Page 247 of The Call of Crimson
“I haven’t forgotten,” she says, shrinking back. “I’m sorry for the pain this has caused you.”
“Enough of your empty words. Guards,” I call, feeling only a tinge of remorse for what I’m about to do. “The queen is not to leave her quarters. I will have meals brought to her. She is allowed no letters, and no contact with anyone outside of me or the princess.”
Shock settles over her blood-splattered face. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am entirely serious. You are a liability to this kingdom and will remain under lock and key until I have assessed the damage done and can deal with you properly.”
“I’m their queen,” she argues, resisting my hold on her arm. “My orders overrule yours.”
I laugh mirthlessly. “I doubt any of the guards here will take your side after hearing your admission in the great hall. Consider this a kindness. I could’ve had you thrown in the dungeon.”
Gods know I’m angry enough to do so, but I’m not entirely heartless.
We reach her chambers, and I shove her inside.
“Oh, and don’t let her touch you skin-to-skin,” I warn the guards. “That’s how her coercion works.”
Pure ire burns in her eyes, the same eyes I see in my own reflection. I’ve just exposed one of her greatest secrets.
Unlike most with the coercion Gift, hers requires touch. A well-kept secret until this moment. Thanks to our father’s Fae lineage, Rowina and I were the only ones capable of fighting the strength of her Gift. On any other day, Aurelius would have too, but his heightened emotional distress must have weakened his defenses, allowing her influence to slip through.
“Just tell me one thing,” I say, raking my hand through my wild curls.
“What do you want to know?”
There’s a lot about this situation that bothers me, but one thing I can’t make sense of. “How did you even come in contact with the Fae?”
She wrings her hands, worry darkening her delicate features. “You aren’t going to understand.”
“Try me.”
“Before your father… there was another.”
My brows shoot up. This information is nothing I’ve heard before. As far as I was aware, my father was my mother’s first and only love.
“He was a bastard born half-Fae, much like Aurelius. Only he turned his back on us in favor of the Fae.” She begins to pace, slowly gathering her courage. “He was my mate. The Fae call them fated, or twin flames. A soul so perfectly mirrored to your own, it’s said to be blessed by the gods.”
“I’ve heard of such bonds,” I admit. “But I never imagined you would…”
“He claimed me. Initiated the mate bond.” Her voice cracks. “I rejected him, and the bond, though, and it nearly destroyed us both.”
“What happened?”
“Physically, the pain is akin to childbirth. But emotionally, it’s even worse,” she explains. “Imagine yearning for someone so violently it hurts. I couldn’t breathe and didn’t sleep for weeks. The further I got from him, the sharper the pain grew. Since my half of the bond was never initiated, he could still hear my thoughts, sense my emotions, and physically locate me for years after.”
“When did it stop?” I ask, chilled to the bone.
“I don’t know exactly. His letters stopped arriving once you were born. But they started again after your father died.”
True, violent horror washes over me. “You’ve been feeding information to your ex-lover for years?”
She nods, tears glistening in her eyes. “You don’t understand, Ayden. He promised safety for you and Ro, for the kingdom.”
“You’re right; I don’t understand,” I bite out. “I don’t understand how you could betray your people like this, how you could send Breyla and Darian straight into enemy hands. You know what they did to Malcom.”
My voice shakes with every emotion crashing through me: anger, betrayal, horror, fear, and devastation all fill me, fighting for dominance.
The door slams shut between us, and I turn to make my way back toward the guest wing. I find Rowina standing at the end of the hall; her brow scrunched in worry.
