CHAPTER 15

"That remains to be seen."

She sighed at him and stared off into the distance. Rune strolled into his adjoining room, giving Sadi time to navigate the minx's mind. He stripped off his rags, selecting another suit from his closet. After dressing, he returned to the minx.

Long moments passed before Sadi finally said, "I can't get past her shields."

Unfortunate. "Can you look into her? Tell me what she is."

Sadi narrowed her eyes at his words.

"You witnessed her wings and claws. Those are not characteristics of any living race."

Sadi stilled, her consciousness drifted to a place only Familiar could access. Those of her kind, who worshiped fate, could touch the life threads of every living being.

She explained it to him once when she'd first come to court. She would spend hours with him in Saith's study. While he actively refined his terrifying powers, perfecting them, she sat in a chair staring off into the distance.

When he'd asked her what she did while he honed his craft, she replied that she did the same. Each life's thread was constructed of hundreds of lives. The individual's thread remained at the heart of the cord, but every life they encountered entwined and spun with theirs, creating the tightly woven braided cord.

A Familiar needed to master pulling these strands apart without breaking them. Snapping the fragile filaments ended lives, cutting them short. Altering fate.

After they mastered handling the threads, Familiar could witness the individual's life. Watching it play before their eyes, spying on a person's deeds and actions.

Rune scrutinized the two women identical to each other and loosened his hold on the Ra'Voshnik a fraction.Why do you prefer one and not the other? They are practically twins.

If you can't recognize the difference, you're a bigger fool than I take you for.

Rune drove the Ra'Voshnik down, silencing it.

Sadi stood suddenly, drawing Rune from his inward thoughts. Worry flickered through her gaze as she began pacing the room. "You're bound to her."

"Your father said as much," Rune stated dryly.

Sadi stole glances at the sleeping woman. "I've never seen a thread like hers. She's lived for the past eight hundred years."

"The minx is immortal then?"

"She lives, ages, and dies a mortal life. Over and over. This is the ninth life she's lived back-to-back. Before then, her line was dormant. Your fate is its only company. You've been tied to her your entire life."

Rune glanced at the bed. She would age and fade in less than a century. The thought of her inevitable absence from his life left him with a gnawing hollow feeling. Rune pressed his fingers over his sternum as though the pressure could subdue the ache. "If she has been fated to me my entire life, why do I only feel her now?"

Sadi shook her head. "I don't know."

The minx stretched her arms over her head in her sleep, and the Ra'Voshnik fought him viciously. Lay beside her. She will curl to us and sleep in our arms,it purrs.

With a growl he dragged his gaze from his captive. Nothing about her made sense.

Rune glared at the sleeping minx, subduing Ra'Voshnik. This wasn't fate. He was the Shadow Prince.

Immortal. He wore a shard of Darkness. Fate would not be so cruel, slighting him with a mortal that would age and die. A death that would seep into him through their fated bond.

"The fated tie is a spell which likely runs my entire life because it needs to tie to me. That is why I have not felt it before. Her lives are iterations of a spell being perfected." One he would break, freeing himself of her sway over him.

Sadi hugged her arms close to herself. "What if my father is right, and she is yours?"

Her words didn't surprise him. Familiar worshiped fate. Honoring it first, above all others. Including their lives. Rune was no Familiar.

She is not mine.

Warmth and comfort surrounded Faye as she happily cocooned in blankets nestled in the softest bed she'd ever felt. She pulled the blankets tighter around her, tucking her arms under her chin.

She recalled the Shadow Prince. The way he cradled her against his chest and sweetly tucked her into bed. She breathed in deeply, surrounded by a light floral scent instead of his amber and sandalwood. She reached her arm out for him and remembered closing her hand over a weapon. Holding it as the length of metal jutted from his leg.

Faye scrambled up, and her memories returned.

The gravity of her situation threatened to crush her. Sparrow was gone, and she was the newest acquisition of her murderer. A pet he would expect to stroke and touch, caged in this opulent room of wealth and finery.

The scent of roasted meat wafted to her, and Faye's mouth watered. A woman who could be her twin sat on the window ledge. Soft light shone past her into the room. She held a small plate, eating small cuts of meat— with a knife? Glancing up, meeting Faye's gaze.

