Page 2 of The Shattered Kingdom (The Cursed Kingdom #2)

ABBY

LILL LOOKS DOWN, staring at her bare feet. Kie didn’t give her time to put on socks and shoes before shoving her through the portal and forcing her into the faerie realm, and I highly doubt either was offered between his questioning and her whipping.

I grind my teeth.

“Explain,” Mason repeats. “How long were you and your mother plotting to murder King Malcolm? Why did you do it? How did you survive in the human realm for so long? Where is Callie?”

Lill shakes her head, but Queen Gitta interrupts before my friend has the opportunity to answer Mason’s rapidly fired questions.

“This can wait,” she says. “Malcolm is long dead, and Lill’s answers won’t change that. We need to meet with the council and inform them of your agreement with Zaha, preferably before they find out from another source. We must remain in control of this narrative.”

“The council can wait five minutes,” Kie says. “I’m particularly interested to hear what—”

Queen Gitta interrupts again. “It can wait.” She brushes her hands down her dress once more, then pulls open the front door and disappears outside. “Come.”

I raise a brow, secretly enjoying the way she commands Kie and Mason around like little children. I especially love the way Kie grows visibly frustrated. He glares at the open doorway Queen Gitta just disappeared through.

“We’ll be back shortly,” he finally says. “Don’t do anything irrational while we’re gone.” The latter sentence is directed toward me.

Mason grunts. “I’ll remain here.”

The shifter is still staring at me. I’m doing my best to pretend not to notice it.

“This conversation involves you, Mace,” Kie argues. “You should be present for it.”

Mason shakes his head, his narrowed eyes darting rapidly between Lill and me. Where is his hostility coming from? I’m not a threat to Lill, and I highly doubt he cares whether or not she’s a threat to me.

She’s his mate, and I bet if he walked in on her trying to sever my head, he’d just be annoyed that she hadn’t asked for his help. He’d be happy I was dead, and he’d probably try to fuck Lill over my corpse.

“I’ll remain here,” Mason repeats. “I don’t want them slipping past the guards.”

That’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one.

Lill and I are in no position to attempt an escape. Lill can barely stand, and I’m human. We don’t exactly make for the deadliest, or sneakiest, team. Especially against guards specifically ordered to keep an eye on us.

Kie puts a hand on Mason’s shoulder. Mason almost immediately brushes him off.

“There’s no need for you here,” Kie says, gesturing toward Lill and me. “They’re not going anywhere, and we need to speak to the council before my mother does. She’ll twist this in my favor, and you need to win Anox over before they concoct a workaround that strips you of power.”

Why does Kie care about that? I understand that he and Mason are friends, but surely, he’d be eager to find a way to circumvent the agreement he made with Zaha. There’s no way he’s going to so willingly give his title, his birthright, over to Mason.

If Mason is surprised by Kie’s support, he doesn’t show it.

“I’m unconcerned with what the council members think of me,” he says. “You speak with them. I’ll remain here with Lilly and Abby.”

Kie frowns. “It doesn’t work like that, and you know it. Come with me, Mason.”

Mason works his jaw side to side. He’s still fucking staring at me. “No.”

Kieran’s composed facade falters. He recovers quickly, but I see the expression of sheer desperation that takes over his features.

Why is he so desperate for Mason to join him?

Maybe he’s afraid to speak to the queen and the council members alone.

I bet they’re going to gang up on him. I hope they make him cry.

I hope the faeries revolt when they hear the news. I’m so excited.

“Mace…” Kie starts. He’s going to beg. I can sense it.

Excited jitters travel down my spine.

Mason shakes his head. “No.”

A tense silence passes between the two, and I watch with poorly concealed interest. I’m looking forward to being alone with Lill, but I love it when Kie and Mason fight. It’s nothing new, but their arguments seemed to end in physical blows while inside the forest. What will they do here?

Kie turns, placing himself between us and Mason and blocking our view of the shifter. My body feels infinitely lighter with Mason’s piercing glare gone, and I reach out until the back of my hand finds Lill’s. She wordlessly laces our fingers together.

Kie and Mason speak to one another in hushed tones, keeping their voices too low for me to hear. I’m sure the exchanged words aren’t pleasant, though, and I count seven seconds before Mason grunts and brushes past Kie.

He doesn’t spare Lill or me another glance as he storms out of the front door, and Kieran quickly follows.

I squeeze Lill’s hand as the door slams shut behind him.

About damn time. I don’t hesitate to pull Lill in for a hug, careful not to touch her back as I press my face against her neck and breathe the comforting scent of her perfume.

