“Found it,” Ramond calls out and sets a black vial on the counter, then sweeps back around and heads to the wall covered in floor-to-ceiling shelves. Two seconds later, the whole wall swings open to reveal a hidden compartment.
My mouth drops open, and I peer inside, but only darkness looks back. Ramond vanishes inside.
“Did you know that secret room existed?”
“Of course.” Deimos releases his hold of my hand and marches over to investigate. He clearly had no clue.
Just as he pokes his head in, Ramond reappears and Deimos retreats. The mage is carrying a birdcage large enough to hold a parrot, except he’s got a fairy trapped.
My stomach constricts, and I step closer to study the creature fluttering around crazily, trying to escape. It doesn’t look well. Its wings are forest green, but the skin on its face and body are sickly pale and streaked with cherry-red veins.
“Why is it imprisoned?” I ask just as the fairy throws itself at the cage, eyes red, mouth gaping open. Razor-sharp teeth bared, it hisses at me. It’s nothing like the fairies I’ve seen before.
“Something’s wrong with it!” My insides curdle to see it captured this way.
The mage swings the cage away from me. “It was bitten by a Bloodcursed, but it still holds a lot of power regardless and does the trick, especially since capturing a normal fairy is difficult. By feeding it two drops of different types of blood coupled with the sprinkle of some magic, it will reveal if the blood samples are from the same family or not.”
“Bring it all, we need to go. Now,” Deimos says as he crosses the room to stand by the door. “I just hope Luther’s held off the wedding this whole time.”
“We’re doing the test at the wedding?” I gasp just as Ramond, carrying everything, rushes past me.
“We need the council and Mother to see the evidence with their own eyes.”
I join them quickly as we rush back along the hallway and up the stairs. My breathing speeds up as nerves pinch down my spine. I know Deimos is right, but what if something goes wrong?
Upstairs, we turn onto a wide corridor lit by windows on one side. Farther in the distance are two white doors, like we’re about to enter the pearly gates. Is that where the wedding will be held? The thought has goosebumps sprouting along my arms.
I reach over to Deimos just as my sight catches onto a familiar man farther down the hall, talking to several guards. I squint for a better look. White hair, the long coat—I gasp. It’s the asshole from the dungeon who conspired with Jasion to kill the king.
My knees buckle as I drown in dread. Deimos feels me falling behind and turns to face me, his expression swimming in concern.
“What’s going on?” he asks.
“It’s him.” I hate that I try to make myself as small as possible to conceal myself from the man.
Deimos follows my gaze to the older fae, then looks back at me. “Who? My father?”
His words are like a blade slicing at my insides. Crap! “That old fae is your real father?” I almost choke on the words. The fucking asshole who ripped Ahren’s wings.
When he nods, I suck in a shaky breath. “That’s the man who had Jasion kill King Tibout,” I whisper. “I heard him praise Jasion for it and say how the bigger they are the quicker they fall, and how they planned to conspire against Ahren to get power in this kingdom. He also intends to relocate to Shadow Court.” I try to remember what else I heard while my pulse thumps with adrenaline.
Deimos stiffens, his jawline clenching, twitching. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. The asshole bit my arm.” I frantically pull up the sleeve of my dress and show him the ugly mark. “I’ll never forget him.”
His face burns red like he’s about to explode. Fists coiled, he turns from me, but I lunge after him, snatching his coat. “No. Not now. We don’t have time right now.”
The mage stares at us bewildered, holding onto the fairy that starts screeching in the cage, drawing everyone’s attention our way.
Deimos shakes me off and storms over to his father.
My heart beats harder, because this is going to go really bad.
I exchange looks with Ramond, who shrugs like he’s used to seeing this kind of drama in the court.
"Fuck, we need to stop him," I say.
I race after Deimos, but before I can get to him, Deimos has lunged himself at his father, throwing him off his feet. Both are on the floor, my prince laying punch after punch into his face.
I should cringe, except I'm cheering on the inside, because his father deserves the worst things in the world. He wanted power, a foothold in this realm, and he got Jasion to take a life. Seething, I tense up, loving every hit Deimos delivers.
Four guards stand around watching for a few moments, probably unsure what to do. After all, Deimos is a prince, their prince. Someone who can have them imprisoned for harming him.
Except moments later, two of the guards lunge forward and heave the prince off his father. “Deimos,” I say from behind him. “Please, we need to go.”
He faces me, the anger flaring over his expression. I somehow suspect that attack had a lot more to do with how he was treated growing up, more so than just revenge for King Tibout's callous murder or the way I was injured.
He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "You're right." His chin lifts to the guards briefly, then he looks down at his father. “Take him to the dungeon and lock him up.”
Then he takes me by the elbow and guides me around his father still on
