Page 31 of A Crown of Tears and Treason (The Curse of Silver Secrets and Cruel Shadows #1)

Chapter

Thirty-One

EVIE

“ Y ou figured it out.” Zandyr’s smile turned triumphant. His hands rounded my shoulders, as if getting ready to hug me. “How?”

“When we were talking about the razorback smugglers, you peppered clues.”

The gold.

The blending in.

The high ranks.

Zandyr sucked in air between his teeth as he watched me with hooded eyes. “I did.”

“You could have made it less difficult,” I grumbled.

He’d mentioned whoever he’d suspected wasn’t from around here . The list was long.

Serpents.

Whoever had attacked my wedding.

Every other Clan.

But the advisors controlled the guards, who were spreading rumors.

The razorback snake had appeared in my house after a guard had brought in the fruit box.

I figured the advisors simply disliked the very idea of me and wanted to make my life in Phoenix Peak as difficult as possible for a Protectorate member.

The leap from Clan animosity to attempted murder was big.

Even now, after all the puzzle pieces had clicked in my mind, I had trouble believing it. Why would the advisors risk Zandyr’s wrath and a Clan war? They’d sworn to protect and dedicate their lives for the Blood Brotherhood.

But the evidence was too obvious.

Kaya dyed her head to blend in.

She said her parents were glad she’d been born here. Valuta mentioned her ancestral runes way up north.

The same north ruled by the Clans who’d attacked the Blood Brotherhood after Zavoya and Eldryan’s marriage.

It all added up too well to be a coincidence.

Now Zandyr had confirmed it.

“Did she order the attack at my wedding?” I asked. I didn’t know how far Valuta’s influence reached. Were my cousins safe from her vengeance? “They shot at you and other Blood Brotherhood Elite members. Is she staging a coup?”

“No. I don’t know who tried to kill us all on Sanctua Sirena, but it was not Valuta. Trust me, she and Banu want me very much alive. And you–”

Zandyr’s face turned ashen. He groaned as he hunched into me. I swayed under his weight, barely managing to balance him.

“Hey, hey.” I shook his shoulders. “What–”

“Bed,” he whispered faintly.

His fading voice scared me into action. Almost toppling to the side, we both managed to stumble our way toward his colossal bed. As Zandyr fell on his back against the golden mattress, I gasped.

Blood.

Coming out of his nose and dripping from his mouth onto his chin. Even the small veins in his eyes turned crimson.

“I’m calling the healers,” I said, already turning.

“No.” He caught my wrist, pulling me back. The simple touch blazed through me. Gods, I’d missed him. “Nobody can know. I’ll heal, just….Give me a moment.”

I spied a damp cloth, probably the one he’d used to dry his skin. Gently, I kneeled on the bed and slowly dabbed it against the sides of his mouth, wiping the blood away. My insides quaked.

My nightmares were becoming a reality right in front of me.

He couldn’t have survived my wedding, a clash with the Serpents, and getting his magic only to bleed out in front of me. I refused to let that happen.

Gods, please, don’t .

“Zandyr, what’s going on?”

Instead of answering, the infuriating man smiled.

“That’s the first time you’ve said my name.” He opened his eyes slowly, as if it took all his strength to look at me. “I like it.”

I gulped. “If you want to hear it again, you can’t die.”

“I’m not dying.” He coughed. More drops of blood spilled past his lips. “Though it feels like it. I was dangerously close to breaking the oath. This is its revenge.”

That damn oath. Allie had said oaths were a matter of life and death, but I hadn’t imagined even a hint of information about it could lead to one of the strongest men on the entire continent oozing blood and not being able to stand.

I desperately wanted answers–but I would not risk Zandyr’s life to get them.

“If I discover the truth on my own…that doesn’t affect you, does it?” I asked.

“No. Only when I or the other person who took it tell you the truth included in the oath.”

The other person.

My thoughts scrambled. The oath was obviously attached to the advisors. Zandyr’s partner in this deadly promise was someone he trusted. Someone tied to Banu and Valuta.

I narrowed my eyes on him. Even with a bloody face, he still looked bloody gorgeous. “What are you and Kaya up to?”

His smile grew; it looked like it pained him.

“I love that you’re so smart,” he mumbled, dozing off. The energy it must have taken to heal himself was draining all of him.

“Too smart for my own good, my mother used to say.”

“Never. Smart. Very smart.”

I finished wiping his face. He looked so peaceful, nothing like the menacing Dragon who’d threatened my entire Clan at the wedding. I had the sudden urge to run my fingers through his hair.

I got up and placed the cloth on the nearest surface. His grip on my wrist increased.

“Stay,” he said, barely above a whisper. “Stay with me.”

I opened my mouth to say no. Instead, I curled up next to him, the man I’d been taught to fear my entire life. “I’m staying.”