Page 18 of A Queen's Shadow

Kai couldn’t fight his laugh, and though their bond was wounded, she swore she could hear,Now is that good behavior?

Punish me for it, then.She made sure he had a good view of her ass when she spun back to Adrien.

Her friend’s eyes flicked between the two of them, a curious expression on his face, seeming to understand they’d just had some secret communication. Though, he hadn’t known that she could no longer shift or that their bond was broken, blocking them from each other.

“I’m assuming the Imperial Alpha or his Beta outside don’t know you’re here.” Kai took a spot by one of the many columns, leaning against it. There, he had a vantage of them and the door.Always alert, always protective.

Adrien shook his head. “Not yet, but I’m sure they will by morning. I cut my time in Callisto short, and since I’m here, I wanted to stick around for your coronation, if that’s okay.”

Excitement bubbled in her at the last sentence. She’d wanted him to be here, but due to the Equinox holiday, and the fact he couldn’t appear to “play favorites” with Deimos, with her, he wasn’t going to attend.

Her joy was short-lived, however, as her mind snagged on the few words before that. “Why were you in Callisto?”

It was a question she technically had no right to ask, but she couldn't help her curiosity. Even Kai had straightened where he stood.

Adrien swallowed, backing up an inch. “Do you have time for a long story?”

Kai and Isla glanced at each other, not even needing a silent conversation. Even if they didn’t have time, they’d make time for this. If Adrien was so freely offering up information, it was valuable. They’d be fools not to take it—though with a grain of salt. Keeping an eye on her father and Eli would have to wait. She hated the slimy feeling in her gut, doing everything to fight the building of any more walls between them.

“My father sent me to Callisto to look at the Wall and its enchantments. Alpha Kane reported that the Gate’s lock is breaking down and eroding. And other than that, there’s still the smell of corrupted magic, and the bak are venturing closer than usual; close enough that guards spot their eyes through the iron every once and a while, and…and on my way here, I noticed some rot seeping through from below, along the edges of the stone. Dark magic. Still in Callisto, but closer to Deimos than the Gate. My father doesn’t know that part yet.”

Fear spider-walked over Isla’s bones, and for a moment, she swore she could hear the Wilds beckoning her. Wanting her back. Wanting her blood. A collapsing Wall answered why the bak had been coming through the tunnels, no longer repelled from anywhere near the barrier by magic.

“We’ve already dealt with rot.” Kai barely seemed phased by any of it. But he was always exceptional at masking his emotions. “Almost a decade ago, it wiped out an entire village in one of our regions. I wouldn’t be surprised if you never learned about it. Io never seemed to give a shit.”

And there it was. Some emotion buried deep within that jab, despite the ease with which it was delivered. And despite everything, she felt the hit.

Adrien glowered. “I wouldn’t put it past your father to have kept it from us.”

Something in the air shifted, then power rose from them both. They weren’t about to break into a brawl, but it was a show of dominance Isla had to resist rolling her eyes at. Frankly, neither of them was wrong, so there was no use arguing about it.

Isla lifted her hands between them. “Play nice. Both of you.” She narrowed her gaze at Kai—a silentyou better behave—before she asked, “How did they stop it from spreading? You never told me.”

“I don’t remember, but I think it just…stopped.”

Isla dropped her hands and sighed. What happened ten years ago that could’ve triggered it? The same way the spread of rot had been triggered now. “Didn’t the witch escape your father ten years ago?” she questioned Adrien softly, trying to hide the bite from her voice.

Before Adrien could answer, Kai said, “If she’s strong enough to mess with the behemoth that is the Wall, which we needed multiple witches to enchant, she wouldn’t need anyone to help with her vendettas. She would’ve destroyed us all years ago.”

His logic was sound.

“Who did you bring with you?” Kai asked Adrien. “I know you’re familiar with…magic,” the innuendo in his tone earned a sidelong glare from his mate, “but I can’t imagine the Imperial Alpha takes you as a high-level advisor of such things.”

Pain lashed across Adrien’s face so violently that he didn’t have time to throw on his mask before Isla noticed.“I didn’t go alone.” An answer so quiet. “I brought Raana with me.”

Isla stiffened, and even Kai tensed. “You brought Raana back into wolf territory?”

She often thought of the half-fae, half-witch who saved her life. Every time darkness swallowed her in her nightmares, every time she went to shift and couldn’t, and every time she noticed the coldness that reminded her so much of what it was like near death. Kai had mentioned feeling like Raana’s magic called to him, though he was adamant he had no magic himself. If she was in Deimos, maybe he could talk to her, and they could get some answers.

“Did you leave her in Callisto? Is she here?”

Again, that look of anguish struck over his features. “I don’t know where she is.”With his eyes shadowing, Adrien had to turn away. Moments of silence passed as he paced, wringing his hands, looking over the warriors’ names. His power ebbed and bowed as if he were fighting to restrain it and contain his emotions.

Isla jumped when she felt something wrap around her, not an arm, but something like a wind or force pressing on her—protecting her. Like a literal rope, a tether of power. She turned to Kai, still against his column but watching her, Adrien, and the door. This feeling, this force, was separate from their bond. Something physical, somethinghim, and something within her reacted to it. Her wolf, probably. She didn’t balk at it, though. She never would balk at him—though she may have called whatever shield this was unnecessary.

She raised a brow.New trick?

Kai simply shrugged.You could say that.

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