Page 26 of The Serpent Prince

“Shadows.” Kiran left off the obvious—that the shadows belonged to a witch. He said nothing of the fact that it was dark still, and everything was shadowed.

The woman looked at his face, the hard mouth, and Imani read what she could from that, which was suspicion.

“Not regular shadows?” The female elf wasn’t stupid. Ayla waited for him to explain and got nothing. Typical for Kiran to offer no more than what was asked.

Kiran’s attention turned away from Imani.

He hadn’t seen her, she was sure of it—his awareness on her would have been like a lightning bolt. She would have felt his magical signature.

Imani thought about casting the illusion again, but that would mean whispering out loud, and she couldn’t take the chance.

She decided to risk one more look before she left, her mind intent on torturing herself. Inching barely around the edge of the wall, she swallowed hard at what she found.

Within half a second, the two women made eye contact, and the female elf’s piercing gaze promptly speared Imani. Despite having little magic, her shrewd eyes and pinched mouth made her far more threatening than her appearance suggested.

Saints, the other Norn elf was not a woman to feign happiness with a polite countenance. Indeed, she was glaring at Imani with one small fist propped on her hip.

Something passed between them. The woman smiled—it wasn’t kind. Imani narrowed her eyes in a pointed glare.

Magic swelled within Imani on instinct. She was shocked by just how much was building inside of her. Imani had that same on-edge feeling she had in the last assessment and on the road with the bandits. Only this time, she knew for a fact what was happening to her.

More aware than ever of the destructive power she held when threatened, she crammed it all back inside her signature, forcing it with a strength she didn’t know she had.

The whispers quieted, her heartbeat even more erratic now.

This new magic was proving volatile. Why couldn’t she just get a handle on it? It frustrated her to no end.

The other female elf’s eyes slid down her body, tossing her a sneer before turning back to Kiran with a smile. She carried on like Imani wasn’t even there, as if she couldn’t care less. As if she welcomed it.

Imani clasped her hands together to keep from lashing out and continued listening.

“I must say, everything has come together nicely while you were away. Any Norn elves traveling with you that we should be concerned about?”

He gave her a suspicious look. “There is one female—a high-bred. My father will want her to join the court for that reason alone. It won’t be a concern, though.”

“But our arrangement still stands, right? Magnus knows what I can offer … what can she offer, if anything?” she interjected.

Magnus? This woman was on a first-name basis with the king?

“She can’t offer the Draswood, like you.”

“I never promised the Draswood. I promised to show you the way into the city and an audience with Ellisar—nothing more.”

Fire burned inside Imani’s chest. This elf was a traitor.

“Well, this elf’s a poor, bound witch from the Riverlands with no family or connections to the Draswood. I order her to do something, she obeys. She’s a high-breed, but there’s nothing except a beautiful face that she can offer us. She’s not tempting.”

Imani wanted to burst forward and grind them both to a pulp on the ground. Magic be damned, Imani wanted nothing more than to beat them senseless with her bare hands. This woman was going to betray Essenheim to Niflheim. Gaining an audience with Ellisar wasn’t exactly an accord, but it was far more than the high sentinel was offering the Essenheim leadership. Ellisar hadn’t been seen outside the Draswood since he’d taken power several years ago.

Attacking the two elves now would make her look weak around Kiran. Weaker than she already looked. Imani needed to appear strong, and there was only one way to do that. She needed to stay quiet and sneak away unnoticed.

“Excellent,” the female purred, sliding her hands over Kiran’s chest. “And they have announced that you are already promised to another, correct?”

He removed her hands for a moment and gave her a hard look. “No. But I’m confident my father will tomorrow. Like I said, he will want the high-bred female to join the court, will want to see how he can use her, but she can’t offer what you can. He may play with her himself—you know how he is with elves.”

“Good,” the other wood elf purred.

Imani turned on her heel and left, unable to bear another second in that corridor.