Page 37 of The Heir the Fae Forgot
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
I knewIcarus planned to use me. He’d been up front about that.
But this latest betrayal, it was somehow so much worse. Worse, perhaps, because I couldn’t tell Shiel or the others about it without giving them the idea to use me the same way, too. And the way Icarus wanted to use me…
I pulled the blanket up higher over my head, pretending it could block out the sight of his arm shriveled in his throne room the day he conjured the image of my sister.Thatwas what he planned to do to me. Or, even if he could try and claim it wasn’t part of his so-called plan, he couldn’t deny he was willing to let it happen, if that’s what it took.
Not for the first time this morning, I heard a loud groan from the other side of the door.
“Aurra, we can talk about this. It isn’t what you think.”
I only pulled myself deeper into the cocoon of darkness, my arms clamping even tighter over my ears. “Go away, Icarus.”
I wasn’t sure he heard me from beneath the piles of blankets, or if he was simply still ignoring me.
He’d followed me down shortly after I left, once the shock of me figuring out his plan had worn off, apparently—or perhaps simply once he’d gained enough strength to follow. Not enough strength, though, it seemed to simply break through the door, or even to project his vision-self into my bed as he had the last time.
Either that, or he’d simply decided that forcing himself into my bedroom might be the final nail in the coffin—which it would have been. The last person in this kingdom that I wanted to so much assmellright now was the fae still banging on the outside of my door, demanding to gaslight me into thinking that it was a good idea for me to cast the sort of magic that would drain me from the inside out until I was nothing more than a blackened, half-mummified husk.
More than that, to do it willingly,for him,because he’d tricked me into thinking my loyaltybelongedto him. That was, it seemed, where I truly drew the line when it came to satisfying the whims of a fae lord.
Just as I’d started to wonder if Icarus would remain at my door, demanding and unrelenting until the ball came and went, he finally left. Not without issuing a promise that sounded more like a warning.
“I’ll be back, Aurra. Once this is dealt with, I’ll be back. I won’t let you build this wall between us until you’ve heard me out.”
Whatever it was that drew him away, I didn’t care. I couldn’t bring myself to. All that mattered was that he was finally gone. I waited beneath the safety of the blankets just long enough for his footsteps to recede. The moment they were gone, I took my chance.
I knew what I had to do.
Where I had to go.
I’d never seen Shiel as shocked as he was the moment I appeared in his doorway, with a bundle of clothes torn from my closet in my arms.
More shocked still was his face when I regained my breath enough to speak.
“We need to go, now.”
Shiel froze where he stood. It took him a moment, more than few moments during which he stood slack-jawed and unspeaking, before he managed to gather himself together.
“Leave the Wildness? Now?”
His eyes darkened as he glanced towards the door. “Has something happened?”
I didn’t answer. I was already striding over to the nearest wardrobe where I began pulling out anything I thought might be of use to Zev or Finch on the next leg of our journey. After everything that the Lord of the Wildness had put us through, he could spare a few extra shirts.
Zev and Finch were nowhere to be seen. I’d half expected them to be waiting outside my door when I finally stumbled out of my room earlier, or at least to be waiting somewhere along the route leading down towards the rest of the court. It didn’t matter, though. Wherever they were, they were bound to be nearby. They never strayed too far from their lord. For once, I was grateful for it.
“Aurra…”
Shiel was standing behind me when I whirled back, ready to fight from the tone of his voice.
“Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind all of a sudden,” I said. “You were all too ready to leave a few days ago.”
“No, Aurra. I made a deal, remember?”
“And nowhere in that deal did it say thatIcouldn’t leave this court if I wanted to,” I countered.
Shiel’s brow furrowed ever so slightly. “No, but our conversation yesterday…Aurra…” he trialed off a little. “It could be taken the wrong way.”
