Page 21 of Manor of Wind and Nightmares (Fae of Brytwilde #3)
The man directly across from me offered a dip of his chin and a bittersweet smile.
With golden brown hair pulled into a knot at the nape of his neck and soulful brown eyes, he seemed kind enough.
“Good afternoon.” His gaze was melancholy as he studied the assembled women.
I didn’t remember seeing him or Florian during the worst of the feast, after Prince Kaede had slipped away.
Did he know what had occurred? Was he sorry for it?
“I’m Lord Bentley Russett, though you may call me Bentley. ”
“Good afternoon,” I replied. “I’m Aurelia Sinclair, and this is my younger sister, Callista.”
At first, our conversation drifted over unimportant topics like the weather, until at last, I settled on one that I hoped was safe but would also be informative: the manor. “I’ve never heard of magic such as what it possesses,” I confessed.
Bentley shrugged. “No one quite knows how Willow Manor’s magic works, or even how it came about.
Rumor says that it was built from the wood of enchanted trees, and their power lives on within its walls.
Another tells the tale of a hag who lived many generations ago in our kingdom and gave a magical manor as an extravagant gift for the early Willowbarks, claiming that it could discern friends from foes.
That story is one reason why most visitors are housed here instead of within the palace. ”
As breakfast came to an end, Ji announced that we would proceed outside for our test in archery.
We followed the fae through the manor’s hallway and out a side door that opened onto the palace grounds.
A thick maze sat off to the right, while the rest of the gardens boasted finely manicured shrubbery, level paths, bubbling fountains, and a small pool in which fish darted about.
Just beyond the garden lay the cherry tree orchard, stretching toward the stables and the glistening palace.
The afternoon sun gilded the trees’ leaves and blossoms, painting a scene that seemed far too lovely for the location of horrors like the ones that had occurred last night.
Keeping close to my sister, who had engaged Bentley in conversation, I breathed in the fresh air, sweetened by the scents of flower blossoms, dewy grass, and warm earth.
Ahead, Laura, ever bold and confident, approached Prince Kaede and struck up a conversation. Though I couldn’t make out their words, her musical laughter, drawing his sunshine smile, thrust a dagger into my heart. I forced my gaze away. He is not yours. He never was and never will be.
I reminded myself of the coldness in his eyes, of his hand on my throat.
Bentley heaved a sigh, dragging me from my ruminations.
“It is a lovely spring day, the sort that my Rose would have adored. She so loved walking among the cherry trees in springtime and following the Willow River.” He shook his head dismally.
“ Both poison and balm, the storm and the calm, is love that is lost forever. Though always in pain, still joy will remain, for a heart that is held by its tether. ”
I cast a sidelong glance at him. “Who was Rose?”
“She was my betrothed,” Bentley murmured. “A human. I lost her not six months ago to an illness our magic could not cure.” He pressed a hand to his heart. “There is a limit to what we can do, especially for mortal bodies.”
“That must have been terrible.”
“I loved her more than life,” Bentley said solemnly, “and now mine feels hollow and meaningless without her in it.”
“It’s rare to hear of a fae so in love with a human.”
Bentley nodded. “I know. Even Kaede himself...” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Well, he and I have been close friends our whole lives, and even he seems hesitant to take a mortal wife, though he’s never carried any animosity toward humans.” He hesitated. “At least, not before.”
All at once, my skin felt too hot and too tight, and yet, I couldn’t stop myself from straining to hear every word as we neared an open field beside the orchard where a row of targets awaited us. Bentley slowed his steps, and Callista did too in order to cling to my arm, not wanting to venture far.
Not until the rest of the humans and fae were several yards away did Bentley clear his throat and resume speaking.
“Kaede used to be as warm toward humans as I am. He despised how cruelly his father treats them, tricking and glamouring far too many into servitude in the palace. We did what we could to help those glamoured servants—finding loopholes in their vows so they could break the magical hold upon them and flee. Sneaking food and other necessities to them.” Bentley’s brow furrowed and his gaze grew distant. “But then, after he was murdered...”
I held my breath, the heat in my blood shifting to ice.
“Kaede learned that his killer was not Princess Briar of Emberglade, as was originally thought. She was a human disguised as the princess and sent by King Wystan.”
Callista shivered, scrunching her nose in barely concealed disgust. “I don’t understand how someone who was dead could be alive now.
” She stared ahead, squinting against the sunlight to peer at Prince Kaede’s distant form.
He was still walking alongside Laura, listening intently to whatever she was speaking about. “Is he a ghost?”
Bentley chuckled. “He is as alive as ever, thanks to our good relationship with the Ashwoods and what they can do for immortals who are wrongfully killed. Their magic can bring them back to the land of the living.”
I felt ill; the sun was too hot, the air too still, and the sky too bright. I forced myself to count my breaths, the trees, the targets in the distance. Anything to prevent myself from falling into panic.
“Does he know the identity of his killer?” Callista asked.
She had no idea it had been me, but I could see the calculation in her eyes as she studied the other women, perhaps wondering if we’d all been assembled so Kaede could exact justice.
“No,” the lord said. “At least, not last we spoke on the matter.”
I nodded along, feigning shock and fascination with the story even as bile climbed my throat.
“He’s changed since returning from the dead, though.” Bentley frowned.
“How so?” I asked, thinking of the rage that lurked within Kaede’s gaze.
Where once he’d been charming and outgoing, now he was quiet and brooding.
Except for now, as he talked and laughed with Laura, showing the same animation that I had missed so dearly this past year. So full of life, laughter, kindness...
“He was a gentle, cheerful soul. Very sociable, too. He and Florian—our other close friend—used to tease me, saying I was the solemn, poetic one. Now? Now he is haunted. He won’t tell me exactly, but he says he has witnessed horrors.
And he’s furious. Not cruel, necessarily, but not as kind as he once was.
” Bentley set his jaw. “He did not approve of this contest, did not want innocents to be harmed, but his father and the Council insisted, and until Kaede is king, they are the law. He is bound by oath to obey them.
“But he isn’t entirely horrified by the prospect of human suffering as he once was. You see, he is fixated on the assassin who escaped. Haunted by the memory of her. He is driven by his desire for revenge.”