Page 143 of Crown of Briars
Sybelle yelped and looked up, eyes wide. “Varius?” She frowned, clearly surprised to see me here.
My fingers curled into shaking fists, and I gritted my teeth so hard my temples throbbed. Slowly, I prowled toward her like a predator who didn’t want to startle his prey. Dark clouds churned behind me as my shadows intensified.
Sybelle’s face paled, and she jumped to her feet, her eyes fixed on the swirling shadows behind me.
I froze, only then noticing what she was wearing. It was certainly not the silky dress I had sent to her.
No, this was… this was quite different.
Thin black lace barely covered her bosom, forming intricate designs that only faintly concealed her breasts. So much was on display that I had to work around a lump in my throat to find my voice at all.
“What… are you wearing?” I rasped.
She gave a short exhale. “Adress.”
“Why are you wearingthatone?”
She placed her hands on her hips. “Because I want to. Is that a problem?”
“I—you—” I grumbled a stream of curses and ran my hand through my hair. This wasnotwhy I was here. “Tell me you have not been colluding with the Earthen Court to attack my kingdom.”
Her jaw slackened, and she stared at me in horror. “What? No, I haven’t! Why would you think that?”
“For starters, you are from the Earthen Court.” I drew closer to her and slammed the parchment onto the table between us, making it rattle. “And then, there’s this.”
Her eyes dropped to the crumpled letter. With a small frown, she approached it and picked it up. As she unfolded it, her hands began to shake.
Her face turned ashen.
The guilt in her expression was the most damning evidence of all.
A roar climbed up my throat, and I turned away from her before I succumbed to the urge to wrap my hands around her throat. “Our arrangement is over. I’ll have my soldiers escort you to a dungeon cell while I figure out what to do with you.”
“Varius, wait?—”
I was almost to the door. “Goodbye, Sybelle.”
“Damn it, will you let me explain?”
“Explainwhat?” I snarled, whirling to face her. Shadows spilled along the floor and up the walls, creeping forward until they blotted out the light from my Lumen. Only the fire remained, bathing everything in a hazy orange glow. “How you are corresponding with your Earthen Court lover? How you had aplanwith him to destroy my kingdom? Or how you knew the Earthen Court was sending an army to invade my lands?”
“None of that is true!” she shouted, surging toward me, her face full of panic. “I did not expect him to write to me, Varius. Things between us were over the moment I left my kingdom. And I alreadytoldyou what my plan was: to locate the source of the Necro Shadows and destroy it.”
“So you didnotintend to kill me?” I asked, my voice full of doubt.
Her lips thinned. And it was all the answer I needed.
Rage coursed through me with violent fervor. If I didn’t leave this room soon, I would tear it to shreds.
I would tearherto shreds.
I turned away, but she cried out again, stopping me.
“I did not know you then, Varius! All I knew was the stories that had been told to me of the terrible Wraith King and the poisonous shadows he used to attack my people. Everything I had been taught about you was a lie. I did not realize that until I came here.”
I shook my head, unconvinced. “And the armies?”
She took another step toward me. “I wrote back to Gerard. I told him I was close, and to persuade my father to hold off on the armies. I thought he had listened! I thought I had bought us more time!”
