Page 10 of The Shattered Kingdom
“Would you recognize her face?” Kie asks. “If I brought the servant before you, would you remember her?”
Lill shakes her head. “It was twenty years ago, and I was seven. I hardly remember anything from that day, let alone the face of a woman I briefly spoke to.”
Mason paces the length of the room, his bare fingers tapping rhythmically against his thigh. He seems agitated, and he makes three trips around the room before abruptly bending and snatchinghis gloves off the couch cushion where Lill left them.
He tugs them on with movements significantly rougher than necessary.
“And your mother?” he asks. “Where is she?”
“Dead.”
“Lie.”
Mason has a favorite word this morning.
Kie steps further into the room, his violet eyes narrowing on Lill. “It was discovered in the weeks after your disappearance that Callie was working with Alpha Theon. She was sleeping with my father for information, and she’s responsible for hundreds of faerie deaths.”
“What?” Lill does an excellent job pretending this is new information to her. Her eyes grow wide, and she shakes her head in disbelief. “Why would she do that?”
“Your father was notoriously soft on shifters,” Kie points out. “The death of a mate would be devastating for even the strongest of faeries, but coupled with the financial strain his death caused your family, it’s not surprising your mother turned against us.”
Mason halts his pacing. “Is she still in the human realm?”
“I already told you she died.”
“Lie.”
Mason resumes his pacing.
“You’re more than welcome to go to the human realm and check for yourself,” Lill snaps. “You’ll find that she died nearly ten years ago, and I spent the remainder of my teenage years with Abby’s family.”
I don’t particularly love the idea of Kie and Mason digging around the human realm, around my family, but I keep my mouth shut. I trust Lill knows what she’s doing, but I’m tired of the lies. She hasn’t been honest with me, and I don’t appreciate it. Have I not proven to her already that I’m on her side? I would neverbetray her and share information she prefers to remain hidden,evenif I disagreed with doing so.
“I already sent out a search party,” Kie says, “and I expect them to return shortly with their findings.”
Mason stops pacing. I’m getting the impression that he didn’t know about Kie’s decision. Poor Mason didn’t get to sign off. What a shame.
“Don’t touch my family,” I say. I can’t hold back any longer, not when I have confirmation that an undisclosed number of faeries are searching around my hometown.
“We won’t.” Kie’s voice softens just slightly. It feels a lot like pity. “We have no interest in—”
Mason interrupts. “Don’t tell her that. Wewillinterrogate your family if we find the need, and should they be found guilty of any crime against the faeries, they will be punished.”
Kie’s silence is confirmation enough. I grind my teeth so hard my jaw hurts, but I don’t further argue. My family is innocent, and I’m not trying to draw more attention to them than Lill seemingly already has.
“How did she die?” Mason asks.
Lill shrugs. “There’s no magic in the human realm. We mixed crushed delysum leaves into tea to sustain us. It amplified the little magic we had, but there wasn’t enough for us both. She decided to go without so I would have a better chance of survival.”
Kie and Mason exchange glances, but neither voice their thoughts out loud.
Lill doesn’t let that deter her. “Again, I was a child when all this occurred. If you want to punish me for unknowingly bringing our king a poisoned tea, very well, but I have no knowledge of the supposed relationship between my mother and the shifters.”
There’s a long beat of silence before Kie speaks. “I’m not in the interest of punishing children for the actions of adults.”
Thank god. My entire body relaxes, relief sweeping through me. Lill isn’t going to be punished.
“And the mate bond?” Lill asks.
