Page 52 of First Light

“I love you.”

He loved her. Through grief. Through loss. Through depression. They were better together. They were happy. “I love you too.”

“Do you?” Lachlan asked softly. “Am I that lucky, Carys? Did the gods smile on me twice?”

“What luck?” She threw a blanket over his wet hair. “You told me yourself, we’re meant for each other.”

“Because we are.” Lachlan’s embrace was nearly painful. “You made me want to live again.”

Carys pressed her cheek to his chest. This was her happy ending. She knew it.

And now Lachlan was looking at her like he barely knew her.

“I want to see my father.” Carys swiftly corrected herself, but not before she saw Lachlan’s eyebrows go up. “My uncle, I mean. My father’s brother. His… twin. Shadowkin. I want to see my father’s Shadowkin.”

Robb narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“In the Brightlands, her father is dead,” Lachlan said. “He died in a car crash.”

“The metal carriages that burn oil,” Duncan said.

Robb muttered, “I know what a car is.”

“I just want to see his face.” Carys glanced at Lachlan. “And perhaps he would like to see mine.”

Elanor spoke. “We understand your sentiment.” She reached for Robb’s hand. “It’s perfectly understandable, my king.”

Robb looked long at his queen, then back to Carys. “Our grief over Seren’s death is shared, Carys Morgan. My son has told me of his meeting with you and about your… relationship.” Robb shifted on the carved wooden throne. “But I am of a mind to agree with him. Whatever your sentiments may be, this place is not safe for you.”

“Why would that be, Robb?” Duncan’s voice was scathing. “Are you afraid of the fae? Court gossip? Or are you uneasy because you let her sister be poisoned in your own castle?”

Aisling gasped.

Carys froze. “What?”

“Silence, you interloper!” Robb rose and motioned to the guards. “Get this one out of my sight.”

“I’m not leaving.” Duncan leaned forward, his elbows leaning casually on his knees. “You know you can’t get rid of me no matter how much you hate me.” He gave the king a self-satisfied smirk. “Unless you want to anger him.”

“Seren was poisoned?” Carys turned to Cadell.“Poisoned?”

The dragon’s face was frozen in a mask.

Carys turned to Duncan, but he was looking at the ground, a grimace lingering behind his beard. She glanced at Aisling, whose hand was over her mouth. She was staring at Carys with round, shocked eyes.

Her sister had beenmurdered? And not a single one of them had shared that very important fact?

No one here had mentioned a single thing about how Seren had died, and Carys had assumed it was some kind of sickness. Lachlan had said she’d been ill. Butmurder?

“No one was going to mention this to me?” she shouted.

“And how, exactly, would this rumor affect you?” Robb asked. “Because despite what my son’s Brightkin may say, it is only a rumor. A cruel, vile rumor with no basis in reality.”

It is not only a rumor,Carys heard in her head.The cross human is correct.

Robb looked to the wings of the throne room. “You can ask Aisling—she is our castle healer and would know if anyone had wanted to harm our daughter-in-law.”

Aisling stammered, “I-I?—”