Faye felt embarrassed for her, being forced to wear such a demeaning outfit. A corset squeezed her frame, pushing her breasts up. It was fitted over what looked like a man's white collared shirt. Her skirt had obscenely high-cut slits in the front. Her belted thigh-high leather boots completed her outfit. Was this how fang face expected his pet concubines to dress?

Faye recoiled, imagining the Shadow Prince demand she wear a similar outfit.

An articulated metal ring covered the woman's index finger, hellfire gleaming off it with her movements. Cold prickles of fear slid down Faye's spine as she stiffened. She was in a room with a real Familiar. Dark mist twisted over the woman's soul shard, but Faye was too far to see exactly how strong she was. The Familiar woman smiled at her, heightening Faye's suspicion.

"Are you a pet too?" If she wasn't too crazy, they could escape together.

The woman laughed. "Darkness, no. You're not a pet either. Are you hungry?"

Was the Familiar sane enough to know the difference? The glamor she wore to mirror her was unsettling, but she had no time to navigate what Familiars deemed acceptable. "I'm being kept against my will. What else would you call it?"

She narrowed her eyes and glanced up, tapping the clawed point of her articulated ring against her bottom lip. "Political prisoner?" The Familiar gave her an expectant look. A silent question poised in the Familiar's addled mind,Is my answer acceptable?

The woman frowned when Faye remained silent. She glanced down at her meal and smiled brightly, before offering her plate, and tilting it back and forth.

Faye didn't move. Mildly insulted her look-alike tried to entice her the same way you would a nervous animal. Faye looked down at her hands, bunching the white blanket. "The Shadow Prince killed my sister."

Moments passed in silence, and Faye glanced up. The woman was peering down the hall, wiggling her fingers in greeting. "Looks like the High Queen is paying Rune a visit."

Faye threw the blankets back, rushing out of bed. Vashien must have brought a petition to the High Queen. She would free Faye and bring her sister's murderer to justice. She hurried to the only opened door and the woman caught her wrist pulling her to a stop. "You should wait until Lyssa leaves to speak with him."

"I want to see the High Queen, not him." Faye yanked her hand out of the woman's grasp and turned toward the hall in time to see a black satin skirt enter a room halfway down the hall.

Faye slowed as their voices carried toward her, near the door.

"A woman knocked out three of my guards before she was subdued. She claims you kidnapped her sister." The High Queen's melodic voice was bright with laughter. "An Anarian."

Tears pricked Faye's eyes. Sparrow was alive? Faye dashed into the room.

"Are you here on her behalf?" The Shadow Prince asked a moment before his pale blue gaze landed on her.

He moved a finger in a subtle motion for her to return to her room as the High Queen said, "Darkness, no. The woman is delusional."

Faye ignored him, turning to the High Queen. "The woman that attacked your guards. Was she blonde?"

The High Queen sneered at Faye, scrutinizing her from head to toe.

Faye's heart beat faster. Why was she just staring at her? "Is she blonde?" Faye blurted, louder.

The High Queen turned from her to glance at the Shadow Prince. "Honestly Rune, I see the accusation is true."

Her sister was alive. He didn't kill her. Faye brought her hand to the bottom of her throat. The void in her chest filled, lifting a stabbing weight off her. Sparrow was alive. And beating up guards. Faye wasn't sure if she would laugh or cry. She smiled, teary-eyed, but the High Queen was already walking away from her.

"High Queen." Faye ran to her, taking her hand and bowing her head. "I'm being held here against my will. Please tell the Shadow Prince to release me."

The High Queen tore her hand from her grasp. Faye flushed, unsure how to address her properly. Faye glanced up, and the High Queen turned her back to her, holding her hand open as though she touched something foul. A handkerchief appeared in her other hand, and she meticulously wiped each place Faye touched.

The High Queen glanced back at the Shadow Prince and exhaled sharply. "Your pet hasn't learned her place?"

Faye's chest tightened. "Please, I don't want to be a pet. If you could just take me to Anaria, I'm from Alexander."