Page 6

I appreciated the sun’s late rising in winter more since I’d borne the drekkan curse—it gave me a few extra minutes as an elf every morning, and—like every chance I had—I wanted to use those moments to see if I could find anything new on fae curses in my library.

Before I found any hidden books that might tell me how to free my people, a loud groan caught my attention.

“Oh, no. Don’t give her that one.”

“Why not? It has more current and detailed information than any other.”

“It’s the most boring thing I’ve ever read.”

“She asked for history. It’s not like she was hoping to be entertained.”

I paced toward the argument as fast as I could. Those two voices belonged to Koan and Jolter, and I couldn’t think of any good reason for them to be touching my books .

When I rounded the twenty-foot-high wall lined with bookshelves that they argued behind, I saw them both with an armful of books. Koan dropped his books as he lunged at a volume that Jolter held just out of his reach. They fell on top of each other right in front of me.

Jolter noticed me a moment later, kicked Koan, and hissed, “King!” Both of them rolled over to their knees and bowed their heads.

I surveyed the books they’d dropped and splayed all over the floor. “What are you doing? In. My. Library.”

Koan tipped his head up with all the entitled arrogance he usually wore. “I thought you invited everyone in.”

I tightened my control on the anger that wanted to burn these two. I did not need my own heat to light my books on fire. “ Everyone who wants to read. ”

Jolter side-eyed his brother and dipped his head toward me again. “Your Majesty, Callista asked us to bring her some reading material. We thought it was a harmless request since she’ll be trapped in that room for the rest of her life.”

“Callista?” Was that—

“Your prisoner ,” Koan answered. “She’s harmless, you know, and letting her read a little won’t hurt anything.”

I ground my teeth as my brain tried to make sense of their discombobulated answers. “My prisoner asked you to bring her books?”

“History, specifically,” Koan said with an eye roll.

“She likes it,” Jolter said defensively.

“Well, Solantum will cure her of that,” Koan muttered.

I strode around them and picked up Solantum’s Recent History of Hemlit. It was the only book I knew of that discussed my parents’ policy on Hemlit’s isolation. No fae needed to know about that. I looked at the other titles on the floor. More history titles. More information on my people. More knowledge I could not risk handing to potential enemies.

She’s not your enemy. Something in my brain protested the label, but I knew what her kind had done to me. She’s only here because of you, my mind argued again. She would have gone home if you’d let her. But I’d let a fae hurt the people of Hemlit enough. I could not risk any more. Even Koan and Jolter’s persistent juvenile behavior could be attributed to my curse.

I shook my head. “Do not give her any history books.” Their shocked expressions hit me like a judge’s verdict. Guilty. Cruel. Monster .

Koan spoke with a rare sincerity and solemnity. “But, Your Majesty, she’s asked for so little.”

A heat ran through my veins. I needed to leave the castle before I shifted. “Give her art supplies. Or a nature book. Or anything that does not include information on how to destroy us.” I needed to keep Solantum’s volume in a safer place, but the fire under my skin ticked like a bomb. I had to leave. I shoved the book toward Jolter. “Have this delivered to my room.” I waited until he met my eyes. “It will be your death if it is not in my room tonight.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

I gripped both their shoulders and hauled them to their feet. “My prisoner is to be protected. I want her safe, not educated. She does not need to know our history, our magic, or how our kingdom works. Can you two remember that?”

They nodded slowly, wincing from the heat in my hands. “Can you?!” I didn’t have time for their frivolity.

“Yes!” they screeched, scrambling away from me.

“Good,” I hissed at them. “And remember—you still owe me.”

Their faces turned down in anxious shadows. The fae had been right. A perpetual threat over these two was far more effective than a painful beating—and she hadn’t even tried to hide her capacity for manipulation when she’d suggested it. But I didn’t have time to linger—the heat in my blood was now crescendoing. I spun and raced to the garden in the back courtyard where I usually changed into a drekkan.