Page 47 of A Taste For Lies (The Apex Kingdom #1)

Chapter 47

ALORA

I rush into my suite and slam the wall door shut with my whole body, closing my eyes and leaning against it to catch my breath. My mind is running so fast, I can’t keep up. Connecting with Taran. Feeling his power rush through me, his stoneclaw at the other end. Taran’s hands on my body. Taran’s mouth on my body. His plea to sail with us to Thalassar. To stay by my side because he can’t stand not to be there.

My eyes fly open at that last thought.

And land on Maeve.

She’s sitting across the room in one of the armchairs, her eyebrows to her hairline. A barely there laugh, hardly more than a hard breath, reaches my ears and my eyes snap to Astrid, standing at Maeve’s side, looking more amused than I’ve ever seen the guardian.

Underworld, take me now.

The traitorous thought that at least neither of them can scent Taran on me burns my cheeks. Or maybe it’s the way Maeve is staring at my bare legs.

I cross my arms over Taran’s shirt and try for bravado. “Can I help you with something?”

A full-out grin breaks out on Astrid’s face. It’s so unbelievable it almost distracts me from the mortifying situation I’ve found myself in .

Almost.

Maeve blinks slowly. Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she finally gets a word out. “Where did you just—no, who did you just—” She seems to take a better look at the very big, very black shirt I have wrapped over me and evidently answers her own question.

“Yes, well,” she says primly, even going so far as to fold her hands in her lap. “There’s no time to discuss that now. We have an emergency. Meiling is missing.”

There’s almost nothing else she could have said that would have overcome my embarrassment right now.

“What?” I can hear the panic in my voice. “What do you mean missing?”

“She was supposed to meet after dark in my chambers to review her exit plan for tomorrow. We thought it would be a good distraction while you were attempting the linking with Taran. She never showed.”

“After waiting for an hour, I searched the castle but couldn’t find her,” Astrid adds.

“So we came back here,” Maeve finishes. “When you weren’t back yet either, we hoped she was with you, but…” Clearly, Mei wasn’t with me.

“We need to alert Carter and Taran,” Astrid says. “Immediately.”

“Yes.” I nod, thankful to have someone else taking charge because I feel completely incapable of it at this moment. “Yes, let’s tell Carter and Taran.”

“Ahem.” Maeve eyes my attire, or lack thereof, meaningfully. “Perhaps you want to put on…something else while Astrid fetches them. And do something about your hair.”

My hand flies to my hair, tangled beyond repair from Taran’s grasping hands and my own writhing against the bed sheets. Oh gods.

Despite the terrifying situation with Mei, Astrid makes that almost-laugh sound in her throat again before disappearing to find the males. Maeve’s eyes stay trained on the door for a long moment after she’s gone.

“Do you know,” she remarks to me conversationally, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard her make that sound before. Was it a laugh, do you think? ”

I cover my face with my hands and give myself one full breath—inhale and exhale.

Rule Number Ten: Maintain control.

I square my shoulders and head to the wardrobe for some underwear.

By the time Astrid returns with a grim Carter in tow, I’m dressed in an unassuming tunic and loose pants set, my hair smoothed back into a ponytail. And my nails are well on their way to being bitten to the quick, my mind racing with all the things that could have happened to Mei.

“I couldn’t find her either,” Carter announces without preamble. “I didn’t want to ask anyone else and alert the other guardians that she’s missing.”

“What could have happened to her?” I’m nearly frantic.

“She could have run,” Maeve offers. “I gave her the purse of gold earlier as Taran instructed.”

But that doesn’t feel right. I know Mei wants to get home to her family, but there’s no way she’d attempt it without the guild’s help. And leaving us stranded on the eve of the heist doesn’t fit with what I know of her character.

“No.” Astrid’s voice is unequivocal. “No. She was taken.”

“By whom?” Maeve asks. But none of us has the answer. Until my wall opens and spits out Taran.

“Lord Winters has her,” he says.

I start trembling.

“How do you know that?” Carter demands.

“There’s no other explanation.”

“Lord Winters has her?” All my scattered fears about what could have happened to her crystallize into this one, sharp, focused terror. “But that doesn’t make any sense. She’s already an Apex!”

The room plunges into an awkward silence, during which I begin to realize there’s another secret they’ve been keeping from me .

I stare stonily at the prince I trusted with my body and my heart only an hour earlier. “Taran. Why Mei?”

He squeezes his eyes shut. Like he can’t bear to look at me.

“Wildcat,” Carter starts.

“I asked His Highness .” Taran visibly winces, either at the return to his title or my harsh tone. “Why?”

