Page 104 of Black Crown

Do you want me to come to you?

No. I’ll be back in a few minutes. Let me take a bath.

I could join you.

I snorted in my mind.Then I wouldn’t bathe. Let me be.

“Who are you?” the Phaetyn asked, the high pitch of her voice declaring her a female.

Right, she would be able to see through my veil.

I stretched the mossy-green webbing over, covering her and our conversation from the Druman above.

“Ryn,” I whispered. “Who are you?”

“Ash. Are you here to drain me?” When I shook my head, she sagged, smiling slightly, or maybe that was a grimace. “I haven’t seen a female Drae for probably twenty years.”

I swallowed the emotion that clogged my throat, sure I couldn’t have heard right. “Twenty?”

She shrugged, her sack-tunic sliding off her shoulder. “Maybe more, maybe less.”

“Ryhl?” I asked, my heart fluttering with anticipation. “Did you know Ryhl?” I pressed my face between the bars.

The Phaetyn straightened. “Did you know her?”

I nodded. “She was my mother.”

The Phaetyn stood and hurried over to the bars. “Is she still alive? Has she come—”

“She . . . died,” I said. “But she sent me.” Maybe not in as many words, but because of her, I was here.

The woman’s gaze narrowed as she studied me. “To end his reign?”

I gave the tiniest nod in answer. “With my mate. The Phaetyn queen, Lani, Luna’s daughter, is outside the mountain, fighting with the others of your people.”

She smiled. “How would you kill him?”

This time, I grimaced. “Permanently. That’s the plan. I’m Phaetyn and Drae,” I joked, weakly. “Draedyn doesn’t stand a chance. I’m actually referred to as Most Powerful Drae in some parts of the realm.”

Ash reached through the bars, slapping her bony hand to my mouth. “He can hear you.”

I shook my head and pulled away so her hand dropped. “I have the ancestral power from Queen Luna. I’ve covered us. He can’t hear a thing. No one can.”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

I shrugged. “You don’t,” I answered honestly. “Anyway, I wanted to know if my friend is here. I’m looking for Kamini. Do you know her?”

Ash sucked in a breath, and her eyes widened, making her cheekbones more prominent, and her entire frame appear even more wasted. “How do you know Kamini?”

I rolled my eyes. Hadn’t I just said she was my friend? Ryn the magnanimous needed to make an appearance here in Draedyn’s dungeons. Al’right. I could totally do that.

“Yep. I met her in Zivost a few months ago. Is she here?”

Ash shook her head. “No, Draedyn took her to his private prison a few days ago. Up by his rooms.”

Dungeons were commonplace, I supposed. But surely owning a private prison near your personal rooms meant for sleep and relaxing was a sign you should check your sanity levels. “Where’s that?

“In his tower.”