Page 44 of What Whispers in the Dark (Promises of the Marked)

E zander hadn’t stopped looking at Garrik for some time after their luncheon at The Ruby Crown. Alora caught him, often, with a scowl. Opening his mouth as if to speak, only to close it and school his features into the perfectly calm and carefree heir to Land and Growth.

And after they had climbed into riverboats, touring the grand river that weaved through the Blackstone Mountains, Ezander, it seemed, had enough of his silence.

But the words he spoke … the pain in his voice.

The pleading in his eyes …

Perhaps some truth lay there.

But by Garrik’s wrathful face pointed back at them, perhaps not.

This is a bonus scene from Chapter Forty during the first outing in Kadamar’s High City alongside Princess Erissa and Prince Ezander.

Garrik had to endure the day with Erissa hanging on his arm while Alora entertained Ezander’s attention, getting to know him and the secrets he harbored a little more.

There are trigger warnings for this chapter.