When he finally opens his eyes, the look in them is so bleak, it would take my breath away if I had any left in my lungs.

Finally, he says, “I can taste lies, Alora.”

And the ground drops out from underneath me.

He starts speaking, quickly. As if he’s afraid I won’t let him get the words out. “Faunera’s amulet. It doesn’t just turn humans into Apex. For Apex, it can further enhance our connection with our creatures and our ability to draw power from them. But just like with humans, it doesn’t work. The balance is off, and the creature takes over. The Apex goes feral. That’s what happened with—”

“Ethan.” I thought Ethan going feral meant it could happen to me, someone already at an imbalance with her creature. Maeve heard me express that worry to Eleni. She let me think that. My head feels like it’s floating. Like this moment isn’t real. I watch Taran's lips move in a sort of haunted detachment.

“Yes. My guess is they chose Ethan because of his age. That close to emergence, maybe the balance would be easier to find. But it never is. They always go feral. Except…when Winters used the amulet on me, it did work as intended. I don’t know why except perhaps my power level. The amulet magnified my sense of smell to the point where I can scent, or taste, lies.”

“Wait.” I hold up my hand. “Lord Winters used the amulet on you? How did your father allow that? How did your mother —”

“My parents' relationship had already deteriorated beyond repair by that point. The strain caused by my emergence…they were barely speaking.” His jaw clenches. “My father is the one who called me into the throne room, at a time when Carter was unavailable to accompany me—they had obviously pl anned it in advance. I don’t know how Winters convinced him, but my father was likely ready to be rid of me as heir anyway and wouldn’t have seen a downside to failure. Vorrick and Rhegar restrained me before I knew what was happening. My stoneclaw…it did take over initially. I don’t know how to describe what happened next. It was a mental fight between us for control. But during that time, I was completely feral, lost to my creature. My mother burst in and I—”

“His creature killed his mother.” I think Maeve finished the tale for him out of kindness. It is a kindness to say his stoneclaw was responsible and not him.

Bad things happen when my stoneclaw is in charge.

But as I stare at the prince, unable or unwilling to keep the horror off my face, I know he doesn’t blame his creature. He places the blame for his mother’s death where he always does. On his own two shoulders.

“When I finally came to, I was chained to a wall in a dungeon cell. I called out, and Carter was there on the other side of the bars looking as though he’d seen a ghost.”

“I thought he was lost forever. We all did.” Carter’s voice is numb with remembered pain. “The only reason the king hadn’t executed him yet was because the kingdom was in mourning for the queen. Taran was lost to his creature for nearly two full days.”

I suddenly remember his face after the boar attack in the clearing. The mangled corpse of the animal. “Your teeth, your…”

“Yes.” I can feel Taran’s eyes on me, watching for my reaction, though I keep my gaze averted. “My stoneclaw has always given me strength, but now, the physical gifts grow even more pronounced. Not just glowing eyes but stone-hard claws and elongated canines. Horns.”

My canines ache to mark you as mine.

My thoughts are tripping over themselves, and a cold hard rock sits at the base of my stomach. My next words are directed at Maeve. “You said Apex don’t turn into their animals. You told Eleni she had nothing to worry about when she was in danger —”

Taran pushes out a sharp breath. “Maeve didn’t lie. I’ve never known another Apex to shapeshift into their creature. There’s only one instance of that happening. Only one time when the amulet worked as intended. Me. My father and Lord Winters have been attempting to recreate it ever since.”

“Neither the king nor Lord Winters know that Taran can taste lies,” Carter tells me solemnly. “They saw Taran’s claws, his teeth. They thought the amulet created the physical transformation and a strengthening of his power, not an entirely new gift. He feigned amnesia. Said he didn’t remember anything that happened to him and didn’t know how his mother had died. The king and Lord Winters believed it because he’s the only one who’s come out the other side. Why would they question it?”

“Mei.” It hits me now—why Winters wanted her.

Taran nods, his lips pressed together in a hard line. “Victoria must have told him she can taste lies. Her father would have been giddy to use it on her. To see what more the amulet might bring out. How that gift might be strengthened.”

The absolutely debilitating guilt that crushes me like a boulder is the only thing that could supersede the betrayal of him keeping this secret from me. I curl in on myself, almost falling to my knees. “This is all my fault.”

“What? No!” Taran’s voice feels like it’s coming from very far away. “If this is anyone’s fault, it’s mine for not warning you.”

“But you did warn me,” I respond miserably, the guilt eating me alive. I feel like I might be sick. “The very first day in the palace. You said, ‘Don’t ever tell my father Meiling can taste lies.’”

