Dragons Against Them (Kingdoms of Fire and Ice #2)(65)

“Oh?” Giselle shifted her gaze to Berinon with lifted brow. “Then tell us, great wizard of Edana, where were you the night Jarin’s eldest daughter was first cast from our realm?”

Berinon frowned. “I know not—”

Giselle raised a hand and clenched her fingers as though gripping a large invisible cup. Beside them, Helena gasped. Addie turned and watched in horror as the queen clawed at her throat, no longer able to draw in breath.

“Mother!”

Zayne slid from Addie’s grasp and rushed to his mother’s side. With a growl, Berinon raised a hand to counter Giselle’s spell.

“Try it, wizard, and I shall crush her throat,” said Giselle, her voice deadly calm. “Answer the question, and I shall let my sister go.”

He remained silent a moment more, his eyes narrowing to slits. “I was there.”

“Yet you did nothing to protect the child,” said Giselle. “Why?”

Berinon looked from the witch to Helena, whose face was now purple from lack of oxygen, and back. “She had to be sent away,” he ground out between gritted teeth. “For the prophecy to be fulfilled.”

A look of immense satisfaction washed over Giselle’s face. She spread her clenched fingers wide, and Helena dropped to the ground, coughing and dragging in large gulps of air. Zayne crouched beside his mother, offering her quaking shoulders support.

Addie found herself frozen in place, rage slowly consuming her as Berinon’s words sank in. He had been there. Had willingly stood by and watched as she was cast from their kingdom—alone, and only a few hours old. That was why he’d spied on her all these years. Not out of concern or remorse. Not for Helena or Zayne or anyone else but for him. And all because of some stupid prophecy.

A growl began deep in her throat and a fierce urge to lash out welled within her. “You were in on it? How could you do that to me? I could have died!”

In a flash, both Zayne and Brom were there, restraining her. She squirmed and cursed, trying to break free from their grasp.

“Damn it, let me go. I’ll kill him for what he’s done. Kill him!”

“It’s the dragon’s blood, Addie,” Zayne whispered, his grasp unwavering. “You must learn to control it.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. No one had said anything about this kind of side effect to their partial bonding. But as she met his fiery gaze, she knew he was telling the truth. With clenched fists, she ceased her struggles and returned her attention to Giselle, who was stepping forward with hands clasped behind her back.

“So you let your mentor cast her out and maintained, even after his death, the lie that it was the witches who were to blame for the girl’s disappearance. That my people wanted her dead. True, is it not?”

“’Twas a believable story,” interjected Haelan, “after what happened that night with Queen Vanora. A pity the king’s true midwife had been called away at the last moment for a family emergency.”

A sinister smile curled the wizard’s lips, and gasps rang out amid both crowds. Addie’s stomach turned. Had her mother died in vain, her death a smoke screen to set all this in motion? Had Addie’s own birth been her mother’s death sentence?

“Cursed wizards!” roared Giselle. Lightning streaked the sky behind them, followed by a deafening clap of thunder. “You cast blame like a plague upon us, twisting Jarin’s thoughts and heart. We lost everything but the clothes upon our backs. Everything!”

“And yet,” said Berinon, his voice ever calm, “you lived.”

“Aye, that we did. For you see, we too knew of the prophecy. Two kingdoms kept behind the veil, possess a magic for all to hale…” The evil smirk returned to Giselle’s lips as she moved to slip a motherly arm around a confused Rosalind. “But in your arrogance, wizards, you failed to consider the possibility that your presumed children of fire and ice might not be the only pair.”

Haelan snorted. “How many could there be? There remains but one child of fire.”

“Or so you believed.” Giselle returned to where Rosalind and their bulky companion stood, and stroked a hand down his cheek. “For you see, Berinon is not the only man I have fooled with my sorcery. A king’s seed I also sought.”

A strangled cry rang out beside them. Addie looked to Helena, still seated upon the ground. Wide-eyed, the queen raised a shaking hand to her mouth. Beside her stood Berinon, glaring at Giselle and looking mad enough to spit fire.

“How…could you?” Queen Helena asked of her sister, voice still raw from lack of air, then turned a dark look upon Berinon. “And you? Lying all these years while my sisters lived in squalor? A willing supporter of the events that caused their exile? Being involved in a queen’s death?”

“She lies, Helena,” he said, sweeping an arm toward Giselle. “Surely you see that? Even now your sister lies where the truth fits better.”

He reached for Helena, but she leaned away, rising to her feet unassisted and then coming to stand alongside Zayne and the others. Berinon watched her go, hurt etched into his bearded face. Behind him, movement caught Addie’s eye. Giselle’s son, Zayne’s illegitimate half brother, slipped between two of Giselle’s warriors and disappeared from sight. But the act was lost on Berinon, who still stared at Helena, his green eyes taking on a glow as though he were consumed by a fire within.