Page 32 of The Shattered Kingdom (The Cursed Kingdom #2)

ABBY

MY KNEES SCRAPE against the ground, the skin most definitely shredding. They just fucking healed, but I suppose it’s better than landing on my face.

Kie lands on my back, but he plants his hands beside my head and pivots at the last second so he doesn’t completely flatten me. The pained grunt he lets out tells me Mason didn’t offer him the same courtesy.

Dead silence fills the air, the absence of sound a stark contrast to the river’s running water. I didn’t realize how loud it was until it disappeared, and it takes me several moments to regain my bearings.

“Are you okay?” It’s Kie who asks. He grabs my waist, pulling me to my feet. We’re back at the royal grounds, surrounded by three panicked guards. “I don’t know why Mason pushed us through like that.”

Mason’s quick to respond. “There were shifters behind us. The rushing water covered their footfalls, and they found a way to mask their scent. One of them was too nervous, and I overheard his pounding heart. There wasn’t time to waste, and Abby’s slow.”

“I’m not slow.” My hands sting, and several tiny pebbles are lodged in my palms. At least they’re not bleeding. “And you didn’t need to be so rough.”

The guards surrounding us awkwardly back away, their movements clunky as they glance between one another. We didn’t tell anybody we were leaving. It must have been a shock for us to suddenly appear through a portal. Did they see the shifter lands on the other side of it?

Anox will be pissed.

“How many were there?” Kie asks.

Mason shrugs. “No idea. I didn’t have time to count.”

I look between Mason, Kie, and my palms, still trying to dissect Alpha Theon’s final words. Was he being honest? Why would he lie? Callie is alive, but Theon doesn’t know where Lill is. What does he want her for, and if she didn’t run to the shifters, then where did she go?

Anxiety twists my stomach into painful knots. Is she okay?

The thought of Callie faking her death and escaping to live with the shifters, leaving Lill behind in the human realm to rot and die, makes my blood boil.

Does Lill know what her mother did to her?

Does she still believe Kie and Mason are her mates?

I went out of my way to touch Mason, and I chose to believe the worst after discovering the bond.

“She wasn’t lying,” I say.

Mason extends his arm, reaching for me, and I flinch away. I do it without thinking, and Mason wordlessly drops his arm back to his side.

“She murdered Queen Gitta,” he points out. “She’s not as innocent as you want to believe.”

Kie grabs my shoulder, physically turning me toward him. There’s panic in his violet eyes, and they flicker up and down my frame in rapid, flighty movements. Is he listening to my heart? It wouldn’t surprise me .

His lips twist as his gaze lands on my palms.

“You’re hurt.”

I hide my hands behind my back. “Hardly.”

Kie sucks his cheeks into his mouth, visibly contemplating, before nodding to himself and turning toward Mason. “Call a council meeting.”

“Yeah.” Mason waves a hand through the air. “I’m not looking forward to this.”

It’s a short walk to the chambers where the council meetings are held. It’s in the same building as Kie’s office, and the room is just as elaborate as the others I’ve seen. I’ve yet to leave the estate and visit the faerie capital, and I wonder if it’s just as beautiful.

Probably.

Anox and the other council members are already waiting inside. None stand as we enter, nor do they look pleased to see us. I suspect they know we left.

Mason takes a seat at the head of the table. Kie and I take the spots beside him. I’m not supposed to be in these meetings, but it seems another exception is being made.

Anox is the first to break the silence. “We came by your house first thing this morning,” he says. “We wanted to give you space after Abby’s attack, but we needed to discuss Alpha Theon’s response.” He taps his fingers against the table. “Where were you?”

“Kie and I decided it was best to meet with Alpha Theon alone.” Mason doesn’t sound the least bit apologetic.

“Alpha Theon has confirmed our suspicions that Callie’s alive and hiding on his lands, but it doesn’t appear he has Lillian within his possession.

He’s anxious about my rule, and he wanted to hear how I intend to move forward with our land agreements. ”

Anox puckers his lips. “What else?”

“We ran into some complications. Our meeting was cut short.”

“What complications?”

Kie shrugs. “Nothing of importance.”

Is he not going to share how the shifters attempted to sneak up on us from behind? Is that for Mason’s benefit? I spare a glance at Mason, but he avoids acknowledging my look. I suspect it’s intentional.

Lady Cassandra clears her throat. “If Alpha Theon’s unwilling to give Callie up, we should send troops into Redstall to retrieve her.

We’ve never had enough proof to outright accuse the shifters of orchestrating the attack against King Malcolm and breaking the Sylvan Harmony Treaty, but their harboring Callie is an act against it. ”

Kie groans. “We can’t break the treaty over a hunch and a fugitive. They need to take definitive action against us.”

Lady Cassandra points toward me. “They tried to kill your human, did they not? She’s not a faerie, but she’s here as an esteemed guest of the crown.”

It’s a good point, but not one I wish to use. There’s so much bad blood between the faeries and shifters, and I have no interest in being used as the catalyst for a war that will undoubtedly result in thousands of deaths. That would weigh too heavily on my conscience.

“Technically,” Anox says, “ faeries tried to kill Abigail. We can’t prove the shifters had any involvement.”

I’m still waiting for answers to that. Kie claims that Jackie is digging into it and several faeries are being put under close surveillance, but the unknown makes me anxious. It’s scary to think that somebody out there tried to kill me. Somebody who may still have access to me.

“We should consider announcing your bonds with Abigail,” Anox continues. “It will offer her an extra layer of protection. Due to the circumstances, we can rush her coronation. The sooner she holds the title of queen consort, the better.”

