Chapter Twenty-four
NADIR
adir adjusted the lapel of his black suit as he strode down the wideN hallway in his wing of the Aurora Keep. His long hair hung loose around his shoulders, and he ran a hand through it.
“Mael!” he called. Where the hell was he? He was supposed to brief Nadir
twenty minutes ago. Nadir was already late, and his father would have his ass. A servant in dark livery approached with a stack of towels balanced in her arms.
“Have you seen the captain?” Nadir growled and the servant, wide-eyed and trembling, used the towels to gesture to a small room down the hall.
“I saw him go in there,” she said, then bent her head and scurried away.
Nadir’s nostrils flared. He approached the room the maid had pointed out,
slammed the door open, and stormed inside. It was mostly empty and used only when he needed extra space for entertaining. Like most of the Keep, the
floor was made of black marble striated with crimson, emerald, violet, turquoise, and fuchsia. The walls were covered in brocaded silk except for the far one, which boasted a long bank of windows open to the night sky.
Nadir stopped in the center of the room and let out a low snarl. A large muscular body pinned Mael to the wall, and the fact that Nadir had just walked in was obviously the furthest thing from either of their minds. He
folded his arms and cleared his throat in an exaggerated manner.
Mael’s companion whirled around, his eyes widening as he fumbled with his pants, tucking in his cock with all the discretion of a marching band in a library.
“Nadir,” Mael drawled. “What brings you here?” Mael straightened the hem of his tunic and ran a hand along the tight curls on his head, grinning like a cat with a mouthful of feathers.
“You were supposed to meet with me twenty minutes ago.”
Nadir arched a dark brow as Mael wrinkled his nose. “Sorry about that. I completely lost track of the time when I ran into Emmett here.” Mael gave the third male in the room a licentious wink, smacked him on his ass, and
clucked his tongue. “Run along, Emmett. I’ll come find you later.”
Emmett said nothing to Mael, only looked at Nadir and bowed, his tanned cheeks as bright as rubies. “Your Highness,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice, and then marched out of the room.
Nadir watched him leave and then turned back to his friend. “Is it really
appropriate to be fucking your own soldiers?”
Mael beamed and shrugged. “Probably not, but what can a Fae do in the face of such brute strength and raw animal magnetism?”
Nadir pinched the bridge of his nose. “I ought to have you thrown into Nostraza for a week.”
“Probably,” Mael replied, striding over to where Nadir stood. “Until then, shall I update you?”
Nadir sighed and spun on his heel. “Walk with me. I’m late for this ridiculous party.” The two Fae exited the room and continued on Nadir’s previous path.
“Amya’s sources have turned up nothing of note in Alluvion, Tor, or The
Woodlands,” Mael said, his voice low and guarded.
“And the others?” Nadir asked, keeping his eyes forward.
“She’s still waiting on Celestria. She has a new woman in there, but information has been slow to trickle out.”
“No hint of a mysterious girl?”
“None whatsoever.”
Nadir growled low. This riddle was getting more and more confusing.
He’d returned to his father’s study several more times in the past weeks, still turning up no information on prisoner 3452.
“Anything in Heart?” Nadir asked now as they neared the hall where the tinkling sounds of a party in full swing could be heard.
“The usual,” Mael replied. “Much of the same. Everything is dead, gone, barren. We even ventured through the castle, but it’s as much a tomb as it ever was.”
He hesitated, and Nadir’s keen senses fired.
“What? Tell me.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing, but we found this.” Mael reached into his pocket and pulled out the head of a single red rose, its petals slightly bruised from being stuffed into his pants. Nadir furrowed his brow.
“What’s this?”
“It was growing on a bush in front of the castle.”
“I thought you said everything was dead,” Nadir said.
They now stood just past the entry to the party. A couple arrived, arms linked, and Nadir and Mael exchanged nods with the pair as they entered the room. Nadir pulled Mael further away.
“Everything but this.” They both stared at it for a moment.
“What does it mean?” Nadir asked.
“I don’t know.” Mael looked up. “Probably nothing.”
Nadir rubbed his chin as he regarded the flower, thoughts churning through his mind like freshly tilled soil.
“There’s something else,” Mael added, and then paused.
“Well?” Nadir asked. “Do I have to drag it out of you?”
Mael’s dark eyebrows drew together. “There's been word that your father’s army visited the settlements recently.”
Nadir frowned. The small towns and villages that existed on the edges of the fallen realm were some of the most destitute in Ouranos. Attempts had been made to relocate the orphaned citizens, but they remained stolid in their faith that the Queen of Heart would return and restore them to their former
glory someday. They were nothing but fanatics and fools. Dangerous and
unhinged at worst, delusional at best.
“For what?”
Mael shrugged. “Apparently, they’ve been searching through homes.
Quite…thoroughly, if the reports are to be believed.”
The gazes of the two Fae met. “So he’s looking for something,” Nadir
ventured.
“Or someone.”
A swell of music and laughter burst from the party’s direction and Nadir let out a deep breath steeped in ideas he wasn’t ready to name yet. “I need to
go.”
Mael tipped a quick bow as Nadir stuffed the rose into his pocket.
“Have fun,” Mael said with a smirk, knowing how much Nadir hated these things. Nadir scoffed and brushed past his friend, entering the room. He scanned the space, finding his father seated at a large round table.
Knowing this was his duty, he fortified himself against an evening of
groveling and small talk and went over to sit next to the king.
“Nadir,” his father intoned. “How nice of you to join us. Finally.” At the table sat some of the council, with their partners in tow. Dressed for an elegant evening, jewels dripped from their necks, their clothing sewn from luxurious fabrics in the colors of the districts they each called home.
