Page 35 of Shadow and Smite

“Queen Aveline doesn’t trust her King Consort?”

I shook my head. “Grayson was a fifth-born prince from one of the southern kingdoms. There, fae goods are extremely rare. As the story goes, his family wanted to rage war on the other kingdoms, and access to fae goods would help. So he married my mother to improve their trade.”

“And then the Collapse ruined his plans?”

“The Collapse ruined lots of things,” I replied. “Regardless, my mother is right. She can’t trust Grayson, even if he provides a useful connection to the southern kingdoms. Yet he dotes on Mariana, and the two of them are close. When she inherits the throne…” I swallowed. This conversation had strayed too close to my raw wounds.

“Anyhow,” I continued, “you and Eleanor were so young when that happened. I can’t imagine being responsible for so much so young. What did you do next?”

“For a time, we only trusted each other. We dismissed all our servants and tutors. Then slowly, over time, we refilled the positions with those also in exile from the Isle of Shadow. We’ve rebuilt a small court we can mostly trust.

“Then, a few months ago, Eleanor started having visions. The Shadow Throne called to her and said it was dying. It needed her—a queen—to continue its connection to the land. For years, we had been studying Gloom and the Collapse, trying to plot our return, and with these visions, Eleanor grew confident in our theory: if she became queen, she could commune with Gloom. She could make the Isle of Shadow inhabitable again.”

My heart stopped. “Really? That’s possible?”

“It’s a little more involved than that,” he added. “But it didn’t matter. Nobody believed her, and the Starlit Court blocked our first attempt. Most courtiers doubt my claim that the Shades are undead, hesitant to believe a necromancer caused the Collapse. Maybe they don’t want necromancy to be real. Maybe they just don’t want Eleanor coming into power. Either way, we ended up journeying alone, in secret.”

“And that’s when she was branded?”

He nodded. “We evaded the Shades long enough to reach the throne room—but the throne was gone. It had been cut, like a tree chopped from its roots, and taken somewhere else. Eleanor sensed she could find it if we journeyed farther inland. The Shades found us first.”

“I didn’t know thrones could be moved.”

“It’s rare but can be done. It allows a population to claim the throne if they think the monarch is poorly chosen. The process damages the throne, forcing it to regrow somewhere new. Since Eleanor’s visions rose from a weakened throne asking for help, I suspect that Inarus took it. Wherever your Brand leads us, I expect we will not only find Eleanor, but also the throne. And Inarus.”

It was a name I had only heard in rumors and speculation. “Who exactly is Inarus?” I asked.

Zayne stilled. In my curiosity, I had forgotten that the Collapse wasn’t some historical event that had changed our world. He had been there. His familydiedbecause of it. Now that I looked at him,reallylooked, he seemed tired. Exhausted.

“Inarus was our childhood tutor,” he answered. “He was the Court Sorcerer, the lead scholar on shadow magic. Now he’s a necromancer… Like me.”

Zayne shifted his weight.

“That was necromancy?” I realized. “When you commanded the Gray General… You’re a necromancer?”

“I am. It’s why I can use the ashflower.” He swallowed. “I found out when Eleanor was branded. I accidentally used necromancy to end the fight.”

My stomach twisted, an ancient prejudice producing bile. Death drove the living to discomfort, and stories of necromancers always portrayed them as villains. Yet Zayne didn’t strike me as evil. I tempered my reaction.

“I’ve been training to travel the Underworld ever since,” he continued. “For Eleanor’s sake.”

“If she can end the Shade attacks, it’ll be worth it.”

“I didn’t say she could end the Shades. I said she should be able to commune with Gloom.” He paused. “Everyone thinks Gloom and the Shades are related. But they’re not, not really.”

“What do you mean?”

“Gloom has always been there, long before the Collapse. She is a goddess of rest and stagnation, and unlike Teyr, she is not suited for beautiful ballads. Stories of her are hard to find and rarely believed. Before the Collapse, she stayed north of the Isle of Shadow, a thick mist consuming the Darke Sea.”

“You’re saying that in the Collapse, Inarus influenced a deity?”

Zayne nodded. “And he simultaneously raised the dead, making the Shades. The undead are sensitive to light, so he uses Gloom’s mists to protect his army—but they are not the same force. They’re merely controlled by the same person.”

“He’s that powerful?”

“Apparently.” He shook his head, grief roiling within him. “I was a child when Inarus was my tutor, and I doubt my own memories. But he never seemed cruel. Inarus was strict, but he waskind.He doesn’t strike me as someone evil enough to brand fae, kill them, and turn them to Shades.”

Betrayal shone in his eyes, a pain I knew too well.

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