My heart pounds, and I force myself to breathe evenly despite the raw panic coursing through my veins. I haven’t even decided whether or not I want to stay here, let alone become a queen. I don’t care about the faeries, not really.

They don’t care for me, either.

“We’ll consider it,” Kie says, dismissing the question. “We’ll discuss the matter privately and get back to you soon with an answer.”

Anox nods, but he looks to be sucking on something sour while he does so. I don’t get the impression his recommendations are often rejected.

“Alpha Theon harboring Callie isn’t enough to break the treaty,” Mason says, “but his refusal to hand over a faerie fugitive is enough to publicly call his leadership into question.”

What? A stunned silence falls over the room. They’re shocked. I’m feeling the same way. This is an observation I’d expect one of the council members, maybe even Kie, to make, but never Mason.

Anox cocks his head to the side, his mouth opening and shutting. It takes him several seconds to find words. “Are you suggesting we—”

“I’m suggesting that my first official act as king is to denounce Alpha Theon’s leadership.

The shifters live on faerie lands, and Alpha Theon no longer serves us as he should.

” Mason’s throat bobs. “We were kind to give them land after they angered Zaha and destroyed their kingdom, but Alpha Theon is taking advantage of that kindness. If he insists on keeping Callie, he won’t be doing it as Alpha. It’s time for Kalix to step up.”

Anox leans back in his chair. He doesn’t speak, but I can tell his mind is moving a million miles a minute.

Mason continues. “I’m a shifter, and if the faeries want any semblance of control over my kind, it’ll have to be done through me. I’m the only person the shifters would ever consider listening to.”

The rest of the meeting goes in one ear and out the other. There’s talk of the logistics of making such a statement and a little bit more on whether or not Alpha Theon’s claims of not knowing where Lillian is are genuine.

What feels like several hours pass before the meeting ends and I’m ushered back to Kie and Mason’s house. They’re silent on the walk, which is fine with me. I don’t have anything to say. I don’t know what to say.

I can’t imagine what Mason must be feeling right now. He just found out yesterday that on top of his parents abandoning him to the faeries, Alpha Theon also refused him the medical care he desperately needed. His father left him to die.

What did Alpha Theon intend to do to us had Mason not heard the shifters sneaking up on us? Would he have killed us? Tortured us? I doubt, whatever it was, that it would’ve been friendly.

I begin stripping to my underwear the second we’re inside the house. My clothes are covered in dirt, and most likely some blood from when the shifters attacked Kie and me. I want them off, and I grimace as I drop them to the floor and kick them away.

Mason stalks out of the room, his bedroom door slamming shut a second later. Kie remains in the foyer with me.

“If what Alpha Theon said about Lillian is true…” He shifts his weight from foot to foot.

“I hope you know that we belong to you. We’ve always belonged to you.

Lillian was wronged, but it isn’t your fault.

” He drags his hand through his hair. “You felt a pull to us. A pull that, even before triggering the bond, was strong and hard to ignore. A pull you shouldn’t feel guilty about. ”

I can’t even begin to imagine the pain and anger I’d feel if I caught Kie or Mason touching another woman. It would ruin me, and I’m not sure I’d ever recover. I’m not sure I’d want to.

I did that to Lill. I didn’t believe her.

I should’ve never touched Mason.

I’m going to be sick. I haven’t eaten in hours, but bile finds its way up my throat as I tumble headfirst into a vortex of self-hatred and disgust.

Kie reaches for me, but I step out of his grasp. The little voice in my head tells me to run away, to deny the bond and everything related to it.

“No,” he hisses. “Mason has worked too fucking hard to earn the sad, minuscule affection you give him. You can’t take that from him, not now. You touched him because you knew something was there, even if you didn’t want to admit it. It’s a shitty situation, but Mason doesn’t deserve your regret.”

Tears blur my vision.

Kie continues. “His father just tried to kill him, and that outweighs your guilt toward feeling like a shitty friend.” He rubs his face. “If you can’t do that…” He points down the hallway that leads to our bedrooms. “Then I think it’s best you remain in your room. At least until Mason’s settled.”

Kie heads for the shifter, shutting Mason’s bedroom door behind him.

I just want things to be easy. Mate bonds are supposed to be romantic and effortless. I fell in love with the idea the moment the words slipped out of Samuel’s mouth. He was so desperate to find a mate, and he bought me food and gloves just for the opportunity to touch me.

I wanted him to be my mate. It would’ve been a love story for the ages.

My bonds with Kie and Mason are far from a love story. It’s complicated and hard and not at all what I wanted. Kie’s right, though. Mason doesn’t deserve my regret, not now. He’s dealing with enough as it is.

I grab the item nearest me, one of the barstools tucked underneath the kitchen island, and slam it against the ground. I’ve never intentionally broken something, and I don’t feel the least bit better as the wood splinters into a million pieces.

Footfalls thunder in my direction.

Kie’s face is void of emotion as he steps into the room, and his back stiffens as he surveys the shattered barstool. Mason does the same.

I storm toward the shifter, not sure what I plan to do until I throw my arms around his neck and pull him in for a kiss. I’m done thinking, and I’m done talking. This stupid oaf is my mate, and he needs me. I fear I might need him, too, but I’m not quite ready to admit that. Not yet.

Mason groans, peppering kisses down my neck. It feels good, and I tilt my chin so he has more skin to play with. It’s exactly what I need, and I lean into him as I shift my attention to Kie.

“Touch me,” I order the faerie.

I need to know I betrayed Lill for something real.