“Apologies, Father,” Nadir said as someone placed a glass of dark red wine in front of him. “I was held up.”
Rion said nothing as he took a sip of his own wine. The surrounding chatter continued while Nadir sat back and surveyed the room. The guests were a mix of Fae family members, some of very distant relation, other Fae nobles, and a sprinkle of high-ranking mortals who held positions of
importance within The Aurora. Though humans generally existed below High Fae, there were those, usually of dubious morals, who managed to claw their way into the aristocratic ranks.
Rion thought it prudent to gather the realm’s most powerful people on occasion to ply them with food and wine and favors to remind them he was
always watching what they were up to.
Father and son sat in silence for several minutes, when Rion asked in a soft voice, “Did you find what you were looking for?” Rion sipped from his glass,
his eyes focused on the room.
Nadir looked at his father. “What?”
“In my study,” Rion said, still not looking at Nadir. “You’ve been in there, four? Five times? What is it you’re seeking?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nadir said, an icy finger wandering down his spine.
“Come now,” Rion said, finally looking at Nadir. “You don’t really think you went rooting through my study without my knowledge. Surely you know
better than that by now?”
Nadir swallowed, trying to tamp down his nervousness. How did his father manage to always make him feel like he was still a small boy and not a three- hundred-year-old High Fae who’d fought on the front lines of the Second
Sercen War?
“You lied to me,” Rion continued.
“About what?” Nadir asked, needles of tension pricking under his skin.
“About prisoner 3452. The ozziller did not kill her.” There was something cold in Rion’s eyes that Nadir couldn’t interpret. “I don't like it when you lie to me, Nadir.”
Nadir flexed his jaw. “Oh, I'm so sorry. It'll never happen again,” he
replied, his words as dry as the overpriced wine he was drinking.
Rion's expression sharpened. “Why did you lie to me, and why are you trying to find the file?” Nadir cut a glance to his father. “You didn’t think I’d put it all together? Suddenly, my second warden in a few days dies, found in the filing room, no less. And then my son breaks into my study repeatedly,
clearly searching for something.”
“Who is she?” Nadir asked.
Rion rolled his shoulders as if this conversation was beneath him. “I want
you to find her,” he said, dodging the question.
“I’m already looking.”
“I know,” Rion said. “Don’t think you can do anything without my knowing, Nadir. You should have learned that by now.”
Nadir glared at Rion over the rim of his glass, silent loathing bursting in every locked chamber of his heart. “Who is she?” he asked again. “Why does she matter?”
Nadir caught a flash of something in Rion’s eyes. It was inscrutable. There
for a moment and then gone.
“She is no one. A loose end I should have dealt with years ago,” he said, and Nadir pushed down the flare of his temper that threatened to throttle his father. The king was lying about her significance. Nadir was sure of it. Was it to throw him off?
“What is that supposed to mean?” Nadir attempted to keep his voice even, pretending the answer was of little interest. They were both playing this game, it seemed. But if Rion already knew how hard he’d been searching for evidence of her background, he was already aware of how much Nadir cared.
“It means that as much as you might rail against it, I still rule this kingdom.
The next time you lie to me, Nadir, I will take something, or someone, of
importance to you. That captain of yours has been especially bothersome lately.”
Rion’s expression was as cold as the windswept peaks of The Aurora, not a flicker of feeling or emotion on his face. Nadir had spent centuries trying to perfect that same façade, but there was always something untamed and wild
that ran through his veins, refusing to be caged. Nadir was too emotional.
Too tied to the feelings that ruled him to construct the same stone fortress made of skin and bone.
It’s what had made Rion such a shitty father. To be that indifferent to everything and everyone required a level of self-absorption that could turn a
Fae inside out.
“What should I do if I find her?” Nadir asked, pretending to ignore his father’s threat, but if Rion hurt Mael, he’d tear the king limb from fucking limb while whistling a cheerful tune. He wouldn’t care what the consequences were.
“Eliminate her,” Rion said. “As much as I once hoped otherwise, she is of
no use to me or to anyone.”
Nadir waited, hoping his father might reveal something more, but Rion had gone silent. Sipping on his wine, Rion surveyed the room with his cold eyes.
“I need you to go to Aphelion in my stead for this ridiculous Sun Queen Trials ball,” Rion said, and Nadir let out a derisive snort.
“No fucking way.”
Rion slowly swiveled his head and pinned Nadir with an arctic expression.
“It wasn’t a question.”
Nadir blinked, knowing he’d have no choice. He’d go prance around with the other court rulers, maintaining this farce as Atlas and his Mirror condemned some unsuspecting female to his eternal servitude. The only way
Aphelion’s king could get anyone to bond with him was to trick her into thinking it was some great honor. It was pathetic.
Once again, father and son fell into silence as Nadir plotted how best to make his exit from the room early.
The timing of the invite might be auspicious though, as he recalled that
Amya still hadn’t gotten a spy into the Sun Palace. It was the last place he was hoping to have to look, but if nothing came from the other courts, he might have to swallow that pill.
“Fine,” he finally muttered. “I’m taking Amya with me.”
Rion let out a chilling laugh so cold it seemed to crackle like fissures
running over a frozen lake. “Yes, take your little sister, Nadir. I know you can’t manage anything without her. Perhaps you should ask for her help next time you break into my study? The clumsy mess you made of my wards is going to take me weeks to fix.”
Their gazes met, and now it was Nadir’s turn to smirk. This was the one sore spot for the king, who seemed to care about nothing but himself. That
Rion’s precious daughter had rejected him and chosen to side with Nadir in this battle of family allegiances.
It wasn’t much, but Nadir clung to her loyalty and this one advantage over his father with everything he had. He often wondered if Amya’s hatred of their father was the single regret of Rion’s long and miserable life.
