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With the weight gone, the animal stretched its neck toward the sky. The hybrid dragon-wolf stretched its wings. She batted them in the air as if testing their durability. Then, with what looked to be a nod in Graeson’s direction, she sprinted and jumped. As she launched herself into the air, Graeson caught sight of more scars lacing her back, and the anger returned.

At least she was free now.

“What the hell was that?” Dani asked, voice shaking from both terror and awe as she watched the beast take flight.

“I have no fucking clue,” Graeson said at the same time as Moris said, “A dragon-puppy.”

Dani and Armen burst into laughter, releasing the tension.

Graeson, however, didn’t laugh. His brows knitted together as he watched the animal’s silhouette fade into the night sky. All jokes aside, the animal was not natural. It shouldn’t exist, yet here it was in the flesh. If the others hadn’t seen it, too, Graeson would have questioned if the lack of sleep over the past week had made him delusional.

That left only one question: what the hell were the Frenzians doing?

Chapter28

KALLIE

With one dayleft before the wedding festivities started, Rian’s absence lingered uncomfortably in the air. He was supposed to be back by now, yet there had been no word from anyone about his return. A fact no one dared speak about in Kallie’s presence, yet it soaked every conversation.

Kallie’s nerves rose as she stood on the balcony overlooking the large courtyard, watching the staff finish the preparations for the welcome dinner. Lystrata shouted command after command from the front of the room as though she was the director of an orchestra and the servants were her musicians. As the staff raced around the room, they knocked into the corners of tables and the chairs set up.

Guests had been arriving at the castle every hour. While Kallie had not seen the new guests, their presence was made known by the way the castle shifted. An influx of servants and guards flooded the castle. Kallie’s walks became confined to the castle’s halls, the guards too nervous for her to be outside so close to the wedding. They were not willing to take any risks. Where Kallie walked, no less than four guards followed. Even her nights in the library were closely guarded.

Upon arrival, the staff directed the visitors to the guest houses surrounding the castle. People from all over Vaneria had arrived, including Ragolo, Kadia, and Borgania. Kallie had heard nothing about Tetria or Ardentol’s arrival yet.

A thin layer of guilt coated her stomach, and a burning sensation rose in her throat.

Delayed or not, her father would be here soon. Once he arrived, there would no doubt be questions about her assignments. While she had covered her tracks, there was still a sinking feeling that he would somehow discover that she had not killed the servant herself. And she had made little headway in learning what knowledge the Frenzians were keeping secret. With Rian’s absence, she hadn’t been able to pry it from him as she planned to do.

Her finger tapped anxiously on the railing.

Below, two male servants were hanging the drapes across the beams. One stood atop a ladder, draping the thin black chiffon fabric across the wooden beams, while the other held the ladder’s base steady on the ground. The nearly transparent material was stark yet delicate against the solid oak beams. The addition of the chiffon made the room look enchanting and ethereal. But the man putting it up couldn’t be less so. Even from her position, Kallie could see the man’s sweat-soaked shirt and ruffled hair. The man on the ladder tossed the fabric, aiming for the beam.

He missed, and the fabric floated in the air before falling out of his reach.

The servant tossed his head back in exasperation, reaching for it and extending his arm as far as possible. His fingers brushed against the fabric, but he was still too far away to grab it. He tried again, and after struggling for a moment, he managed to grab it.

Meanwhile, the man holding the ladder struck up a conversation with a female servant carrying a bundle of eucalyptus. The man glanced at his comrade on the ladder and then back at the woman. He took a step toward her, a loose hand on the ladder.

The man atop the ladder tossed the fabric over the beam again. As he shifted his weight, the ladder wobbled.

Kallie’s heart pitched in her stomach. She began to call out, but someone beat her to it, stealing the words from her lips. “Phil! The ladder!”

Kallie straightened at the voice.

Beside her, Rian pressed himself against the railing, his dark features tinted with panic and his fingers digging into red wine hair.

Continuing to stare, Kallie’s forehead creased, but then a noise from below forced her attention back to the man on the ladder.

Phil, who had been talking to the woman, panicked and grabbed the ladder, steadying it. Above him, the servant on the ladder pressed a clenched fist against his chest as he held onto the ladder with a white-knuckled grip.

“Whosever idea it was to hang fabric from the ceiling is an imbecile,” Rian muttered, shaking his head.

Kallie leaned her hip against the banister, arms crossed over her chest, and arched a brow as she gave Rian a pointed look. “That imbecile would be me.”

Gaze still forward, Rian turned bright red. He turned, clearing his throat. “Did I say imbecile? What I meant to say was . . .” He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the short strands. His face twisted. “Was that they had an impossibly imaginative mind and a foresight for design?”

Chuckling, Kallie uncrossed her arms and eliminated the space separating them. She ignored the twist in her gut and the way the air between them stiffened. All the progress Kallie had made over the past month seemed to have vanished when Rian had left. And although the king had returned, their easy comfort hadn’t.