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Oh, he knew.
He stood, bumped the table, and almost toppled his wine. “Excuse me.”
Damn it, he was leaving. I couldn’t escape the dinner without drawing attention. “Follow him,” I told Danyal. “Find out what room he’s staying in. Don’t let him see you. Report back to me later.”
Danyal nodded and slipped away, unnoticed.
I’d pay Draven a visit when I wasn’t being watched, and he was going to tell me everything, including Arin’s whereabouts, and if he lied, then our friendship was about to get very personal.
CHAPTER29
Lark
Danyal did not returnall night. When Theo arrived in the morning to stoke the fires, I asked him to find the whereabouts of my advisor. I then returned to the main hall to await Justice Sonya, who would be my guide into Justice’s dungeons.
“Good morning, Prince Zayan.” She bowed her head and offered her polite smile.
“Where’s my advisor?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t—”
“Danyal, he joined me for dinner last night and did not return to his room.”
“Oh.” She seemed surprised. “Perhaps he lost his way?”
I returned her thin smile with a frosty one of my own. “Perhapsyou might send someone to look for him?”
With a flutter of hand gestures, she sent her own aide away to discover why Danyal hadn’t returned and promised to keep me informed. “These corridors and winding staircases really are difficult to navigate,” she said, escorting me down a stairwell into the castle’s bowels, deeper into the heart of the mountain. “This castle is so old it’s said Dallin himself lived here.” Her tittering laugh fluttered down a long, grim corridor lined by oil lamps tucked into sconces, desperately trying to fend off the dark. She might believe all of this was amusing, but I’d lost my sense of humor around the time Draven had arrived at dinner, acting as though we were strangers.
Metal doors clanged. We passed locked door after locked door, each with just a small slit to peer inside. Some prisoners moaned for help, others glared through their slit in silence, some begged and pleaded their innocence.
I kept my eyes forward, grateful I hadn’t yet found my way to such a punishment. It was one thing to be chained to a bed, quite another to be locked in permanent darkness.
Sonya led me to the end of a block, slipped a key in a door lock, and swung the iron door open. The rectangle of light highlighted my brother, who sat against the far wall of a narrow space, arms draped over his drawn-up knees, head back, eyes closed. The air smelled acrid, damp, and despite all he’d done, a pang of pity had me feeling sorry for him in this dire place.
My life would have been easier if I didn’t have a heart to care.
“Thank you,” I said, dismissing Sonya.
She bowed her head and returned the way we’d arrived, then waited at the end of the hall, presumably to make sure I didn’t do anything untoward to her prisoner.
“Hello, brother.” The cruel familiarity of his voice vanquished the flutter of pity. His eyes remained closed, but the corner of his lips ticked into a half-smile, like a fishhook. “It took you long enough.”
I stepped inside, and his eyes opened. Dark pupils swelled, fixing on me. He cocked his head, gaze roaming, assessing, scrutinizing beneath my skin. “They dressed you like a prince, how wonderful.”
I knew his games. He’d slither his way into my mind if I let him. “I know about the crowns.”
His smile died and he slow-blinked, as though uncaring.
“And I know Umair blamed you for the death of his wife, your mother.”
Razak’s lip curled. He brought his knees closer to his chest and turned his face away.
Yes, that one had hurt him. “I know you’re following our father, trying to finish what he began.”
“You know nothing,” he snarled.
“You will fail.”
