Page 26 of Manor of Wind and Nightmares (Fae of Brytwilde #3)

She nodded and leaned into my touch, her body sagging against mine. Despite the tremor lingering in my arms, I found the strength to bear her weight. Unlike me, she hadn’t undergone months of training. I could only imagine how much worse off she was.

“Enough theatrics,” Ji cut in. “It’s time to announce the winner.” He waved toward us, and for a confusing moment, I caught his eye and thought he meant me . “Callista Sinclair!”

I pulled back, staring in surprise.

“I wanted it to be over,” she said, wiping furiously at the fresh tears flowing down her cheeks. “I don’t even know how I won...I just kept throwing pieces on the board.”

“You’re wiser than you give yourself credit for,” I murmured.

She mustered a smile and a dip of her head as the court applauded.

I tried to smile and look encouraging for her, but I only felt uneasy.

That night, Laura and Callista, as the victors of the last two rounds in our competition, were both invited to stay after dinner and spend more time with Prince Kaede.

Ji dismissed the rest of us, forbidding us to intrude on their time.

My stomach tightened as I cast a glance in my sister’s direction, but she leaned forward in her chair, eagerly fluttering her lashes while she studied Kaede.

It was clear she still hoped to win, still hoped to become a princess of this nightmarish kingdom.

“Be careful,” I whispered before I rose from my seat.

Callista arched a brow. “Are you tempted to resent me and my victory?”

My tongue cleaved to the roof of my mouth. Before I could come up with a response to try to soothe her, she’d already turned away to address Kaede.

For a moment, my eyes lingered on him. He appeared much as he did when I’d known him before.

His expression was open and warm, a genuine smile dancing across his lips as he interacted with Laura and Callista.

I could only hope whatever darkness had affected him was tucked away for the time being, that it was mainly reserved for me.

I filed out with the other contestants, noticing the way Hattie wrung her hands and Charlotte glanced back with a mixture of nervousness and envy wrinkling her brow.

“He seems kind, unlike the others,” Charlotte said regretfully. “Will we ever win more time with him?” She turned to Hattie, who sighed and shrugged.

I lingered at the back of the group as they continued down the hallway. Laura’s laughter echoed through the great hall and rang in my ears even as the double doors closed behind me.

There were so many other things to concern myself with, and yet the familiar pang of grief and envy stopped me in my tracks. My eyes burned and my limbs were heavy with a sorrow that clung to my bones. I knew better, yet I couldn’t resist straining to hear their conversation.

“It truly is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Kaede was saying warmly.

“I almost didn’t come,” Laura replied. “My twin sister is my opposite in demeanor, and she fretted so much I wasn’t sure I could ever convince her to join.

And she is too dear to me to leave behind to.

..other troubles to face alone.” There was a pause.

“She tried to encourage me to stay in Riverside, but I refused to be persuaded to do something I didn’t want to. ”

“If only all women were of such firm conviction as you.” There was a significance in the tone of Kaede’s rumbling voice, one that made gooseflesh erupt over my skin.

I had not been firm of conviction. I had let King Wystan persuade me that the only way to save my family was through obeying him.

Before I could hear more of their conversation, I forced my leaden feet toward the staircase. My temples throbbed with a building headache.

I started to climb the steps until Ji’s voice rang out from a different room down the hall. He and the other nobles had left Kaede to speak with Callista and Laura alone, but it sounded like he was giving orders to a servant. Like he might have been away from the rest of the nobility.

Gathering my courage, I turned and headed back down the hallway, past the great hall and toward a room opposite it.

When I paused in the open entrance, I found Ji alone, seated in an armchair within a study.

A freshly burning fire in the nearby hearth and a cup of steaming tea on a side table made it clear he intended to relax alone for the evening.

Perhaps the other nobles had already retired.

“Excuse me.” I curtsied in the doorway.

Ji’s sharp gaze snapped up from the book he’d been perusing. He sniffed. “You. Aurelia, is it? I know you refused to participate in our last test.”

“How? Did the manor inform you?”

Ji grinned. “Nothing so magical as that. We had the manor design rooms with spy holes in the ceilings so we could watch the proceedings and choose a winner. Willow Manor can sometimes be temperamental, but we would have found another way to organize the test if it hadn’t obeyed.

” He shrugged. “What I’m curious about is, now that you have so flagrantly defied our contest, how do you plan to beg for my favor?

What do you hope to say that will convince me you are a suitable match for our prince? ”

“I’m not wanting a favor, sir.” I studied his expression, wondering what he knew, what his motivations for hosting this challenge were, and where his greatest loyalties lay: with the king or the crown prince.

“I heard that Prince Kaede hopes for justice against the human who murdered him. Is that why humans were chosen as the contestants?”

He leaned back in his chair and laughed, setting his book on the side table as if I were finally worth his full attention. “Ah, you think you were all lured here so he could find the killer and have his vengeance. That maybe we’ll keep hosting contests till she’s found?”

I barely repressed a wince, praying Kaede wasn’t so far gone that he’d willingly call for the suffering and deaths of innocent women.

“No,” Ji went on. “The king has been sick for quite a while, and he wants to ensure his line will continue. He wants a future queen that is strong enough to help lead our kingdom but not so strong she’d overpower Kaede.”

“But if someone could identify his assassin...would that be enough incentive to call off the competition? Surely part of the reason these tests were planned was for revenge against mortals in general.” I forced each word to come out carefully, steadily, trying to clamp down the rise of desperation I felt.

“If we found his killer, he could have his revenge. He could choose his own bride, or one of the competitors already in the lead could be declared the victor, and the others could be sent home.”

He frowned. “ You aren’t in the lead.”

“I don’t wish to see more women harmed.”

Ji lifted his cup and took a long gulp of tea. I hoped it scalded his tongue. “Well, we have hardly gathered an accurate measure of everyone’s virtues yet to declare a winner. And the king has made his wishes clear: the competition will be the deciding factor.”

I sucked in a breath. “What about Prince Kaede’s wishes?”

With a roll of his eyes, Ji reached for his book again. “He isn’t king yet, and he made a vow not to interfere or alter the course of the competition in any way. His wishes don’t matter.”