Page 16 of Daughter of the Dark

Solana swallowed down her disgust and straightened further. Whatever her purpose there, the people were unhappy and just as in the dark as she was. She plastered on a wide smile. “It was an honor to come running,” she said, and then she added, with a pause just long enough, “Your Majesty.”

King Killian smiled back, a predatory thing that made the blood in her veins pound with foreboding. He knows who you are. “You are a very anticipated guest.”

“Am I?” Solana cocked her head innocently. “Do all of your guests receive this treatment?”

“If they are so lucky, and none other than you have been so far.”

Because Solana had been imprisoned and tortured and lived to tell the tale. How many of her people had rotted in those dungeons, had lost their lives because of the king’s ridiculous rules? They couldn’t kill, they couldn’t learn, they couldn’t leave. They were prisoners to both curse and kingdom.

The king leaned forward, his hands gripping the armrests, his eyes trained on her. “It was difficult, at first, to find your trail. Do you know that everyone we questioned wouldn’t give your name? They even went so far as to take the blame for your killings and lead us down false paths. Your people are very loyal to you.”

Solana swallowed thickly. “I think you confuse loyalty with survival instincts.”

“The Demon Slayer of Supay, they call you. A savior in the callejon.”

Though his words were praising her, she had the strangest feeling it was meant to be anything but. She became acutely aware of her lack of weapons. Her palms tingled, yearning for a dagger she hadn’t seen since its blade had been used against her. Did Reyes still have it like a trophy for his good deeds?

Bastard. She couldn’t wait to shove a pin through his eye.

Behind her, whispers began anew, but she couldn’t decipher them. Not when the rest of the room was fading away until it was only her and the king and the truth of why she was there on the tip of his tongue.

Death, or deliverance, neither of which she wanted from him.

“There has been a—”

The doors behind her slammed open. Solana whirled around with her heart in her throat, expecting to see guards in arms ready to drag her out of the room kicking and screaming. The pin in her sleeve could do nothing in the face of swords and daggers, but she dropped it into her palm all the same.

It wasn’t a retinue of guards or even Masters that entered the room. Just one man, with silver hair and stormy eyes that roiled with menace when they met hers.

Arguably worse.

“There he is,” the king said, his voice rising over the commotion of the crowd and demanding their attention. Solana kept her body turned, with Reyes on her left as he strode forward and the king on her right standing atop his dais. “Master Reyes, you’re just in time. You remember Miss Grey, yes?”

The king flourished a hand toward Solana, who stood perfectly still as Reyes swept by her and up the dais. At the king’s feet, he kneeled and bowed his head before turning and taking up the spot to the king’s right.

Solana’s jaw dropped. Master, healer, and right-hand man?

Just when she thought she couldn’t hate him more.

“Oh, we are intimately acquainted,” Solana said, wresting back control of the moment as best as she could.

Murmurs from the crowd increased at her words, but she only had eyes for the stain of embarrassment that colored Reyes’s cheeks.

“Reyes just returned from a trip to Iques, quelling a particularly vicious pack of demons that have been terrorizing the impoverished parts of the city for quite some time. Your mission was successful, I assume?” The king didn’t look away from her as he spoke.

“Yes, Your Majesty. All demons have been apprehended.”

The crowd clapped and cheered as King Killian smiled benevolently. It seemed, to Solana, that she was the only one who had heard the hesitation in Reyes’s voice, as if they had all lost their fucking minds, but she stabbed the tip of the pin into her fingertip to ground herself and held her tongue.

“Your contribution to this kingdom is very much appreciated. Now”—the king clapped his hands and swung his eyes back to Solana—“I’m sure you’re both wondering why you are here.”

She watched Reyes clench his jaw, his hands behind his back and his face devoid of any emotion as the king spoke.

Interesting. It seemed the king’s dog wasn’t quite so connected as Solana had thought.

“It is time that the matter of Supay’s fate is addressed.”

The whole of the room seemed to lean in with anticipation, and King Killian knew he had them all in the palm of his hand. Solana was entirely unaware that the fate of Supay was up for debate and waited as patiently as possible as the king stood from his throne and strolled across the dais and down the steps, coming to a stop only a foot away from her.