“You’re not going to die.” There’s a faint hint of the growl back in his voice.
Fine. We won’t return to that argument—because I’m fairly certain it’s only going to end with me pinned to the breakfast table.
“So next move?” he asks.
“There was something Anissa said about letters. ‘The letters have to be here somewhere….’” In my experience, it’s the little details that deliver the dragon’s horde. “Since Soraya was posing as her maid, I have to presume she somehow got her hands on compromising letters.”
“Blackmail?”
“Maybe.” I tap the spoon against my lips. “It’s not the way I’d play it. The point is to remain unseen.”
“The question is: Does Anissa think Soraya was the one blackmailing her or did someone else take the letters and use her to cover their tracks?”
I have no answer to that. “More questions, no answers.”
“Then what’s next?”
“Mistmark’s assassin, Falion, said he gave the bridal tithe to a questing beast.”
Keir looks up sharply. “Assassin?”
Right. I haven’t quite had a chance to fill His Highness in on the entirety of the previous day. I swiftly tell him about the meeting between Mistmark and Falion in the maze.
“And he saw you in the shadows?” he muses.
I recall the way Falion searched the party. “I don’t think he saw me. I think he sensed someone watching him. He knew someone was there—don’t ask me how—but he didn’t know who.”
Keir brushes his thumb against his mouth thoughtfully. “Hmm. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone in Mistmark’s party matching that description.”
“Do you.... Do you think there’s another Shadow Walker out there?” The urge to clear my throat is incredibly strong. I’ve never met anyone like me before. I’ve never met anyone who even knows what I am apart from Keir and my father.
His gaze cuts to me. “It’s possible. It was an ancient gift that was bred through the bloodlines of only two courts; the Court of Shadows and the Court of the Moon and Stars. Both royal houses could walk the shadows, thanks to a common ancestor, though until you appeared, I was under the impression the gift had been long-lost to the Court of Shadows.”
“It is. Or it was.” A frown etches itself between my brows. The Court of Shadows is my father’s court, though the Seelie refer to it now as the Court of the Forbidden. And my father was thrilled when I began to Sift. It’s the one thing that’s stayed his hand all these years—my rare talent, and the way he can use it. “Court of the Moon and Stars?”
I’ve heard the name, but know little about it.
“It was destroyed nearly twenty or thirty years ago,” he says. “It bordered the Court of Dawn, but their king was beginning to grow ambitious, and the power of the Court of the Moon and Stars was growing. A new queen was rising to power within that court, and some say King Ryddhaen of Dawn couldn’t bear to see her come to power. The old queen died, and the night before Princess Zyra’s coronation, her household was attacked. The court was burned, Zyra’s sisters were slaughtered, and her body was never found.”
“Twenty or thirty years ago? That’s a large span of time, Keir. Your specifics are terrible.”
“What is time to a dragon?”
I tap my spoon against my lips. “If this Falion has the gift, then he had to belong to the Court of the Moon and Stars.” And was most likely of their royal bloodlines. “What in the Shadow Lands is he doing with Mistmark?”
“The territories of Mistmark abut the lands that belong to the Court of Moon and Stars.” Keir shrugs. “If someone survived the massacre then he may have sought refuge with an ally.”
Interesting. I know why I want to continue this train of thought—it’s personal—but it’s not the most pressing matter in play. “I’ll keep an eye on him then. Falion may be dangerous. And speaking of dangerous, I’ve heard of questing beasts before, though I’ve never heard of one obeying a fae master. What am I dealing with here?”
“We,” he counters. “And we are dealing with a creature that is both deadly and vicious. They have the neck and head of a dragon-like creature, the body of a leopard, and the legs of a hart. I believe they spit acid, and they’re impervious to mortal weapons. I don’t know a lot about them. They were conjured in the third age while I was hibernating within my court.”
“Whatever it is, it can breathe fire.” And thank you for reminding me precisely how old you are.
He shrugs. “So can I.”
“I’ve never… asked you about your other form.” But I’ve seen the enormous spines of dragons buried in the forests. I’ve walked within the hollow sockets where their eyes lay.
He stills, his attention focusing entirely upon me. “Would you like to see my big, scaly tail, Zemira?”
There’s something about the smile that touches his lips that makes me swallow. “No, I think I’m fine with not seeing it.”
His laughter sounds like a rough-edged purr. “I never took you for a coward.”
“Not a coward,” I point out. “Just careful.”
He laughs again.
I clear my throat. “Now, if that is done, I’m going to go see if I can discover why Belladonna wants Mistmark dead. Unless you have an objection?”
Keir drums his fingers on the table.
I can tell he wants to say something.
“Well?” I demand.
“You own me,” he says softly as our eyes meet. “Last night you said ‘you own me.’ You think I would force you into my bed as payment for your debt?”
His words steal the winds from my sails. “No. I don’t think you would do that.”
I’ve faced a dozen lecherous fae lords in my time, but there’s nothing about Keir’s mannerisms that make me nervous. If anything, the desire he inspires within me is the thing that makes me uncomfortable.
The wanting what I can’t have.
The temptation to
