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“Excuse me,” Lonnie snapped angrily. “What the fuck is going on?”

I looked down at her, and only just then realized we’d been speaking the old tongue the entire time Cassinda had been standing here.Shit.

“I’m sorry, love,” I said in the dialect of the mainland. “I forgot.”

“Clearly,” she replied dryly, still looking annoyed. “What’s going on? Who is she?”

I bit back a groan. I didn’t want Lonnie anywhere near Cassinda for numerous reasons, but I couldn’t think of any way around it.

“This is the Lord of Nevermore’s oldest daughter,” I told Lonnie, trying to sound as impersonal as possible. “Scion reached the keep and sent everyone out looking for us. She’s offering to take us back to the city.”

Lonnie’s eyes narrowed. “What were you two talking about?”

I ran both my hands through my hair, biting back the urge to let out another string of profanities.

Cassinda seemed to take my pause as her opening. “Hello,” she said to Lonnie, in heavily accented common tongue. “Welcome! Is cold, yes? You come to castle now?”

I shot Cassinda a venomous glare, and continued to stare her down as I bent to speak to Lonnie. “Don’t fall for this shit. She speaks the common language just fine.”

Cassinda glared back at me for half a second, before she grinned. “He’s right,” she said to Lonnie. Her accent was still heavy, but the words were sharper and more confident. “I learned it many years ago when I believed I’d be going to live on the mainland.”

“Why were you moving to the mainland?” Lonnie asked as she climbed into the back of the open carriage.

“Well, when I was going to be the queen, of course,” she replied, her tone sickly sweet. “Didn’t you know? He ran away to Aftermath to become some sort of radical only two months before our wedding.”

Lonnie stopped, and looked over her shoulder at me. Her expression was a mixture of shock and anger. “You were going to marry this woman?”

I closed my eyes, and drew in a deep breath through my nose. This could not be fucking happening. “Unfortunately,” I growled out, finally.

Cassinda scoffed as she climbed into the front of the carriage and took up the reins. “Come!” she said to Lonnie brightly. “I’ll tell you about it on the way back to the keep.”

“I can’t wait,” Lonnie replied bitterly.

I gnashedmy teeth as we trundled up the dark road toward the keep.

The sun had set, and the temperature was steadily dropping by the second. Beside me, Lonnie was shivering so hard her teeth clacked together, but I didn’t dare reach out for her. At the moment, I thought she might hit me if I tried.

On the bench seat in front of us, Cassinda kept up a steady stream of chatter. She mostly spoke in old tongue, seeming to realize it annoyed Lonnie, but every so often she would throw in a phrase in the common language just to needle her further.

I kept having to resist the urge to strangle her.

I was well aware that part of my rage at Cassinda had nothing to do with her and everything to do with what she’d interrupted.

In fairness, my mood had been erratic today, anyway. I’d barely been in control of myself since nearly the moment I woke up in the barracks.

I’d known the moment Bael left for Underneath because his future changed, becoming far more clear. I was grateful for even that much foresight. Bael’s current trajectory implied this all might be over in a matter of weeks rather than months.

I had a strange sense of anticipation. I’d been working toward this moment for decades, and while it could easily end in my death I was still anxious to get to the end.

When Scion had come down to the den in search of breakfast, I promptly went upstairs to the townhouse. I was sick of arguing with him. It was difficult to maintain the animosity when I didn’t hate him nearly as much as he hated me. I didn’t hate him at all, actually.

After the conversation we’d had about Lonnie, I thought things might improve. And they had, for a short period of time, but now the tension was thick in the air once more. I knew he resented me for not being more helpful, directing our every move as Grandmother once did. I resented myself just as much, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Lonnie was the one getting in my way I’d be resentful of her too.

I wandered the halls of the townhouse aimlessly, unsure where I was going. Then, I heard Lonnie’s voice and the sound of crying.

I raced upstairs, my pulse racing. My immediate wild thought was that she was hurt, before I remembered that Bael had left overnight. Perhaps she’d just realized what happened. If so, I was just as much to blame for her misery as Bael was.

I found her on the floor of a guest room wearing nothing but a damp towel. My mind froze. I knew I was a prick for staring at her, wanting her, when she was so clearly upset but I couldn’t make myself look away. I wanted Lonnie more than I’d ever wanted anything. The tantalizing fact that I could have her if I were only willing to tell her we were mates constantly beat at the back of my mind.