Page 24 of Stolen

I grasped her chin, careful to keep my thumb away from the discoloration. Anger swept me, turning my voice to ice. “Rhys the Fair?”

She tugged her face from my grip. “No. And don’t pretend it bothers you. Or if it does, it’s only because you don’t like having your property damaged.”

“Where in the blazes did you get that idea?”

“I don’t know, maybe from the temper tantrum you sent Rhys—”

“Temper tantrum?”

“—calling yourself my rightful lord under the law.”

“I am your rightful lord under the law! The bandit king has no claim on you.”

She snarled. “Don’t call him that. He’s far more than that stupid title.” She shook her head, her brow furrowing as she made a frustrated sound. “He’s the one I wanted to see. I need his help. I can’t fight the—” She clamped her lips together.

My senses sharpened. “Fight what?”

She stared at me, her blue eyes wary like she was trying to decide if she should trust me. Then she let out a shuddering breath. “I came from Eldenvalla. I’m in Vai Seren as we speak, imprisoned by Midian, the demon king. Varick is with me.”

My heart flipped over. I barely stopped myself from clutching at my chest. Dramatics are unbecoming a king. One of my father’s favorite sayings. But the past three days had been a nightmare. I hadn’t slept, just sat and waited for reports from the search parties who rotated back and forth between Lar Katerin and the Thicket. Varick had trained his knights well. They refused to permit me to ride to the Thicket myself. One of the knight captains had threatened to summon Petru if I tried.

The High Priest couldn’t stop me—at least not without a great deal of effort. But I was rational enough to know how stupid it would be for me to plunge headlong into the Thicket. I had no heir. If I died, the Deepnight would fail. All of it.

And now I knew what lived in the Thicket.

“The elves have Varick?” I asked Given, surprised at how steady my voice sounded.

“Not elves,” she said grimly. “Demons.” Fear flickered in her eyes. “Varick doesn’t move or talk. He just sits in the Great Hall. I believe Midian is keeping him prisoner, too, just in a different way. Or maybe Varick is fighting back.”

“I can almost guarantee that’s what he’s doing,” I said, pride and affection rushing through me. But sorrow followed just as swiftly. “His mind is just as strong as his body.”

“What do you mean?” Given asked, some of the wariness fading from her eyes.

Varick loved his secrets, but this wasn’t the time to guard them. The only thing I cared about was bringing him home. Alive. If he wanted to bitch at me for sharing his past, so be it. I’d take the grumbling and be happy he was around to do it.

“My father was an asshole,” I said. “And like a lot of assholes, he preferred to surround himself with other assholes.”

“Valen of Lar Keiren,” Given murmured.

“My father’s general,” I confirmed. “Valen was from the warrior class, and most of Nor Doru knew him for his size and strength. Good qualities to have in a general. But that wasn’t why my father liked him. Valen was also cruel. My father enjoyed that trait, too, but that still wasn’t the reason he kept Valen by his side.” We were alone, but I lowered my voice anyway. “Valen of Lar Keiren was rumored to have certain abilities. He knew things about people. He could describe events he had no business knowing about in vivid detail.”

“Because he was a farseer.”

I nodded. “My father called him his ‘ghost.’ He kept Valen’s ancestry a secret, and Valen reciprocated by spying on my father’s enemies.” I hesitated. “But Valen had other gifts. It took me a long time to get the truth out of Varick.”

She sighed. “He’s so damn stubborn.”

“He is,” I agreed on a shaky laugh. As quickly as it came, my humor faded. “But in this case, I think he was afraid to admit some of the things his father did. Varick worried people might think he was crazy if he told them Valen was capable of forcing his way into others’ minds. When Varick was a boy, Valen would pull thoughts from Varick’s head and whip him when he read ones he didn’t like. And…” I cleared my throat. “When Varick got older and developed an interest in men, Valen read his mind and punished him for it.”

Fear flared anew in Given’s eyes. “I think Midian does the same.”

“You called him the demon king.”

She wiped at her forehead, smearing dust that became a streak of dirt as it mixed with sweat. “It’s what he calls himself.”

“And he’s spoken to Varick?” The thought of another demented being cracking open Varick’s mind threatened to make me lose mine.

“Yes—” She stopped. Frowned and shook her head. “I can’t be sure. Nothing is as it seems in that place. I feel like I’m missing bits and pieces of time.”

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