Page 119 of A Tongue so Sweet and Deadly

His rounded eyes flicked between her and Merrick before he stalked over, waving for the two other men to walk off back into the icy alley behind them.

Ignoring Merrick, Ardow reached out for her, a smile pulling at his lips when he realized both her hands were occupied by daggers.

“Look at you.” His smile widened, but it didn’t reach his eyes, and when he shifted them to Merrick, his features hardened again.

The Fae turned his back on them, moving a few steps away but not far enough that he wouldn’t hear every word they exchanged.

Slipping the daggers back into her breeches, she pulled off her hood. “What are you doing here, Ardow?”

He grinned at her again.

But there was something off about it, and her brows snapped together when he hesitated for a moment, his eyes shifting to Merrick.

“Ardow?”

He shook his head, his shoulders loosening. “There’s another attack on the castle. I was on my way to our home with a fewfriends”—he wiggled his brows—“when people started screaming. I feared for you, so I was about to play white knight and come rescue you.”

His eyes moved to Merrick again. “Seems I was too late, though.”

Unease thrummed over her skin. “Did you hear anything from the castle? Did someone get hurt?”

“I don’t know. I only just heard of it.” Eyes narrowing, he swept his gaze over her. “You look like you’re one minute away from turning to ice, Lessia. What were you doing?”

She opened her mouth, nearly choking when the blood oath constricted her throat. Ardow’s eyes trailed her hand as it flew to her neck, a flicker of recognition igniting within them.

“He’s here again?” His gaze sharpened, and he snapped it behind her as if the Fae king could somehow have been hiding there all along.

“We should get going.” Merrick closed the distance between them, shoving Ardow out of the way and nudging Lessia until she took a stiff step toward the castle. “They’ll be wondering where we are, especially if there’s been another attack.”

Turning her head over her shoulder, she mouthed “I’m sorry” when Merrick forced her to walk in front of him with one hand wrapped around her arm.

Ardow’s face remained hard, his eyes locked on the two of them until shadows veiled his features.

Torn between wanting to reassure Ardow and worrying about what they might face when they entered the castle, she hesitated, but Merrick’s grip on her arm tightened, and he made her continue the brisk walk toward the lights in the towering white castle.

“You don’t have to be so rude,” she hissed when the Fae growled at her for slowing the pace.

He stilled, then turned toward her, forcing them both to a stop.

Jaw twitching, he leaned in, his voice low but laced with such cold she shivered for a different reason than the roaring winter wind.

“You don’t seem to realize how serious tonight was, Lessia. You are blood-sworn to follow our king’s orders, and while I have been trying to let you do it your way, it’s now out of my hands. You will need to use that silver tongue of yours,and it will put both of us at risk, not to mention the regent you apparently hold dear.”

Lessia swallowed, looking out over the dark sea behind him. “He didn’t say when.”

A snort escaped Merrick, and he shook his head. “Always looking on the bright side.”

Waving for her to follow him into the light of the metal lampposts lining the pathway to the castle, he continued. “You know as well as I do that it doesn’t matter. Our king will come back, and if you haven’t done it by then, he will tire of your disobedience.”

Silently cursing, she fell in step with him.

Merrick was right. There was no escaping it now.

She would only have to hope whatever she found out wouldn’t damn them all.

Chapter

Fifty-Two

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