“But you didn’t tell him. Victoria did,” Taran counters.

“Because I told her!” I shout back.

“Before I warned you not to!”

I close my eyes. “I brought Mei here,” I tell them, my voice dull. “I put her in danger in the first place. I made up the lie that got her taken.” I drag in a shallow breath. “Do you think they’ve already used the amulet on her?”

“There’s no way to know.” Carter’s voice is gentle. “But…she might make it through. She’s a fighter. ”

Taran nods. “And more importantly, she’s in harmony with her songbird. Her creature is less likely to battle for dominance.”

Another terrible thought occurs to me. “But…if her songbird gives her enhanced powers or if there’s a physical transformation…”

It’s clear Carter and Taran thought of this exact thing the second they learned Mei was taken. Winters will know immediately he’s been lied to. And it won’t take him long to realize Victoria isn’t the one who knowingly lied.

“We’re going to get her back, Lady Lynx,” Taran vows.

“If she hasn’t already been lost to her creature,” I reply, my tone hopeless.

“Even then,” Carter promises.

We end up strategizing until just before dawn lights the sky, working out how to both seize the amulet and save Mei. My eyes feel gritty, like there’s sand in them.

Maeve tells me I’ll be spending the remaining hours until the heist in her room so Astrid can keep an eye on both of us. In her typical high-handed way, she instructs me to gather everything I’ll need for tomorrow and bring it over to her suite.

They’re all leaving when I quietly ask Taran to stay for a moment. He nods once, sharply, his posture tense, hands held rigidly behind his back. He’s never looked more like the soldier he is.

“What do lies taste like?” I wonder aloud.

True panic races across the prince’s face, and he drops his stiff position. “Lady Lynx—”

“They must taste of the sweetest nectar,” I muse. “You said earlier that I was the most divine thing you had ever tasted, but that can’t be true, can it?”

“Alora…” His voice breaks on my name.

“I imagine lies must taste sweeter still. Because you are well and truly addicted to them.”

He stares back at me, the anguish stark on his face.

“You told me I’d seen the beast at the heart of you and chosen not to run. But you never gave me the full truth. ”

“I was selfish,” he breathes. “You had only just started to look at me like I was worth something. Like I wasn’t the beast everyone calls me behind my back. I knew if I told you the truth, you’d never look at me like that again.”

“And after I revealed my own truth? After you learned the secret of my past and my lynx that no one else knows? After we—” I choke on the words. “Did you ever plan to come on that boat tomorrow, or was it all just a ploy to get a hold of the amulet?”

“What? No! No, Alora. Everything else I said is true. You must believe me.” He reaches for me, and I flinch back. His hands fist at his side.

“Must I?” I muster a mirthless laugh. A mockery of the ones he claimed to love. “Because I seem to remember just hours ago, you promised me I would never regret choosing to let you join me. Choosing you. But you were about to send me out on that heist without even informing me of the real danger!”

“It’s not just my secret to keep. It’s a secret that protects the entire realm. That protects the Apex species. My father and Winters already won’t stop and they don’t even understand the full so-called benefits of the amulet’s effect on Apex. Imagine if even more people knew what was possible.” He hangs his head, raking hands through wild dark hair.

“But I’m only talking about one person knowing what was possible. Me. The person you asked to trust you, and who, against her better judgement, did.” The pain in my chest now has nothing to do with the loss of my creature and everything to do with the Apex standing in front of me, head bowed. “Don’t worry, Your Highness. You are free to taste your fill of sweet, decadent lies. Because after tomorrow, I will never again have to hear them.”

His head snaps up. “What are you saying?”

“Don’t be on that boat tomorrow. I don’t want you there.”

“Please, Alora—”

I step closer, holding his gaze. “This is my choice. Once the amulet is in your possession the bargain is done. Don’t be there .”

His face goes blank. “Very well.” He reaches into his pocket and for a moment, I’m so afraid he’s going to hand me back my amber lynx he stole that I stop breathing. But when his hand opens, it reveals white, shimmering stones that shine with an otherworldly light.

The pearls.

I try to suppress my confusion. “You said—”

“I said you couldn’t give them to the Guild. But you will need them to barter your way into Thalassar if—if I am not there with you.” I hesitate, and he forcibly places them in my hands, closing my fingers around them. His gaze bores into mine. “They were always yours,” he murmurs. “A prize skillfully won.”

I snatch my hands back, clutching the buzzing stones, and turn away quickly before he can see the heartbreak on my face.

But not before I have to see the devastation on his.