“I’m sorry.” The whisper steals over my dry lips. I don’t know whether it’s the look in his eyes or the steel in his voice that hurts the most. “I’ve warned you dozens of times. I tried to tell you—”
“Tried what?” he snaps. “Tried to tell me the truth? Was that before or after you kissed me? Before or after you fucked me?” He breathes out an incredulous laugh. “Did you even want me, or were you just trying to lure me where you wanted me?”
“You make me sound like some sort of conniving witch.” It’s just one blow after the other. “I kissed you because….”
His gaze sharpens with savage intensity, and he leans closer. “Because… why?”
It’s all there in his face. The want. The need. The… hope.
“Because I wanted you,” I breathe. “Because for once in my fucking life I wanted to pretend it could be this way. You want to know the truth?” My voice lifts, right there at the end. “I know what my future holds, and it’s not you. But I just wanted to believe in it for a moment. Every time you kissed me… I couldn’t stop you. I couldn’t stop you because I wanted you too much. And I hate it. I hate that you make me feel this way.” The words come thick and choking. “I’m a wraith-born bastard of a murderous king. I don’t belong in this world, Keir. I don’t belong in your world.”
I press the heels of my hands to my eyes, turning away from him. It’s better this way. It has to be better.
“Mira—”
“No.” I hold out a hand, cutting him a sharp look. “I have a job to do. That’s all that remains between us now. And my half brother is still out there with his murderous little sycophants.” I can’t stop the tide of anger rising within me. “I’m done running. I’m so fucking done. You want to help? Then get her out of here!” I shove Soraya into his arms.
Keir flashes me a heated look. “Mira—”
“Don’t.” There’s no time to talk about what could have been or what we both want. It was a dream. It was always a dream. And girls like me don’t get to live those kind of dreams. “Just get her out.” And then I say the one word I’ve never allowed myself to let past my lips. “Please.”
“You’re leaving me with him?” Soraya demands, as if she’s well aware he still hasn’t forgiven her for trying to kill him.
“I trust him.” I stare into his eyes. “He won’t hurt you. I know he won’t hurt you.”
It’s a breathtaking moment.
Because it’s the truth.
I trust him.
Even if he can’t trust me.
Keir glances toward the rocks behind me. The look he gives me is absolutely furious. “And what are you going to do?”
I gesture with Soraya’s goblin-forged blade. “I’m going to kill Ruhle.”
Soraya grabs my wrist, hauling me toward her with a strength I didn’t expect. “You can’t. He’s the heir apparent. Father will destroy you.”
These are dangerous games.
I rub my thumb over the hilt of her dagger. Ruhle is my father’s favored child. What Soraya’s saying has merit. Father won’t care if Ruhle attacked us.
But I care.
I am done playing these games. “Maybe it’s time for a new heir then?”
I’ve never been ruthless enough to kill easily. Not the way Ruhle and Soraya are.
I’ve never wanted to before.
But as my hand closes over the hilt of the blade, it’s surprising how easily it fits there. I have nothing left but this.
“Zemira!”
“Complicated,” I grind out, taking a step back into the forest. “I’ll tell you everything. I promise I’ll tell you everything when I return. Keep her safe for me,” I beg Keir. “I’ll take care of them and then come back to you. I promise. I promise.”
And then I Sift out of existence, before either of them can grab me.
25
The caves. They returned to the caves.
Of course. Ruhle knows I secreted the horn within them, and he won’t give up until he’s got his hands on it.
When we were in the training camps, we played a game. An ambush, really.
It was called Shadows and Assassins.
Soraya and I were the best at it.
But I’m alone now as I hunt my brothers. I have to draw them away from the horn. Soraya is counting on me. I don’t know how long she has left until the blight eats away at her—the healers within Castle Blackrock will be able to give me a better idea.
The main cavern is full of a lingering sense of silence.
I know that silence as I slip from shadow to shadow.
One little raven, perching on a rock…. I mark him and move on. Patience isn’t only a virtue for thieves. It’s also the best weapon in an assassin’s arsenal.
Another raven, his spine pressed against the tunnel wall as he watches the cavern.
Two of Ruhle’s seven.
Semirhyn is dead; Rhyvaen is injured, which leaves five. But where are the other three?
And most importantly, where is Ruhle?
I flit across the cavern, knife held low as I stalk the wraith sitting on the rock. Nothing moves. His attention is focused purely on the cave mouth….
I step out of the Sift, grabbing a fistful of his hair and jerking his head back even as my knife finds his throat—
Light sears the cavern. A thousand bats overhead rustle and scream, their voices too high-pitched for fae ears, but perfectly attuned for mine.
I try to Sift, but the light is everywhere.
And then I’m surrounded by a cloud of bats as they flee for the opening of the cave. Tiny bodies whipping past me. Little claws catching in my hair. And through it all, the light burning, burning, burning….
And then it’s all gone.
Seven seconds of misery, all in all, but my knees hit the floor as I try to blink away the afterimage. I can barely even see the shadows…. All I can hear is the soft crunch of
