Page 21 of A Court of Wings and Shadows

“The Blood Fae are looking for me,” I said softly. “They’ve already tried to acquire me. Sent emissaries. Assassins. I don’t know what they want, but I can feel them circling.”

Alahathrial’s expression darkened. “Then they believe you can unlock their power. Or access something they cannot. But be wary, Ashe.” His voice turned to steel. “They will use you. Discard you the moment you have served your purpose. They know no love. No loyalty. Everything they do is to increase the Blood King’s power.”

“I figured.” I let the bitterness twist into my voice. “I don’t want anything to do with them.”

He tensed in his seat. His hands folded tighter, his spine going ramrod straight. “Be wary, still. There are those within Warriath who would aid the Blood Fae if it meant securing power for themselves.”

My eyes narrowed. “The Blood Fae will turn on anyone who helps them. Surely even traitors know that.”

Alahathrial was silent for a long moment.

Then, finally, he said, “That is not entirely true.”

My breath caught. “What do you mean?”

“They need Warriath,” he said. “They need the dragons to continue breeding. Without access to the dragon eggs… their future is crippled.”

I sat in stunned silence.

“They don’t want the kingdom destroyed,Ashlyn,” he continued. “They want access. To the nests. To the eggs. When required.”

My stomach twisted.

“The dragons would break the treaty,” I said, my voice low. “If their eggs were taken. If they were stolen.”

Alahathrial’s expression didn’t change.

“Only,” he said, “if they believed the crown had anything to do with it.”

The chill that ran down my spine had nothing to do with the cold stone around us.

Because in that moment, I realized?—

There were worse things than war.

And betrayal was one of them.

Alahathrial’s words lingered like smoke, clinging to skin, to breath, to memory.

We sat in that stillness, the flicker of enchantment light glinting off the curve of the crystal decanter beside him, untouched.

Tae spoke first, his voice low. “So that’s how you’d run it, then? Warriath. You’d allow just enough Blood Fae incursions a year to keep them quiet? Feed them a few eggs, a few lives… and make it look like the wards are holding?”

Alahathrial didn’t flinch. “If I were your king and my sole purpose was preserving power, then yes. That is precisely what I’d do.”

I shook my head slowly, disbelief bleeding into anger. “The warders are supposed to keep the Blood Fae from entering Warriath. That’s their whole damn purpose.”

“They do,” Alahathrial said calmly. “But it takes many to maintain the outer ring of protections. The deep wards are ancient, and they are faltering. Fewer and fewer of your kind are taking the tower vows. The spells weaken as the old warders die off or burn out.”

My stomach turned as understanding settled in my gut like rot.

“That’s why they allowed commoners to enter the academies,” I whispered. “It wasn’t about equality. It wasn’t about opening the guilds.” I looked up, heart thundering. “It was about the warders. They needed fresh blood. More minds.”

Alahathrial inclined his head. “They don’t care about the other guilds, Ashlyn. The swords, the healers, the riders, they’re useful, yes. But not essential.Not like the warders are.”

“But commoners bonding to dragons,” Tae said carefully, “that’s not something the king wants.”

Alahathrial’s smile was thin, almost sad. “It is the last thing he wanted. But he could not publicly put out a call for warders only. That would raise questions. Suspicions. The guilds had tobe opened all at once, and framed as an act of compassion. Unity.”