Page 105 of Oaths & Vengeance
I took my seat, smoothing my skirts. “Will I ever find out what has endeared you to the king so fully?”
“Let’s see how tonight goes.” He sat at the head of the table in the chair closest to mine. “I think what I have to tell you will be more than enough to overwhelm you for now.”
That sounded ominous. “Fine. So, where are we going?”
He waited to reply until Bogdan finished ladling stew into our bowls. Freshly baked bread slices were already on everyone’s plates, which were traditionally served with the dish. I took a bite, unable to wait since it looked so good. The taste of the bread was divine.
“The Isle of Penoria,” he replied.
I shot him a confused look. Over the years, I’d visited the faeries’ island several times and knew it well. “That portal gate isn’t warded.”
“We’re not going to Tinkarous,” Faina said, seated at the opposite end of the table. “Our destination is in a remote area on the eastern side of the island that the faeries don’t want outsiders visiting.”
I only had two rune sequences to the island—one to the city and another along a popular stretch of coastline on the southwest end. Neither were warded. They must have discovered a third that the royal library tome didn’t list. How many more was I missing?
Bogdan finished serving everyone and took a seat to my right. He gave me a short nod before digging into his meal. Despite his being a full dark elf, it didn’t bother me to be close to him. He had such a quiet and reserved nature that he didn’t send any alarm bells ringing like many others of his kind. Even with Darrow only being half, he troubled me more. I was just getting used to it and maybe even learning to enjoy the curl of fear he stirred in me.
I took a spoonful of the stew, blew a few times to cool it, and took a taste. The flavors rolled over my tongue, tantalizing and spicy. “Oh, wow. This is so good.”
Bogdan gave me a small smile. “Thank you.”
“What is so important that we must go to this remote part of Penoria?” I asked, turning my attention to Darrow.
He wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin. “A world-traveling gate.”
“Isn’t there already one in Jolloure?”
“Yes.” He took a sip of wine. “But that one only leads to locations at our end of the galaxy. This one was designed for more distant travel.”
As someone who adored discovering new places, that caught my attention. “Like where?”
“A planet called Earth, where we believe the Naforya Fountain is located,” he replied.
I nearly choked on my stew and had to swallow carefully, followed by a sip of my wine. He’d actually named the location, which no one should have known. “How can you be certain?”
“We recently found what your mother sought all those years ago in the Oarwar desert,” he said, giving me a sympathetic look.
My chest tightened. Mom had lost her life trying to get that information, and Darrow somehow succeeded. “How did you do it?”
“It took years for my abilities to grow strong enough that I could kill even the largest creatures in the desert who got in my way,” he replied, shrugging.
Right. Since he was telekinetic, even giant worms would struggle against his powers. I hadn’t considered such a possibility, but clearly, he’d been planning the trip for some time. As I reviewed everything he’d said, I realized why he’d wanted me all along. I’d just given myself to him, having no idea he needed me even more than I needed him.
“That’s the real reason you took the deal to save my cousin,” I surmised, the ramifications filling my head. I looked at Faina. “Neither of you had any intention of killing me, did you?”
She leaned back in her chair, pasting on that same self-assured smile her brother often gave me. “It was fun watching you squirm, and don’t act like you didn’t enjoy pinning us to the wall.”
“Fine.” She had a point. “Maybe I did, but it doesn’t excuse manipulating me.”
Jax looked up from his half-finished stew. “Maybe they manipulated you a little, but it wasn’t like they could come out and say you were useful to retrieve the fountain. Darrow had to see if we could trust you with the information first, though I don’t know why he does now.”
Among Darrow’s friends, he was the only one I didn’t like at all. It never took him long to get me upset. “Easy for you to say when you’re not the one who is constantly forced to use your powers, including by people who are supposed to care about you and make you do things that go against what you believe is right.”
I clenched my hands in my lap.
“If you tried to resist at all, then you wouldn’t help your uncle attack our cities and kill our people,” he said, glaring at me. “My father is dead because you opened a portal where you shouldn’t.”
My gaze widened, and now I finally understood why he’d always been hostile. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
