Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jasalyn
My desk at the Midnight Palace always contained a calendar of the coming moons, but before I traded my immortal life for that ring, I never paid much attention to it. This morning, it was the first thing I looked at after climbing from bed. I have five days left. Five days to figure out how to fix what I’ve broken. Five days to make sure my mistakes don’t destroy my sister and her entire court.
The weight of it could break me, but that’s what he wants. Broken, pathetic, terrified Jasalyn, willing to sacrifice everything to hide from her fears. So I don’t let my thoughts linger. I can’t. The people I love deserve better.
Kendrick was already gone, and my handmaiden had left breakfast by my bedside, but one look at the calendar had me dressing and heading out. I refuse to spend my day hiding. I downed a few cups of coffee while I dressed, fortifying myself for the day ahead. For my mission. I’m not going to hide in this castle while my friends fight to fix something I broke. I’m going to help, whether Abriella likes it or not.
I look up from my feet just in time to catch myself before running into an ancient female fae with a cane. I dodge but then turn to look at her again as she continues down the hall. Like mine, her mind seems to be somewhere else, but I think I recognize her. I just can’t place her.
Maybe I’ve seen her in the palace before, or maybe I’ve even talked to her during those days when the whole world was passing me by in a fog. I could let it go at that, but there’s something about her that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“Karmyn?” The name slips from my lips before I even realize I thought it.
She stops and slowly turns to me. “May I help you?”
It’s the eyes that snap everything into place for me. That milky bluish white of the iris, the way they seem too big for her face. I’ve seen those eyes in my dreams—in Mordeus’s memories. “You . . .” My heart leaps into a sprint. What is someone who worked for Mordeus doing in my sister’s palace? “Guard!” I shout at the uniformed sentinel stationed at the top of the stairs. “Take this female into custody until I can speak with my sister.”
He strides toward us, frowning. “May I ask why? Madame Karmyn is—”
I stare in the female’s panicked doe eyes. “A seer. I know. I don’t know why she’s here now, but she worked for Mordeus, and I want her detained until I can speak with my sister about it.”
Fear flickers over the female’s face, but she doesn’t try to run or resist as the sentinel magically binds her wrists.
Another uniformed male jogs down the hall to join us. “What’s happening?”
I lift my chin. The guards are looking at each other. They think I’m crazy and I don’t care. “I need to speak with my sister. Now.”
I don’t know what kind of mental magic these sentinels have or how it works, but several breaths later, my sister appears in front of me. I blink at her. “You can move like a goblin?”
“Anywhere within the palace, and then small distances outside it.” She shrugs, then frowns at the guard holding the old female. “What is happening here?”
I point a shaking finger at the old faerie. She’s trembling and squeezing her eyes shut. “Why is she here?”
“Karmyn is one of several seers I have on staff, Jas. She came on board while you were . . . away.”
“And you aren’t at all bothered by the fact that she worked for Mordeus?”
The confusion falls off Abriella’s face, replaced with the cool and calculating mask of the shadow queen. The taps of her hard-soled boots echo along the corridor as she strides to stand before the restrained female. “You’re sure about this?”
“I wouldn’t be bothering you if I weren’t. Mordeus’s memories come to me in dreams, and I saw her—saw her prophesying for him. She’s the one who told him he wouldn’t live to rule from the Throne of Shadows.”
There’s no more sympathy left in Abriella’s eyes now. “Open your eyes and look at me,” she commands the old faerie.
Karmyn obeys, tears slipping down her cheeks. “If you must kill me, please make sure my family is cared for.”
Brie’s brows lift. “Should I kill you? Have you done something that warrants execution?”
“I have never betrayed my queen, if that’s what you ask.”
“But you worked for Mordeus.” It’s not a question, and my heart squeezes at how easily she believes in me. “And then you came to me looking for work.”
“I did, Your Majesty. It’s true.”
Brie looks her over. “I consider that kind of omission a betrayal in itself, Karmyn.”