Page 28

Chapter 28

Not Enough

S tellon

The three pillars were no more.

I no longer knew—or wanted to know—my brother.

Staring at his back as he rode side by side with our father, I wished I possessed the glamour of flame-throwing. The two of them would be nothing but smoldering crisps right now.

My horse was farther back in the pack, tied by a lead line to another horse since I was bound and unable to guide it or do anything but sit helplessly and ponder the depth of my stupidity for putting my faith in either of them.

Jolting along the bumpy road in the prison cart beside me, Raewyn didn’t look at me or respond to my questions about her well-being and her family.

I supposed that was smart. We were surrounded by soldiers loyal to my father, and the scowling Earthwife sat right beside her. The woman would no doubt use any scrap of information she could get to save her own hide.

The Hennessey family had not been found in any of the villages searched by my father’s men—to my great relief.

At least Pharis had gotten them to safety—or perhaps they’d fled on their own—before my father’s troops had arrived and searched their village.

A couple days into the miserable ride, my brother dropped back to walk his horse even with mine.

I’m sorry it had to go down like that. I was only trying to—

I blocked him out until only silence remained, refusing to look at him or acknowledge his attempts at mind-to-mind conversation.

Raewyn spoke to him though.

“Now I know why they call you the Prince of Tears,” she said. “I used to assume it was because you broke so many girls’ hearts. Now I know it’s because you’re actually the Prince of Lies.”

“Listen to me, Wildcat,” he began in a low voice.

Wildcat?

“No,” she interrupted, sticking her hand through the bars. “Never call me that again. Never speak to me again. There’s no point in listening to anything you have to say.”

He went silent for a few minutes, staring at her intently.

What was he doing? He looked very concerned about her upset with him—which was very concerning to me.

The witch hadn’t done her virgin-test on him.

Was Raewyn so upset because she and Pharis actually had bonded? He said he’d done whatever he had to do to gain her confidence, and apparently he’d succeeded, at least temporarily.

Even now when it was truly over for the two of us, that possibility hurt.

The fact that she could claim to love me then move on so quickly to my brother.

The fact that he would take advantage of Raewyn’s gratitude to him for helping her and her family to escape and seduce her—it destroyed any notion I’d ever had of him being a good person.

He’d been lusting after her since the night of the Opening Ball, and I guessed he’d finally added her to his list of conquests.

If it had gone all the way, there was only one consolation for me.

Once Raewyn was put to death, Pharis would spend eternity alone.

And he’d deserve it.

When we finally reached the palace, Raewyn was taken, once again, to the dungeon where soldiers were stationed outside her cell.

I was, once again, imprisoned in my suite. But things were so much worse than they’d ever been.

Raewyn wasn’t at risk this time of remaining a prisoner or even being forced into a retinue—she was going to be executed.

Tomorrow.

Father was convinced that once she died, my heart would be freed from a spell.

I knew the truth—my heart would be forever broken. I really would refuse to bond with anyone else and deny him the legacy he wanted so much.

If he wanted the Randalin name to carry on, it would have to be through my duplicitous brother. For all I knew, he’d be incapable of it because he’d already bonded with the love of my life.

As if summoned, the back-stabber came through the door.

Once again, I refused to speak to him or even look at him, turning away and staring out the window at the rain that struck the glass like tiny arrows.

I couldn’t help but hear him, though. I might have been able to block him out mentally, but my ears unfortunately worked just fine.

“I did what I had to do,” Pharis said. “Father was incensed enough to slay you on the spot in addition to Raewyn—and me as well.”

Furious, I spun to face him. “I wish he had. My life means nothing without her. And you…”

I shook my head, heartsick. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

Pharis took a step toward me, his hands out. “Do you have no faith in me at all, brother?”

“I did—until you stole the woman I love and then threw her under a charging chariot when your own neck was in jeopardy.”

“Don’t you see that what I said saved her life?”

I snorted. “For the moment.”

“A moment was all I had to work with.”

“Brilliant plan,” I said. “And now the whole world will watch and cheer at her death.”

Pharis flung his hands up in apparent exasperation.

“Not only did I save both our necks back there, I bought us some time to save Raewyn as well.”

“There is no us. And there is no time,” I said bitterly. “The execution is tomorrow morning, or did your invitation fail to arrive? I hear it’s quite the event, the talk of the kingdom.”

Folding his arms across his chest, Pharis looked me over.

“You sound like you’ve given up. If I loved a woman as much as you claim to love Raewyn, I wouldn’t let anything stop me or let anyone take her away from me—not even Father.”

