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“I did something traitorous, and he caught me,” I finally said to Val. “If I hadn’t vowed to follow his every command, he would have taken my head. But that’s no excuse. I should have chosen death over binding myself to him.”

A door slammed in the distance. I stepped back and glanced down the dark corridor, shoving my blade into my belt. “I must go. Someone is coming.”

“Wait,” Val said, pulling her body up against the bars. “Can you please find a way to get Tessa out of here? You can’t let her marry that monster. She’ll be forced to make a vow just like yours.”

A tremor went down my spine. The truth was, Tessa faced something darker than Val could even imagine. The Mortal Queens suffered a fate far worse than death. But I’d been forbidden to speak about that too. Oberon controlled my tongue.

“Do you have any other favorite foods? I can bring whatever you like next time I visit, just so long as the kitchen here has it.”

Val lowered her forehead to the bars and sighed. “Some ale would be nice.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” With a furtive glance over my shoulder, I jogged down the passageway and spun around the corner just as the door near Val’s cell creaked open. Heavy footsteps thudded against the stone, drowning out my thundering heart.

I listened from my hidden spot around the corner, and the footsteps stopped just outside of Val’s cell.

“Did I hear you speaking to someone?” the guard barked at her. I didn’t recognize his voice, but he was likely one of Oberon’s half-mortal sons. He liked to hand them swords and put them to work.

“What makes you think I’m not just talking to myself?” Val replied, cleverly avoiding an answer. “I’m bored out of my mind.”

The guard grunted. “Better bored than dead.”

I eased down the final stretch of the passageway and then climbed the nearest stairwell. Oberon was waiting for me when I stepped out into the castle halls. His horns glinted beneath the sunlight streaming in through the atrium windows, matching the harsh glow of his ember eyes. He curved his lips into a wicked smile when I stopped short.

“Ah, Morgan. You’re so predictable. Visiting the prisoners again, are we?” he said in that eerie voice that sounded so unlike the fae I’d once known. Even after all these years, I could still picture the lopsided smile he’d once worn as easily as a cloak.

“I was just taking some food to them. They need to eat.”

He walked toward me and flicked my armor. “The last time I checked, you’re a soldier of mine. Not a maidservant. Shall I swap your armor for sackcloth?”

All my arguments stuck in my throat. The last thing I wanted was an order to stay out of the dungeons. Despite Tessa’s insistence that I leave everything up to her, I did want to help Val and Ula escape. So far, Oberon had barely given those two a second thought. That would all change if he knew I’d struck up a friendship with them.

“You can take them food all you like.” His smile widened. “They’ll be dead soon enough. In the meantime, I order you to donothingthat would lead to their escape.”

My hands twitched to reach for my blade. Not to hurt him. I knew that was impossible. But I needed to feel the bite of steel against my palm. I wanted my blood to run down my fingers and paint the floor. I hadn’t moved fast enough, and now the door had slammed on any hope I’d had of getting anyone out of this castle alive.

Oberon shook his head and laughed. “You truly thought you’d be able to help them? When are you going to give up, Morgan?”

“Never,” I whispered.

“I wouldn’t expect anything else.” The bastard tapped my nose, causing me to flinch. “Which leads me to why I’ve sought you out. I have another order regarding my betrothed.”

I lifted my chin and stared right into the depths of his eyes. “Whatever you’ve come up with, it won’t be enough. She’s going to be the end of you. Mark my words.”

The king let no one else speak so boldly. For whatever reason, he’d never given me an order to stop. Sometimes, I thought he must find great joy in it, hearing my hatred toward him and knowing I could do nothing but strain against the bonds he’d forced around me. It would not entertain him if I just bowed my head and whimpered beneath his gaze. He wanted me to fight.

So, he merely rolled his eyes. “The mists across the bridge are acting strangely today.”

“Strangely?” I went still. “How?”

“It’s likely nothing,” he said, waving his hand dismissively, but I didn’t miss the tensing of his shoulders. “They’ve come a little further onto the bridge, that’s all.”

My heartbeat quickened. “The barrier is failing?”

“No,” he snapped. “Of course not. My magic is keeping the mists out, the same as it has for almost four centuries now. But I need to know what’s caused it to shift. Is it the Mist King? Is he trying to attack me somehow? You need to find out.”

“He won’t tell me a damn thing, not after the little trick you had me pull on Tessa.”

“Then find out what my betrothed knows,” he countered. “The timing is suspicious, is it not? She spends time in his dreadful mists, and when she returns here, they start coming across the bridge.”