Page 30 of A Queen’s Betrayal (Legends of Worldbinders #1)

“You cannot trust Fae,” Arenna murmured.

Kleo raised an eyebrow. “And who told ye that?”

“Our ancestors. History. The Fae King and his army have assaulted our towns and villages for years. This very port was nearly demolished six years ago.”

Kleo’s jaw clenched. “I remember.”

“Then you should remember how violent and cruel they can be,” Arenna replied.

“Are all Fae to blame for the actions of their king?”

“No,” Arenna conceded, recalling how it felt to be judged for her husband’s actions.

“But we’re in a constant state of war. I’ve witnessed the carnage with my own eyes, seen the aftermath of soldiers returning from battles with the Fae Army.

It’s because of that that I cannot imagine trusting them with our people. ”

“I can understand why that would alter your opinion,” Kleo agreed. “But I’ve seen scared Fae children huddled together, weeping for their parents—all lost to human hands. We are not innocent in this war.”

“No, we aren’t.” Arenna’s stomach sank, the ale in her belly turning sour. There were no winners when it came to battle.

Kleo folded her arms across her chest. “I not only help humans reach safety in Vlazias, but I also assist enslaved Fae in returning to their homeland,” she whispered.

Arenna’s head snapped upward. Enslaved? “Fae don’t come to Varios, unless they were taken from battle. What exactly are you talking about?” A cold dread crept into her bones. Every servant, council member, and person living and working within Brookworth’s walls were human— paid . She knew that.

Chair legs scraped against the wood as Koltin pulled his chair closer to her, placing his elbows on the table. “There’s a lot you don’t know, Ren.” Her lower lip quivered. “Jaksen . . . he—his experiments on Fae—”

“The prisoners of war?” Arenna asked, seeking clarification.

“They aren’t prisoners of war,” Kleo spat.

Koltin nudged his sister in the side before continuing. “There are some males from past battles, yes. But the majority of his experiments are not soldiers.” His throat bobbed as he spoke.

“They’re mothers. Fathers. Children . Husbands and wives.

” A deep voice carried from the doorway of the room.

Arenna had been so lost in thought that she hadn’t noticed the door open or who stepped through the threshold.

“Your husband has kidnapped hundreds, if not thousands, of Fae over his reign.” Kayson’s boots slapped against the flooring, the foundation groaning beneath him.

“He is not my husband anymore,” Arenna warned.

“Current or former, I don’t give a damn.

” Kayson slammed his hand on the table in front of her, leaning in so that his face was inches from her own.

Koltin stood abruptly, yanking his knives from his belt.

“Thousands of innocents have died at his hands, have been tortured, drained, used to create his beasts and his blood magic. And I know you’re not being honest about your involvement. ”

Arenna shook her head, trying to process the information. How could Jaksen have been enslaving Fae right under her nose? How could he keep magic-wielding beings trapped inside his walls? “This doesn’t make sense,” she said.

“How can it not?” Kayson sneered. “Are you that thick in the head you can’t see directly in front of you?”

“I had nothing to do with any of that,” Arenna spat. She stood, pushed her chair in, and grabbed her cloak. “If what you say is true, then I’m as disgusted as the rest of you. Don’t paint me as the villain in this. There’s a reason I needed to escape him too,” she said, her voice shaking.

She needed space to think. To connect the dots on her own.

“You’re telling me you’ve been married to Jaksen for nearly five years, and you had no idea about something right under your nose?” He stepped closer, violence flaring in his eyes.

Arenna felt Koltin’s presence at her right side, a gentle reminder that he wouldn’t let anything happen to her, while still keeping enough distance to allow her the chance to defend herself.

“Tell me, Arenna Steele, how does your husband slaughter thousands of Fae without you knowing? How do you sit pretty in your castle with your fine clothes and jewels, all while Fae are trapped all around you?”

Arenna burned with rage, holding Kayson’s gaze, unable to tear her eyes away. “I don’t know.”

“Make that make sense to me,” Kayson snarled.

