Page 58 of Lady of the Lake

I smooth my skirts, though my legs are still shaking, and scramble for a lie close to the truth, one that will tie everything up in a neat bow. “Arwenna kidnapped my father.” My voice quavers as I say it. “She was using him as leverage to get to me, to lure me out here when Maertisa’s attack failed.” Real tears spring to my eyes. “She captured my father and tortured him to death. You’ll find his body in her family’s lake cabin. So, I hunted the bitch down and killed her, and that’s the truth, Talan.”

A line forms between his eyebrows, and he studies me closely. “I’m sorry, Nia.”

I swallow hard. “Both their bodies are still there. One in a clearing, and one in the lake house.”

“I’ll take care of it. It’s better for you if no one knows about this. I’m going to get you home, and then I will come back to deal with their bodies.”

He pulls me in close to him as we walk back to the horses.

Guilt twists in my chest. Such a strange sensation to have someone clean up my messes, instead of the other way around.

CHAPTER 27

Iwalk to Talan’s room, my footfalls echoing off the arches. Soldiers trail behind, guarding me. The morning light is a soft rose gold. It filters through the diamond panes of the windows and flares off the flagstones. Winter is thawing a little, and icicles drip in the sunlight. The drafty castle air kisses my skin through my translucent gown of shimmering gossamer silver.

As I walk through the stone halls, I read the note written in Talan’s hand:We have work to do.

I’ve been summoned.

Last night, Talan rode out again, all the way to the Vorgium Forest and the little lakeside cottage. He buried Arwenna, then Meriadec—two bodies under the earth for me. Strange to think of the feared prince of Brocéliande getting his hands dirty cleaning up blood and corpses by himself.

Something has shifted between Talan and me. It feels like we’re on the same side of a battle, but it’s only temporary.

He’s stillthe enemy.

As I walk through the halls, I force myself to remember Viviane bleeding to death on that snowy Scottish hillside.Talan’s work. He helped me out, yes, but he’s still the Butcher of Brittany—the prince who left cities bathed in blood.

We’re not allies.

I reach his room and knock on the door.

His voice pierces the wood: “Come in.”

I step inside a room with towering windows and soaring vaults. Light pours through a rose window etched with the ouroboros, the eternal cycle of life, death, and power. It spills over a four-poster bed of gnarled mahogany, and the air is sweetly scented by the cedar burning in the fireplace.

Talan stands by his desk, pouring a glass of mead for himself and then one for me. His gaze sweeps down my sheer dress, and his eyes meet mine, smoldering a dangerous, fiery copper.

“Finally gracing my chambers.” He hands me the glass of mead. “And all it took was a formal order. I believe I’m losing my touch.”

I smile at him coyly. “I’ve heard rumors you might be dangerous.”

He raises an eyebrow. “I’mdangerous? You killed Maertisa, then a countess. You’re leaving a trail of bodies in your wake. I thinkyou’rethe one people should be careful around, little monster.”

My chest tightens, but I mask my expression. “Just two people. I’m not out there defeating armies. We’re not on the same footing when it comes to trails of bodies.”

“I think we’re more alike than you’re willing to admit. You do what has to be done. You silence those in your way, even if it means severing an artery here and there.”

His words are sinister, but his expression, dark and smoldering, sends heat sliding low in my belly.

“I have my limits.” This close to him, his beauty is shocking, and I can’t stop thinking about the day before and of him pinning me to a tree and lifting the hem of my dress. Somethingin the way he holds my gaze tells me he’s thinking of the same thing.

He stares at me over the rim of his mead. “And I’d love to find out exactly what your limits are.”

I break his gaze, overwhelmed by the intensity. “How did it go? In Vorgium last night.”

“I buried your father in the gardens outside the Lost Palace beneath a yew tree and marked his grave with a rock in a sacred spot. He’s right next to Nimuë. I thought you might want to visit the grave.”

I stare at him. “You brought his body all the way back to Corbinelle?”

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