Page 8 of Court of Lies and Deceit

“Well, well, well.” A wicked smile spreads across Orion’s face. “The Shadow of Death begging on his knees. Now I almost wish I had brought my entire court out here with me to witness this.”

Draven clenches his jaw but says nothing.

The Unseelie King flicks a glance in my direction. “Who is she to you?”

“Just tell me what you want,” Draven grinds out through gritted teeth.

“Answer my question, and I might consider it.”

Draven turns slightly to look at me over his shoulder, and when his golden eyes meet mine, I can see the desperation in them that I can already hear in his voice. “She’s my mate.”

Galen and Lyra whip their heads back to stare at him, their eyes wide and jaws dropping. Next to me, Alistair jerks back andflicks his gaze between me and Draven. And even Isera’s silver and blue eyes widen in surprise.

Interest sparks in Orion’s eyes. “A cross-species bond? Interesting. Very interesting.”

Draven turns back to him. “I answered your question. Now, are you going to save her or not?”

Silence descends over the darkened grasslands and the gloomy woods behind the Unseelie King as he considers for an uncomfortably long time. My heart pounds in my chest. Or it might be my head that’s pounding. It’s getting difficult to tell because I can barely hear anything over the loud chattering of my teeth.

“I can allow Haldia to save her,” Orion says at last, his sharp eyes lingering on me for a moment before he fixes them on Draven again. “If you do something for me.”

“Name it,” Draven replies immediately.

“I want you to kill someone for me.”

“Who?”

“An Unseelie fae here in my court with a silver tongue and too much ambition.” He raises a finger, stopping Draven’s reply before he can even open his mouth. “But I wasn’t done. I want you to kill this manpublicly. So that everyone knows that it was you who killed him.”

“You mean so thatyoudon’t take the heat for the assassination.”

Orion doesn’t confirm or deny it. Only flashes Draven a sharp smile. “Well, do we have a deal? My healer will remove the ice flames from your mate’s body, and in return?—”

“And fix her spine.”

The Unseelie King arches an eyebrow in silent question.

“Her spine was severed when the ice flames struck.”

His black and silver eyes slide to me for a second. “I see.” Then he returns his gaze to Draven. “Fine. My healer will removethe ice flames from your mate’s bodyandfix her spine. And in return, you will assassinate a member of my court in a manner which makes it clear that it was you who did it, and you will not disclose my involvement in the matter at any time. Now or in the future. That is the deal. Do you accept?”

Draven doesn’t even hesitate for a second. “Yes.”

“You won’t be able to shift in here.”

“I don’t care.”

Without waiting for Orion to answer, Draven gets to his feet and runs back to where I’m still sitting. Isera and Alistair move aside as he crouches down next to me and lifts me up from the ground.

“You’re going to be okay,” he promises yet again as he holds me tightly to his chest and straightens.

Turning around, he shifts into his fully human form and starts back towards the barrier. Isera marches along next to him. Across the grass, Lyra and Galen lurch into motion and hurry to his side as well. Only Alistair remains standing by the fallen tree.

Indecision flashes across his face as he once more flicks his gaze over the open grasslands around us. And for a moment, it looks like he’s just going to take off across the fields and disappear into the great world beyond. But then he grinds his teeth and blows out a forceful breath. Moonlight casts pale highlights in his curly blond hair as he jogs to catch up with the rest of us.

On the other side of the barrier, Orion Nightbane whispers words under his breath that are too soft for us to hear. Then a sly smile spreads across his lips as he draws his arms through the air in a show of inviting us into his realm.

Worry pulses through my frozen chest. I have no idea what kind of powers the Unseelie fae have. What if Orion can just strike us down the moment we step inside? Or what if he onlypretended to open the wards for us and we will die the moment we try to walk through?

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