Page 88 of The Crown of a Fallen Queen
The door opens without jangling keys or clanging chains, just the creak of metal on stone. Footsteps follow.
Alaric smiles.
I brace against the bars once more. “Where’s Devi?”
He cocks his head. “Still obsessed with pretty women, I see. Or is this one special?”
I should keep my feelings close to the vest, but I can’t help myself. “I’m supposed to bring her back in one piece,” I say instead, trying to hide my concern under a veneer of duty.
“Don’t play with words, Sethanias,” he says with an overdose of pep. “Your Devi has agreed to do me a favor in exchange for your freedom, so she’s accompanying me to the ball tomorrow night.”
“A ball?”
Whatever deal he dangled in front of her, I don’t trust it.
Alaric would rather cut off his own arm than let me walk away scot-free. Devi is about to walk straight into a trap.
“You’re still single, I hear,” I taunt him.
“And I have you to thank for that.”
It’s dangerous, poking the unstable bear that now rules the grittiest province of Storm’s End, but I have to figure out his real plan, and Percy is probably still within earshot. “It’s rare thatDeiltine hosts a ball…especially in Spring, when the storms are most active. Are you planning on getting engaged tomorrow?”
Alaric is the oldest of the three Raynes, but his brothers have just as much magic—if not more. If Alaric wants to remain warden in a difficult political climate, if he hopes to win his family’s seat, he’s going to need somebody else’s magic and influence.
“That’s the idea. For your sake, you better hope your Devi is as powerful as the legends say…” he trails off, and my pulse picks up.
“Who do you have in mind?”
“Luckily, you wouldn’t know her. Lord Grimmage keeps his daughters on a tighter leash than Lord Brimvale did.”
The name rings a bell… He couldn’t be talking about Tatiana Grimmage? Is he serious? She must be twenty, at most, though rumored to be the strongest of the bunch, and incredibly beautiful.
“Isn’t Tatiana Grimmage betrothed to my brother Maddox?”
“Engagements can be broken. You taught me that lesson the hard way.”
Fuck. Judging by the villainous grin on his lips, he asked Devi to shoot the girl with a forbidden arrow. It doesn’t surprise me—Alaric would rather manipulate an unwilling woman’s affection than settle for a less-powerful bride. Under different circumstances, Devi might even acquiesce to his demand, but the renowned archer has no bow, no quiver, and no arrows. She can’t use her magic. Alaric doesn’t know that, which is good. But how long can she keep up the charade?
With the end-all blade in play, Devi might get a chance to kill him. She’s ruthless when she wants to be, faster than her size suggests, and unpredictable enough to catch him off guard. Let’s just pray he’s not smart enough to search her.
Chapter 27
Thorns
DEVI
The wind howls outside the narrow windows, pressing through the cracks in the stone walls. The fire in the hearth has dwindled to embers by the time Percy flutters through the glass and lands softly on the mattress. I sit cross-legged on the bed, arms wrapped around myself. My heels are off, abandoned by the rug. The bare skin of my back is cold from the lingering bite of storm-drenched air, but there’s nothing to sleep in except this damn dress.
“Seth is alright,” Percy whispers. “Alaric just came to speak with him, so I left.”
I open the covers to make space for him. “Stay close to me, tonight. We can’t risk you being seen.”
After Alaric confiscated the blade, I won’t lose Percy, too.
My Faeling hops closer.
“Aren’t you going to ask if I slept with him?” I say flippantly.
