Page 57 of A Kingdom of Magic and Rain

Ice filled my veins at his words. He knew about Adrian and me and was using my feelings for his son against me. A thought crossed my mind that maybe this was a ruse. Was it possible that Adrian was in on it? His anguish looked genuine as he fought for his life, his eyes slowly dimming.

“He is your son!” I shouted. “Are you truly willing to put his life on the line to get what you want?”

“I am,” Sorin replied without hesitation. “The question is, are you truly willing to put his life on the line for your kingdom?”

I knew in my head what the answer should be, what it must be, given my title and my duty to Emeraldia. But in my heart, a war was raging, and I didn’t know which side I wanted to win. What I did know, without a doubt, was that it didn’t matter if I chose Adrian or my people—I would not come out of this situation unscathed, if I came out of it at all.

The internal battle must have been written on my face because Sorin smirked and said, “I will give you time to think about it.”

I didn’t think for a moment that he was taking mercy on me; that man was incapable of such an act. The reprieve would be fleeting, but I would take it and make the most of it.

When the king finally released Adrian, he crumpled to the floor, gasping for air, but didn’t stay down for long. Quickly scrambling to his feet, he assumed the same position he had occupied before—in front and a little to the right of me to shield me from his father. He was breathing hard, rubbing his neck where angry red marks from Sorin’s grip were etched into his skin.

“You are a fool,” the king seethed, glaring at his son. “Tomlison has reported that you and the princess were close. I didn’t believe him at first, but now that I’m seeing it with my own eyes—” He paused, appraising Adrian from head to toe with a scathing, diminishing gaze. “I curse the day you were born. Tarn should have been the only heir, the true heir. You are a disgrace.”

Adrian flinched but held Sorin’s gaze. Something told me this wasn’t the first time he had heard his father spit such hateful words toward him.

Sorin spun around as if he couldn’t bear to look at his son any longer and began ascending the dais.

“Lock her in the dungeon,” he threw over his shoulder at the nearby guards.

“No,” Adrian’s hoarse voice rang out, echoing through the throne room. “You will not throw her in the dungeon. She will stay with me.” He cut the guards who had stepped closer to me a sharp look, and they stopped their approach, waiting for further instruction from the king.

Sorin halted halfway up the stone steps as the tension rolling off him rippled through the air. Slowly, he turned around, irritation and disbelief splashed across his features.

“Like you can be trusted with her.” Tarn remarked from atop the dais.

Sorin smirked in agreement with the prince.

“I will swear a blood oath,” Adrian said, looking at his father. “That I will not let her escape.”

Silence reigned as he and Sorin stared at each other. I dared a glance at the queen and recoiled at what I saw on her beautiful face. Perverse pleasure mottled her flawless features as if she found the entire situation amusing. She looked the epitome of what I had grown up believing about the Fae—that they were cruel and ruthless.

“Very well,” Sorin finally said as he retrieved a dagger from the sheath on his belt.

The honed blade glinted as he dragged it across his palm, drawing blood. He bled red like a human but there was a shimmer to the crimson. Adrian left my side and swiftly climbed the dais, stopping before his father. He took the dagger from him, and I winced as he used it to cut open his palm. Something inside me screamed out a warning as he clasped hands with the king—wound to wound, blood to blood.

“You will not escape. You will not let her escape. You will not help her escape, nor will you recruit anyone inside or outside of these walls to aid her,” Sorin proclaimed.

“I swear,” Adrian vowed, holding his father’s gaze.

A cold feeling invaded my chest as Sorin’s face contorted in a twisted expression. Malignant triumph slithered across his features as the blood oath was sealed. The king released Adrian’s hand, and his gaze flicked to me one last time before he turned around and finished ascending the dais. Adrian’s back rose and fell with a shuddering exhale before he turned and walked down the stone steps.

“Come with me,” he said in my language when he reached me.

I couldn’t move as the king’s heavy gaze pressed down on me from atop the dais. I was in the presence of a predator, and I feared that the moment I turned my back, the beast would strike. Gritting my teeth, I willed my stiff limbs to move as I turned around. Having Sorin out of my line of sight was deeply unsettling. My gaze stretched to the other end of the throne room, where the guards flanked either side of the entrance. They opened the wide double doors, revealing a large hall beyond. With Sorin’s gaze on my back, I put one foot in front of the other as I walked away from the dais.

Adrian kept pace beside me, and, at one point, his hand lifted as if to touch me, but I stepped out of his reach. He swallowed thickly but didn’t say anything as he dropped his hand, fixing his gaze straight ahead. We exited the throne room in silence, and when the tall, heavy doors closed behind us with a loud thud, a ragged exhale escaped from my chest—I had come face to face with the Fae king and survived.

“What’s a blood oath?” I asked Adrian as we walked through the dimly lit halls, the soles of our booted feet scuffing on the polished stone floor.

“An unbreakable vow. If I break it, I forfeit my life.”

“What?!” I exclaimed, stopping in my tracks and whirling around to face him. “Why would you make such an oath?”

He halted and turned to look at me. His gaze flicked to the guard stationed in the shadows of the nearby pillar before returning to my face. “Because I couldn’t let him throw you in the dungeon.”

“Don’t act like you care,” I bit out, narrowing my eyes at him.