“What can I do?” I asked. “My glamour is useless, just as father has always said.”

“He’s always said mine is useless, too,” Pharis said. “But he doesn’t know everything. Or maybe he knows more than he’s let on. Maybe neither of us is as weak and useless as he’d like us to believe.”

Once, Raewyn had told me she thought Father was afraid of me and Pharis. At the time I didn’t believe her, but there was a gleam in Pharis’ eye that was only there when he had a plan up his sleeve.

“What are you suggesting?”

He turned the communication internal, and this time I let him in.

That we work together. Overthrow him. Tonight.

My lungs emptied of breath, and my heart gave a hard thump. Are you serious?

Completely, Pharis said. We could do it, if you’re willing to take a chance and stand against him . Mareth would help us. She could call in her friend Melanthios or maybe a swarm of killer bees or something. The Three Pillars could rule Avrandar. We’d be much better for the kingdom—and all of its inhabitants… including the humans.

For a long moment I stared at him, considering his words as a tiny spark of hope landed on my heart. And then, in a whiff of smoke, it went out.

We are not enough, I said sadly.

Our father’s glamour had always prevailed.

It would take an army of allies, all using our glamours, working together to defeat him. And there is no time to gather allies, I said.

The gleam in Pharis’ eyes extinguished as well. He could see that I was right. Our father was too powerful.

There was a sad smile on his face. “Well… maybe we can at least work together to get Raewyn out of the dungeon… one last time.”

“How would you propose to do that?” I asked.

“I don’t have an army of glamours,” he said, “but I do have more than one.”

“What? How could I not know this? Why have you never mentioned it?”

“I was only able to use my shadow glamour recently. And we haven’t been able to talk that much of late.”

He laid out the plan. He would siphon the jailer’s Vigilance glamour as well as the soldiers’ who were guarding Raewyn, giving me a chance to sneak in and free her. Then he’d use his newly developed shadow glamour to cloak us while we smuggled her out in the dark of night.

Grateful and full of hope, I agreed. As I’d said, my life was worth nothing if Raewyn was dead—I wasn’t afraid to risk it to try to save her.

Apparently my brother was willing to take the same risk.

“I’m sorry I lost faith in you,” I said. “I should never have doubted your intentions.”

“No. You shouldn’t have,” Pharis agreed.

As he left to head down to the dungeon, he still seemed subdued.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked him. If he had doubts about his glamour skills, perhaps we shouldn’t even attempt it.

He stopped and looked at me. “Quite sure.”

And then he was gone.

At the agreed upon hour, I took the hidden passageway from my room and went to the dungeon myself. The palace was asleep, its hallways dark.

That darkness would hopefully shield our escape, and this time, I would be the one to spirit Raewyn away from Seaspire, never to return.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, I crept forward into the dungeon.

As expected, the jailer was away from his post. I took his ring of keys from its hook on the wall and made my way down the corridor of cells.

There, up ahead, I spotted Pharis waiting, ready to cover our escape with his shadows. He must already have subdued the guards on Raewyn’s cell because I saw no one else.

As I picked up my pace and headed toward him, movement in the dark cells on either side surprised me. The dungeon was full tonight.

Suddenly, torches blazed to life. The cell doors opened, and soldiers streamed out, surrounding me.

My eyes met Pharis’. His were steady and unsurprised, the bright sea blue of them glowing with the reflected flames.

What’s going on? I asked, frantic.

And then Father stepped out from the cell in front of me. His large form blocked my path.

“You were right,” he said, looking sorely disappointed.

“I told you he’d try again,” Pharis said. “Lovestruck until the bitter end, poor sap.”

What? You told him about this? And let him set a trap for us? I asked him mind-to-mind, utterly shocked.

There is no us… remember? Pharis said.

He walked forward, stopping at our father’s side.

“The love spell ends tomorrow morning,” the King vowed. “And then I will have both my sons back. Thank you for your loyalty, Pharis.”

Turning to me, my father said, “As for you, you’ll spend the night down here, where you’ll be safe from your own stupidity until this curse is broken. Jailer, lock him up. Put him next to the girl so they can say their farewells.”

Sneering at me, he said, “Never let it be said the King is not merciful.”

And then I was yanked off my feet, dragged to the end of the corridor, stripped of my weapons, and tossed in a cell, which was locked behind me.

A chain was placed and locked onto the door for good measure, and two guards were posted just outside the bars.

In the cell beside me, the sweetest voice in the world arose.

“Stellon? Stellon is that you?”