Page 16 of A War of Three Kings

“These living quarters are not good enough.” She stalks to the doorway, turns her back on me and addresses the guard in the corridor. “He is to be kept as a noble prisoner and reunited with his people.”

I stand ever so slowly and take a cautious step toward her, as though approaching a wild animal that might flee at any moment. “Keira…please, Keira, I?—”

She turns swiftly on her heel. “I am not ready to hear from you, Aldrin!” she snaps with such aggression that it is like a slap across the face. Then she turns her back again, refusing to look at me.

I don’t know what I was expecting from her—a warm hug? A punch in the gut?—but it wasn’t this. Anything would be better than this stone wall. She might as well not even be here.

“If you won’t hear me out, at least find Hawthorne.” My voice breaks on his name. “They tortured him last night.”

Keira turns her head at that, and her eyes flare wide. She rushes from the room, pushing past the guard and through the ward. He curses and runs after her, slamming shut the door to my cell. It is like the sun has disappeared behind rain clouds.

I sit on the bed and wait. My foot taps on the ground, all my nervous anticipation pouring into that single motion. Surely she will come back. She won’t leave me here to wonder what happened to Hawthorne.

But Keira has left me before.

Twice now.

Time ticks by and what feels like an eternity passes. I become drenched in cold sweat and my jaw aches from grinding my teeth.

When the door opens again, Keira stands in the cell’s entrance, face ashen. “I didn’t know they were going to do that to Hawthorne. I am so sorry.”

I stand swiftly. “Does he live? Is he okay?”

Keira refuses to hold my eye. “He’s delirious, but physically, he will make a full recovery with the right care. Emotionally?” She lets out a long breath. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier. I?—”

“KEIRA!” Edmund’s voice bellows from down the corridor. With the sound-blocking ward on the cell, I am surprised to hear him, but Keira’s position must interfere with it. “You are not to disturb those prisoners!” the Lord Protector roars.

“Shame on you, Father!” Keira screams, her hair billowing around her shoulders, embers floating and crackling around it. “I have seen how you have kept them. What you did to poor Hawthorne! There is no excuse for that.”

A cringe runs through me at the implication.

“I have done what was needed here!” Edmund’s voice turns deadly quiet, just outside the door. “In case you have forgotten, it is my duty to protect these lands against the fae. I need to know when their army will arrive to take this realm.”

Keira laughs, the sound bitter and resentful. “I can’t believe I almost fell for your delusions! There is no army coming. He is anexiledking! You are angry because a fae dared to court your daughter, and you refuse to see what is right in front of you.”

My heart rate kicks up at her words, and by the Soul Ripper, I dare to hope for a moment.

“It is not I who is blind to the truth,” Edmund grinds out, still hidden from me.

“You will listen to me, Father.” Keira points a finger in his direction as light flares down the strands of her hair. The tips truly look like flames. She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. “You have had over a week to do things your way, and they have gone horribly wrong. I was naive to trust you. Aldrin and his peoplewillbe reunited and kept in the suite for highborn prisoners, with every luxury and the utmost respect.”

“Keira,” Edmund warns, voice low.

“If not, I will petition the priestesses themselves. They are not all as jaded as my grandmother. I will personally free Aldrin. I will give him the antidote to the poison you have clearly been administering to inhibit his magic, and he will break himself out.”

“You speak of treason!” Edmund retorts. “Besides, the apartments are not secure enough for these dangerous threats to our realm.”

“Then ward them! Or the gods help me now, I will return to the Otherworld freely if I cannot trust my own father!”

Energy crackles within the room as both father and daughter threaten to lose their grip on their magic. A shiver runs throughme. They could be so incredibly powerful if they knew what they held.Both have blocks on their magic.

“Do you truly trust this man that much? Do you believe he is no threat to yourself or this realm?” Edmund says softly, and there is so much vulnerability in his voice. Fear, even—the fear of a father trying to protect his daughter. For a single moment, it humanizes the Lord Protector, and I almost feel sympathy for him, until I remember what he has done to Hawthorne.

“Yes,” Keira whispers, and the single word makes my heart stutter. “He made an oath to me that he would never hold me against my will.”

“I am more afraid of him holding your mind at ransom with lies.”

“For what it’s worth,” Caitlin’s voice cuts in, her approaching footsteps clicking on the stone floor, “I don’t believe Aldrin has intentions to invade this realm. It is Keira’s right to question him, not yours, Father.”

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