Page 96 of Curse of Darkness
There are none.
The queen stares over my head, only the shifting of her fingers on her throne betraying a hint of her doubt.
“Until. You. Are. Recalled,” Arawn spits, and I know that if he has his way that moment will never come.
I was an adult male in his prime, a warrior with accolades streaming behind me like a banner.
But I would have given everything within me to have my mother look my way, stretch out her hand, and beckon me onto the dais beside her.
Not for the power. Not for the position.
But for me.
For us.
And Amaya is only nine.
My vision comes back into focus, and I realize I’m staring at a striking display of roses and lilies, one of the many that seem to be flooding the castle these days. They have to be Vi’s flowers.
Staring at it for long moments, I strip my glove off, reaching for the petals of a rose….
And they curl at my touch.
Dropping, one by one, to the floor.
I tug the gloves back on.
But I can’t stop myself from hearing Vi’s words in my head. A brutal truth, yes, but a truth nonetheless.
I have to try.
Because I don’t ever want my daughter to know what it feels like to wonder what you did wrong, when there was never any answer to be had.
* * *
Rapping at Amaya’s door,I wait for a greeting before I slip inside.
I can tell immediately that Vi has warned her.
Amaya sits up, knees drawn to her chest as she rests on the window seat beside her mother. She’s wearing a pair of the boots Vi so envied, her dark hair braided down her back. All I can see over the top of her knees are those enormous green eyes.
Wary eyes.
“Well,” Grimm drawls, “are you going to just stand there, you overgrown bat, or are you going to come in? The queen was just about to get to the good part.The evisceration.”
“Remind me why we’re keeping him again?” I can’t help asking Vi.
“Because someone has to keep the mouse population at bay,” Vi replies.
Grimm looks aghast. “Mice? You think I huntmice? I am the Shadow That Stalks the Night—”
“Yes, yes,” Vi interrupts, opening her book again and patting the window seat on the other side of her unsubtly. “You guard the Shadow Ways and slay the Fetch’s who come to steal us away. You make creeping banes shiver with dread, and grown fae tremble.”
“He’s grown too soft with milk and honey to catch a mouse,” Amaya pipes up.
Grimm shoots her an appalled look. “Soft?” he sputters. “How dare you? You little wretch. I have guarded you from the day of your birth and this is how you repay me?”
Vi lays the book flat, shooting him a look. “From the day of her birth?” she asks in a decidedly neutral voice.
