Page 29 of Beneath the Flames
I shoved my plate away, taking a sip of the drink Nico had poured for me.It was sweet like honey, tasting of blackberries and lemon.“So if everyone has left, why haven’t you two?”
Rhydian paused, the fork slipping from his fingers before he deftly caught it.
“This is my kingdom.Why would I need to leave?”he finally answered.Nico’s gaze flicked to Rhydian before settling on the plate before him.Clearly I’d get no response from him.
Anyone else might have been fooled by that answer, but I knew deflection when I heard it.
“I don’t know.Don’t you meet with the other kingdoms occasionally?”That seemed like a logical question, right?
“Why would I do that?”A crease formed between Rhydian’s brows, genuinely confused.
“To make the world a better place?”It came out as a question rather than a statement.Something about the arrogant look on his face had me second-guessing everything I was saying and thinking.
“My world is dying,” he snapped.“There’s nothing to make better.No point of meeting with the other heirs even if I could leave Eroth.”
His eyes widened, and he bit his lip as if he let something slip that he hadn’t meant to.
If hecouldleave Eroth?Does that mean hecan’t?
I opened my mouth to ask, but he shut me down instantly.
“This isn’t your world.The sooner you learn and accept that, the better.That’s enough questions for one day.You’regiving me a headache.Eat your food and Nico will take you back to your chambers when you’re finished.”
He downed the rest of his goblet and stood, the chair scraping behind him before he stalked out and disappeared through the doorway.
I looked at Nico, who was avoiding my gaze.
“He has quite the temper,” I commented, taking another sip of my drink.
Nico gave a snort, looking like he wanted to say more, but he kept whatever he was thinking to himself.
A few more minutes passed in a tense silence, and when I couldn’t take it anymore, I shoved my plate away and declared, “I’m finished.”
Nico’s head snapped up mid-bite.“All right, I’m almost—”
“Don’t bother,” I interrupted.“I know the way back.”That was a lie, but he didn’t need to know that.Maybe I could use the excuse of walking back to poke around, see if Rhydian was telling the truth about them being the only ones here.
Before Nico could object or stop me, I left the Hall of Feasts.
I was going to find answers whether Rhydian liked it or not.
The amount of white in this castle was a little bit creepy.
It was beginning to feel like whoever built this place was overcompensating for the darkness outside.I could understand if that was the point, but even with everything being a light color, the darkness still clung to it all like a disease, leaving shadows infesting every surface.
It had been an hour since I’d left the Hall of Feasts, and I was truly surprised that Nico hadn’t come after me, that he’d let me wander around by myself.
I was even more surprised to find that it appeared Rhydian hadn’t been lying.There really was no one else here.
If the silence of this enormous place wasn’t proof enough, I found plenty of rooms and spaces thatlookedlike people once inhabited them, but with the thick layers of dust coating each room I peeked into, it was clear no one had been here in a long, long time.
How could an entire kingdom justleave?
And why were Rhydian and Nico still here?
There had to be answers somewhere.I just needed to find them.
Hallway after hallway, I poked my head around corners and into any doors that were somehow unlocked, searching for…I wasn’t sure what.Anything that might give me more answers than my kidnapper was currently giving me.There had to besomething,and yet the only things I found were abandoned rooms laden with dust and furniture covers.
