Page 145 of A Queen This Fierce and Deadly

Marth shrugged. “Whatever it is, I’m happy to torture that information out of him.”

Lorian leaned close. “You don’t need to see him, wildcat. I know it hurts you.”

If Zathrian truly did have information that would help us win this war, I had to talk to him. If he was playing with me, so be it.

“I’ll do it.”

Lorian’s eyes glittered. “I’ll come with you.”

“No. I’ll talk to him alone.”

I knew enough about powerful men to know their egos only became larger when men with even more power were around. Zathrian would be more likely to let something important slip if I poked at him, while Lorian’s presence would either enrage him or turn him sullen. And…some part of me needed to face Zathrian alone.

Or perhaps it was simply because I knew Lorian wanted Zathrian dead almost as much as he’d wanted Eadric to die.

And I couldn’t blame him.

Lorian studied my face. Whatever he saw there made him give me a nod.

When Galon noticed I was heading toward Zathrian’s tent, he jerked his head at the soldier currently standing guard and took his place. If Galon was tired, there was no sign of it on his face. I might have thought it was overkill having one of our strongest fae warriors guarding a man who was clamped in the same fae irons I’d once worn, but clearly, Galon wasn’t taking any chances.

He frowned. “Are you…”

I nodded. “I’m fine.”

He glanced past me, as if searching for Lorian, and I shrugged. “I need to do this alone.”

“I don’t like it.”

“I’ll call if I need anything.” My tone was unyielding. Galon heaved a sigh, but he nodded.

“Cousin,” Zathrian said when I stepped inside.

They’d chained him to a thick metal pole in the ground. I knew without looking that it would be made of fae iron, as would the chains leading to the heavy manacles around his wrists.

My own wrists ached at the sight.

I met his gaze. “What do you want?”

His nostrils flared, and he gave me an impatient look. For a single moment, he reminded me so much of Demos, I had to glance away.

The two men didn’t look alike. Demos had dark hairand amber eyes, while Zathrian was blond with blue eyes. Demos had a larger build, while Zathrian looked like he could run for days.

But some of their mannerisms were so similar…

“You may not believe me, but I have our people’s best interests at heart.”

I choked out a laugh. “Is that why you allied with Regner?”

He gave me a patronizing sneer that made me want to reach for my knife. “We both know I was planning to turn on him when the time was right.”

“But first, you’d wipe out the fae and any hybrids who didn’t cooperate?”

Silence. I shook my head. “If you’d succeeded when we brought down the barrier, Regner would now be as powerful as a god. What were you planning to do then, Zathrian? How would you have stopped him?”

This time, he was the one to glance away. I let out a bitter laugh, and his eyes sliced to mine. “You want to know the truth? The truth is, I knew we didn’t have a chance of killing Regner. My entire plan was to wait until he was busy killing the fae and get as many people back to our kingdom as I could.”

I stared at him, stunned. “Then what? You’d raise the wards and no one could ever leave? And anyone who didn’t make it would be stuck here, waiting to be slaughtered?”

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