Page 17 of Promise of Darkness
Queen Maren and my mother plot together, but Lucidia is a prickle in their socks, and the two princes would rather slit their own throats than stand beside my mother as allies.
The more I discover, the more I realize I need to uphold my mother’s treaty with the Prince of Evernight. The entirety of Seelie might depend upon it.
The night wends on, the bonfires dying down as the Unseelie and Seelie courts treat. Promises are made. Whether they’ll be kept is another matter.
And there is one last business to attend to.
“Your Highness,” the Prince of Evernight says, standing and offering me a hand. “It is after midnight.”
The entire gathering falls silent.
I cannot help feeling Angharad’s eyes upon me, and a shiver runs down my spine.
This is it. This is the moment.
I push myself to my feet, ignoring his hand. I will walk on my own two feet, an Asturian princess to the last inch.
“This is Thalia,” he says, gesturing to the tall brunette at his side. “My cousin. She will tend to you on the journey back to Evernight.”
The woman smiles at me, but I have no interest in making friends.
I slice the blade across my palm, staring him directly in the eyes. “Blood to blood, I bind my promise to you. Three months, I will serve as hostage in your court.”
The prince slices his own palm. He clasps hands with me, our blood mingling. A shock jolts through me as the power in his blood mingles with something in mine.
“Three months you will be mine.” His eyes lift over my shoulder. “And then I shall return you to your mother’s court.”
Adaia smirks. “So be it.”
I can’t help feeling as though something else has been promised between the two of them, for neither of them lowers their gaze until Thalia takes me by the hand and leads me into the mass of the Prince of Evernight’s people.
I don’t look back.
There’s nothing there for me.
All I can do is look ahead.
Three months.
I just have to survive the next three months.
5
“He won’t bite, you know?” Thalia says cheerfully.
I glance at the prince’s back as we ride toward the Hallow. I’ve been given a horse, and though the prince offered to help me mount, I took the reins myself and refused his courtesy.
It earned me a faint smile, as if he knows we’re playing a game.
“Unless she asks for it,” says the other woman at my side.
Her smile’s not kind. There are too many teeth in it, and the innuendo raises my hackles. Tall and muscular, she wears her hair tugged back in harsh black braids, and her attire could be a mirror of my sister, Andraste’s.
Somewhere out there, a tanner is missing half of his finest leather.
“Eris,” Thalia chides, giving the taller woman a pointed look.
Eris. Sweet Maia. My eyes widen. This is one of the prince’s generals and his most dangerous weapon. They say she walked onto the battlefield of Nevernight hundreds of years ago and singlehandedly defeated one of the Unseelie armies. She destroyed them with her magic, and when she walked back into camp, she was covered in their blood. Behind her, the field stood quiet and nothing moved.
