Page 182 of Prince of Darkness and Deceit

“Fae have left your pathetic town alone for decades,” he growls, “and yet you tried to create a weapon to annihilate us. I want to know who told you about it.”

Lev’s nostrils flare, but before he can speak, Ferria blurts, “That’s not true.”

All eyes fly to her.

“What?” Rian snaps.

“Fae haven’t left us alone,” she fires back. “You demand more astlerium shipments every year. Because of you, men die in the mines to meet your king’s insatiable greed.”

Power pulses outward, rattling the air.

Rian snarls. “Shall you tell them the truth, Lev, or shall I?”

Lev’s cheek twitches. “Fuck off⁠—”

Shadows cinch his throat. He thrashes, wrists bound, eyes bulging as spit flecks from his mouth.

A chill races down my spine as I watch Lev’s struggle, all while confusion grows in my head.

What does astlerium have to do with this? I deduced the human soldiers used it to create weapons…that it can somehow impede magic when combined with something they call Fae Fire…but what else am I missing?

Lev’s face mottles red, then blue. His chest heaves against the constriction.

I remind myself I shouldn’t care. He abandoned me in a cell. He chose to fight the Fae.

But then I remember the boy who defended me as a Kinless child. The boy who befriended me despite the prejudice of every man, woman, and child in Verdanthia.

The young man who first took my hand when we were walking home from a day collecting firewood. The man who kissed me on a starry, moonlit night after telling me he believed he was in love with me.

A childhood of memories filled with goodness and kindness screams at me to save Lev—to end this.

No matter what he did to me.

“Stop,” I croak, then clear my throat and say with more strength, “Stop, Rian.”

His silver eyes slide to me, deliberate, deadly.

“Please.” A hot tear slips down my cheek. “Please…stop.”

The shadows bristle in protest. For a heartbeat, I glimpse something soft in his eyes.

With a growl, he slashes a hand down to his side. The shadows recoil and retreat.

Lev crumples, gasping, hacking.

Habit urges me to rush to him, to heal his throat. But I don’t. My fists ball at my sides, grounding me.

But Rian isn’t finished.

“Tell her. Now.” His booming tone brooks no argument.

Lev lifts his head, throat red and raw. His glare is dimmed, but stubbornness smolders. Then⁠—

“The astlerium was never mined for the Fae.”

Silence deafens my ears.

“What the hells do you mean?” Ferria reels. “I refined the metal myself. I put it on the damned carts to be sent across the continent.”