Page 48 of Ruin of Revenants

Archer’s expression was unreadable. “I may be monstrous, Feathers, but I don’t kill children.”

There was fire in my veins. I wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. That he and his father were the ones in power, and not my people, the healers who wanted to do good in this land. “But you’ll leave him motherless,” I protested. “And you know how that feels.”

The prince glanced away, his green eyes hard as glass and still shadowed from lack of sleep and imbibing too much alcohol. “Get ready to meet with my father.”

“Send word to him that I’m indisposed. I can’t pretend to be in love with you tonight.” Bile crept up my throat.

Archer strode across the room in a few easy steps, backing me against the wall. Framed by his arms, I felt a spike of fear. He can’t hurt you. But it was a solid reminder that he wanted to. “You can and you will. This is survival, Feathers. For both of us. That gleam of hate in your eyes right now? Perfect. It’s passion. That’s all he needs to see.”

He backed up, exhaling with relief.

“Passion isn’t love.”

Archer was already walking to the door, his shoulders tense. His hands were balled into fists at his sides. “My father wouldn’t know love if it punched him in the face.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Archer

There wasn’t much time before dinner, but I couldn’t waste another moment, not when Father would likely drag Scarlet up to the dining hall for me to kill on the spot. Lighting a candle, I shoved aside the shelves in my bedroom that led into the castle’s secret underbelly. Tunnels that led into other quarters, the servants’ wing, libraries and studies and war rooms, and even down into the depths of the dungeons themselves.

The guards didn’t question my presence as I strode up, demanding a private audience with their most recent captive. They handed me the keys and let me push through the entrance and find my own way to Scarlet’s cell.

When her door creaked open, she was already looking up, warily studying the entrance to see who her visitor was. My candlelight flickered across her face and danced in her dark eyes, shining with fiery determination. A mother prepared to give and be anything to protect the child she’d been separated from.

“You’re here to murder me finally?” Her throat worked, but nothing else belied her fear or pain. “What you were too cowardly to do last night?”

“Answer me plainly and I’ll ensure you see your son again. Have you been raising the dead?”

She blinked. “Phoenixes can’t raise the dead.”

“You can raise yourselves from the dead.”

“That’s rare magic, only under the right conditions. And only for ourselves, once in our lifetimes.” She licked her lips. “We might have some power over death, but I’ve never seen or heard of a phoenix shifter practicing necromancy.”

I shifted, watching her carefully. What I was about to do was treason, and if it were discovered, more fae than just myself would pay the price. “Is your son a phoenix shifter too?”

Scarlet shook her head quickly, her curls bouncing with the movement. “No, he has earth magic. Please, spare him. He isn’t one of us. He’s innocent.”

“I know,” I muttered, drawing a dagger sheathed at my hip.

Scarlet’s eyes widened as she reared back. Her manacled hands clanked as she curled them into fists. “You said I’d see my son.”

“I’m going to free you both, but no one can know. Listen carefully. You must pretend to be under the influence of my magic as we leave, eager to obey me. I’ve already sent for someone else to bring your son to us, and a trusted friend who will help you out of here. You’ll need to go by a new name and live in a new home—both of you. Forget Tideglow. Forget everything from your life before. And don’t use your phoenix shifter magic again, as long as you live in Rainsong.”

Scarlet swallowed, nodding toward my dagger. “And the blade?”

“I need you to make a blood vow that you will never wield necromancy, and that if you ever hear of anyone who has, you will disclose that information to me.”

“No oath about keeping what you’ve done secret?”

I smirked. “That’s self-preservation. You’re not going to reveal who you are any more than you’d reveal what I’ve done. No oath needed.”

I sliced a cut across my palm. After all the times I’d tried to summon Mortius, I was becoming alarmingly talented at injuring myself. With a careless smile, I wiped the blade on a handkerchief before stuffing it back inside my jacket and offered Scarlet the dagger. “I’ll trust you with this, since I’m giving you your freedom.”

“Generous,” she quipped, not even blinking as she made a matching cut in her own skin. Maybe she was well-versed in pain as well.

Lifting her hand to mine, we pressed our palms together. Scarlet didn’t hesitate. “I vow never to wield necromancy and to share with you if I learn of anyone who has wielded such magic, so long as we both live, unless you should release me from this vow or break your own to me. May this oath bind me or, if I fail it, take my life.”