Page 85 of Black Crown
But I’d had the Phaetyn veil up.
Kamoi had been Draedyn’s eyes. The Phaetyn guided the Drae straight to me. I was here because of the prince’s failure. He either hadn’t been able to lie well enough orworse. His only decent decision in their capture of me was he’d had the guts not to give up the entire army.
“Ryn,” he said, his voice quivering as he shifted his violet gaze to the floor.
“Is Kamini al’right?” I asked, jaw clenched.
He dipped his head.
Barely. I deserved a mite more attention than that considering he freakin’ gave me up! A growl slipped through my teeth, and my body trembled with rage.
“Yes, heir-daughter. This Phaetyn has provedmosthelpful. But you don’t know the half of it,” the emperor said, amusement lacing his voice. “Would you like to knowallthat he’s done?”
Kamoi flinched horribly, his pale skin blanching beyond what could be normal, even for a Phaetyn.
I dragged my attention from his cowering frame to my father. Wariness snagged under my ribs, tugging on my chest in a way that made my skin crawl and my feet tingle with an urge to flee. I pushed off the scratchy burlap sheet, scooted to the edge of the bed, and with fluid ease that bespoke my father’s permission, I stood on the opposite side of the bed to Draedyn and Kamoi, closest to the door.
“What do you mean?” I asked quietly, my gaze darting between them. My heart thudded an uneven rhythm, and the word betrayal rang in my ears. There had to be a point to Draedyn’s little show, and my gut churned, a warning that what came next wouldn’t be good.
Draedyn shifted, his body angled toward the Phaetyn prince, and arched an eyebrow. “The Phaetyn’s service began when he first contacted me a month ago.”
A month ago?
Kamoi stumbled back a step.
“I was in the Zivost forest a month ago,” I blurted, frowning at Kamoi. Before I could put the pieces together, Draedyn continued his reveal.
“You’d just arrived,” Draedyn said, not shifting his eyes from the prince. “You’d brought back their ruler, if I’m not mistaken, and thisprinceobjected to your plan. Rather than protest publically or raise a rebellion, he reacted . . . sorely.”
I frowned. My father was the emperor of understatement, but the odd deflection did little to ease my trepidation.
“Sore enough to leave the forest in pursuit ofme, his alleged enemy”—Draedyn spread his arms wide like a benefactor expecting a hug—“to offer information in exchange foryouand the Phaetyn throne.”
I blinked. No. That couldn’t be. I wouldn’t believe Draedyn’s lies—
“Tell her,” the emperor ordered. “Tell her how you helped me, dissident.”
Kamoi rotated, half-turned toward me, and stuttered, “I d-drugged the d-drink I gave you, Lani, and Kamini, so that none of you would be able to access your powers. Lani couldn’t get the barrier up—”
“You,” I whispered, the shock robbing me of my voice. “You let Draedyn in.” I couldn’t even believe my words. “The lemonade tasted strange. Lani was out of it. My head was foggy.” My eyes rounded as I turned toward the possibility this wasn’t all a lie. My chest tightened with Kamoi’s betrayal. “Youlet Draedyn into Zivost forest.”
“I let him in to make sure the throne went to those who had always held it, to someone who understood it,” Kamoi replied loudly, his face going red. “You were supposed to take Lani, not Kamini. I let him in to protect my people—”
“You let him in foryourself,” I shouted, stepping toward him with balled fists. I remembered the need to take the Phaetyn with the crown to Draedyn, and realized Lani was alive only because Kamini had been wearing her silver crown. “You let him in because you wanted power. You bastard!”
He licked his lips, and his gaze darted around the room. “Kamini would rule us—”
“You would rule behind her,” I cut him off with my sarcastic retort. “You wanted someone you could control.” I thought of all his untoward advances, all the times he tried to kiss me, and my stomach turned. “All this time?” I asked, sick with understanding. “Your pursuit of me . . . You wanted to rule so much”—bile rose in my throat, and I swallowed the sour revulsion down—“if not through your sister, then me through marriage.”
He watched me now, his violet eyes fixed on me carefully. He had to be wise to the danger of an angry Drae, even if I was the lesser of the powers in the room.
“Since you came to Verald?” I pressed him. “Has the throne always been your objective?”
He quirked a silver brow, and I wondered how I hadn’t seen the faux-charm oozing out of his pores and the silkiness dripping off his words clearly until this moment.
“Yes,” he answered plainly. “I would see my people, the Phaetyn, restored to their former glory.”
Former glory? The Phaetyn had been renowned healers, and I stared at Kamoi, my eyes narrowing as I thought of my time with him. I shook my head, recalling our journey from Verald into Gemond. Not once had he doneanythingto heal the land. Not once had he done anything to help anyone that wasn’t also helping himself.