is Caryan bad?”

Blair’s eyes rove over me again, from head to toe. I wonder what she’s thinking. Her aura is a mess of too many hues, too many streaks, like the palette of an artist after finishing a painting. Messy.

Then her eyes snare on my wrist, on the tattoo there. “I think it doesn’t matter anymore when you were stupid enough to bind a part of your soul to him. I hate to say it, but you’re already doomed.”

“He promised me freedom in exchange for three relics.”

Her bleached eyebrows rise high before she cackles again. “You truly are adorable. You do know it is all about semantics in our world? Freedom might indeed mean that he lets you walk out of his Fortress as a free woman. But—” she shrugs demonstratively, “It could also mean you find your freedom in death.”

For a second I don’t know how to breathe. She just turns her back on me, walking to the other end of the cell, slumping down against the wall.

A second later, I hear someone behind me and whip around. Ronin stands there. He’s approached silently, and briefly, I’m stricken by the similarity to Blair—his hair is the same, coppery red that hers used to be, his eyes hold the same amber. Only his pupils are like that of a cat’s.

“I’ve been looking for you,” he says, and I think I hear a touch of remorse in his voice, see it mirrored in his aura. “The Dark Lord sends for you.”

69

Melody

I slowly walk to Caryan’s quarters, Ronin silently accompanying me.

“My lady,” the door greets me as it swings open.

Ronin waits until I step in, then walks away. The door closes behind me with a thud. I can’t help the feeling of being locked in.

I pause there, my ears and my instinct straining for Caryan. My gaze falls on a huge, black sword leaning against the wall. The very same sword Blair held to my throat on the mountain. So similar to the one my mother tried to split Caryan in half with. Next to it on the floor, still huge but so much smaller than the sword, is the black arrowhead the Nefarian woman threatened Caryan with.

I tear my gaze away from them and venture deeper into his apartment.

I find Caryan in the room to my left, standing with his back to me in front of the window, hidden by darkness.

“Come here,” he says without turning.

I slowly cross the distance. When he finally turns to me, his expression holds the same bleak coldness I found in his mind, mirrored in his eyes. His aura is unreadable.

Something about him is wrong, I know. Ifeelit, in me.

“I want you to take off your clothes,” he says.

My blood ices over. My heartbeat suddenly thunders in my ears. I step away from him.

He follows.

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