Some of her hair gets into my mouth, which I usually hate, but I’m so happy hugging her that I don’t care.

She wraps her arms around my waist and squeezes. “I’m so fucking mad at you.”

“I figured.” I choke out a laugh. “Your mates are assholes.” I could go on and on for days about that particular topic, but there are more important things to discuss.

I pull out of the hug and spin Lill by her shoulders.

“Is your back okay? Let me see.” I lift her shirt, needing to see her injuries for myself.

“And why is Mason accusing you of murdering Kie’s dad?

Why did you and Callie escape to the human realm, and are—”

My voice dies out as I take in the mangled state of Lill’s back. There are three long, deep lashes covering her mid-back and shoulders. One is actively bleeding, but the other two didn’t split the skin too badly. Blood pebbled to the surface but didn’t go beyond that.

“There might be bandages in the bathroom,” I manage to say. “Let me check.”

I trip over my feet in my mad search for the bathroom. It’s in the hallway, the first door on the left, and I rip through the drawers until I find bandages. I wet two towels and return to the entryway, where Lill still stands.

She hasn’t moved, and she shoots me a weak smile as I gesture for her to lean over the kitchen island.

“Well?” I urge as I lift the back of her shirt. My breath hitches as I take in the damage, and I shake my head before getting to work. “What’s going on, Lill?”

Her ribcage expands with breath. She must be exhausted, but I don’t know when we’ll have another moment alone. If Lill and her mother did murder the king, now may be her only opportunity to tell me.

“My dad died when I was a baby,” Lill starts. “He was a council member, and he had… strong opinions regarding how the royal family was handling shifter relations. He felt the faeries were too harsh. His death wasn’t treated with much respect, which upset my mom.”

I remain quiet, absorbing every word as I clean her back.

Lill continues. “Alpha Theon, Mason’s father, got in her ear while he was here on business.

He convinced my mom to begin sleeping with Kie’s dad for information.

” Lill pauses to clear her throat, and when she speaks next, her voice is hushed.

“Trolls run rampant inside the Redstall Forest, and several faerie troops were sent to help the shifters manage them. One of the troops was ordered to burn the shifter’s supply of delysum on their way out.

They failed, thanks to my mom. She told Alpha Theon of the plans, and hundreds of faeries died. ”

The bandages are sticky, meant to adhere to the skin, and I wince as I place one over Lill’s deepest lash. I could kill the man who did this to her.

“And?” I ask. “What does this have to do with you ?”

Lill sighs. “The failed mission created a lot of tension between faeries and shifters. We have a peace agreement, the Sylvan Harmony Treaty. It was created shortly after the shifters moved into the forest, and the failed mission almost broke it. I was too young to understand what was going on. A few days after the attack, I was asked to bring a pot of tea to the king. It’s common for the young children of court to be given small tasks, so I didn’t think anything of the request.”

I fear I know where this is going.

“The tea was poisoned with delysum, and King Malcolm died,” Lill says. “My mom and I left for the human realm that same day.”

This is a lot to take in. “Who gave you the tea? Your mom?”

“No. My mom was working with Alpha Theon, but she would’ve never put me in that position.” A momentary pause, then, “I don’t remember who it was.”

That’s a lie. Lill’s got the memory of a damn elephant, and there’s no conceivable way she would forget who gave her that tea. She would never.

“Surely, you remember something ,” I say.

Lill spins around as I finish bandaging her back. Her eyes are begging. She doesn’t want me to pry. Why? I’d dig for more, but we don’t have time.

I change the subject. “You didn’t kill the king, at least not intentionally. Why are they blaming you?”

Lill cracks a half smile. “Why wouldn’t they? My mother and I ran away, and I’m sure it’s been discovered by now that she was working with Alpha Theon.”

“Well…” I scuff my foot against the ground, thinking. “You can tell them the truth now, can’t you? You don’t have to lie to protect your mom since, you know, she’s already dead. I assume being Kie and Mason’s mate will help.”

“I hope so.” Lill looks around, taking in the open space .

She seems to know a lot about mate bonds. I’m pissed she never mentioned them before. I’ve been in love with the concept of soulmates since I read my first werewolf romance book at thirteen.

I tap my fingers against my thighs. “I presume you were close with Kie and Mason. Mason calls you ‘Lilly,’ and Kie recognized your photo.”

Lill moves into the living room and plops onto the couch, her shoulders slouched. She looks exhausted. I don’t blame her.

“We were close,” she admits, “but it was a long time ago.” She clears her throat. “What happened in the forest? It seems you three went on quite an adventure.”

That’s one word for it.