Words clogged her throat, but it was the commander who spoke. “Jaksen kept his victims in the North Tower. A place where no one was allowed except for a select few, including Arenna.”

“And I’m to believe that?” Kayson laughed bitterly. “Why would I trust the word of a commander in the king’s army or a queen of his castle?”

“I’m struggling to believe this,” she admitted, her tone harsher than intended.

She couldn’t fathom the depth of rage he felt, nor wrap her head around the idea of a species being enslaved beneath her roof without her knowledge.

Arenna looked at Kayson. “You—being the emissary of House Forx—betrayed your kingdom, and your king. Why on earth would I believe a word out of your mouth?”

Kayson snarled, like a wild beast in the middle of a hunt.

“The North Tower is full of evidence,” Koltin said, stepping between Kayson and Arenna.

She hesitated. “What kind of evidence?”

Kleo moved to the hearth, peeling back a purple rug. A hidden door lay beneath, and she used a key from the chain around her neck to unlock it. From inside, she pulled out a thick, leatherbound book and brought it back to the table.

It hit the wood with a heavy thud. The pages were worn and thick, as if handled countless times. Kleo opened the book halfway, turning it toward Arenna.

Color drained from her face.

Names— hundreds of names—were scrawled across the yellowed parchment. Arenna flipped another page. More names. She flipped again, and again, and still the columns of names continued without end. “How, in only five years of Jaksen on the throne, did he enslave and kill this many Fae?” she whispered.

No one answered. Perhaps they, too, didn’t understand.

A tremor ran through her hands. Her vision blurred, not from tears—but from fury. Her pulse thundered in her ears as heat surged up her neck.

She couldn’t breathe.

Arenna bolted from the room, shoving the ledger aside as she stormed down the rickety staircase, pushing through the crowded tavern without a word. She didn’t care who she bumped or who shouted after her.

The moment her boots struck the cobblestone outside, she staggered, bracing herself against the cold wall of the building. The night air hit her face, sharp and biting—but not enough to ground her.

How could she have been so foolish? So blind?

Enslaving. Killing. Torturing. Creating . Jaksen hadn’t ruled a kingdom—he’d built a machine. One that ran on blood.

There had always been something wrong about Jaksen, something sinister in his blood. Now, Arenna finally saw it—he viewed himself as a god among the Seven, creating and taking life wherever he saw fit.

But the pieces of a puzzle slowly began to fall into place.

Kayson hated her, as did everyone in Varios.

She never understood why— until now . Arenna was the Serpent Queen, always adorned in red and silver, serpents winding through her hair, on her arms, embroidered into her gowns.

She stood beside Jaksen, praised him at banquets, and loved on him at tournaments.

To the public, she was his wicked wife, complicit in all his schemes. It took her escape to see it clearly. Jaksen had painted her as his perfect, evil queen, and everyone in Varios had bought it.

In their eyes, she was as cruel as Jaksen, because she stood by his side through it all .

Snow crunched behind her. “You really had nothing to do with this?”

Pride flared. Arenna didn’t want him seeing her like this. “I will not say it again,” she snapped, turning. “I knew nothing until I woke up on that slab. Are you forgetting I was strapped to concrete, too? That my blood was also stolen?”

“Men like Jaksen Steele have no loyalties. It doesn’t matter who you are to him; if you have something he wants, he’ll stop at nothing to get it. The condition I found you in doesn’t mean you weren’t his puppet before.”

She flinched, and the emissary seemed surprised by it. Arenna closed the distance between them. “You don’t know what I lived through. You’ll never begin to understand what he’s done to me for years. I would never be part of something so cruel.”

Kayson’s lips parted.

“No,” she barked, cutting him off before he could speak.

“I know you don’t care about me or my past—believe me, I don’t care for yours either.

But if we’re going to finish this together, you need to let this go.

Whatever you think I did, I didn’t. So get over it,” she snarled.

Arenna stomped back into the cottage, ramming her shoulder into him as she passed.