A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(68)

I snorted. “Yeah, that’s not the kind of ‘fun’ Mari and I have.”

“That is devastating news.”

For some reason, I could not keep it together. I doubled over laughing. “Keep it in your trousers, Kane. You’re not her type.”

“I’m everyone’s type.”

I faked a dry heave, and this time Kane was the one to laugh. The noise was a deep rumble from his chest, and a smile glowed in his eyes.

“I know. It’s the worst,” I said.

“Ah. My poor jealous bird. I told you, I’m not interested in the princess anymore.”

I shook my head. He had it all wrong—I wasn’t talking about her. I was talking about m—

Then my brain stopped working.

“Anymore?” I asked, barely keeping the horror at bay.

He grimaced. “We have spent some time together. Intimately. Many years ago.”

I gasped like I was in a bad theater production, and Kane laughed harder. I tried to laugh with him, but the image of them together made me want to set myself on fire. Her long, white hair threaded through his strong hands. His grunts of pleasure as he buried himself between her—

“Arwen—” Mercifully, he interrupted my revolting train of thought. “It was nothing. I had no feelings for her.”

“Oh, so you used her?”

He threw his head backward, smacking into the wine barrels behind us and wincing.

“Always so difficult. It was mutual. An agreement between old friends. It was… before.”

“Before what?” I asked, guarded hope lilting my words.

His eyes narrowed on my lips, but he didn’t answer.

For a moment all I heard was the steady drip of spilled wine falling on the stone floor.

“You don’t have much of a right to be jealous, anyway,” he finally said, finishing off the next bottle. “Seeing as you’re still so hung up on that human filth in the cells beneath us.”

The thought of Halden killed my happy buzz almost immediately.

I looked down at my hands. “I don’t think he’s below us anymore.”

“Not an earthquake, then?”

I shook my head.

“And you knew?”

I couldn’t bear to look up and see his rage at my betrayal. I didn’t say anything.

“Well, I hope for your sake he escaped. If my men caught him, he won’t live to see daybreak.”

I turned my face further away from Kane, so he couldn’t see my expression. It would give away the pain that I felt at the thought of Halden’s death.

“What did they want? In the vault?” I asked.

“Something that hadn’t been there for a long time.”

Kane stood and began to pace in the small space. He reminded me of a caged beast, hackles raised and power rippling off of him. The musty cellar with its low ceiling was too small to hold all of him in.

He cursed under his breath and turned to me. “I have to leave tomorrow. I’ll be back as quickly as I can. But Arwen, don’t go chasing after him while I’m gone.” He knelt down. “There is evil lurking beyond these walls, waiting for you to make a single misstep.”

I turned his plea over in my mind. I had heard these warnings before, but Halden’s voice echoed in my ears. The woods aren’t as dangerous as I’m sure they’ve led you to believe.

He could tell I didn’t believe him. I could see it in his eyes. He looked like he was on the precipice of an enormously difficult decision.

“I have to explain something to you.”

I wanted to urge him to continue—I’d kill for answers—but felt at any moment he might change his mind.

“Arwen,” he paused, running his hands through his hair in exasperation. “He’s a murderer.”





NINETEEN


A sickening shiver kissed down my spine.

What was he talking about? I shook my head. “No, you’re a murderer.”

Kane looked around in exasperation. “Perhaps so, but I do not make a habit of killing innocents in cold blood.”

My body went rigid. “Neither does Halden.”

“He was an assassin for the Amber King. He—”

“I’m sure you have assassins.” I could hear my voice rising in pitch.

Kane’s face hardened.

I remembered what sheer power he possessed and felt myself shrink backward.

“What is your obsession with comparing us? I’m not claiming to be anything I am not.” When I didn’t respond, he softened, but his tone was still bitter. “Your precious King Gareth sent Halden’s unit into Onyx to kill Fae.”

My entire body seized. I couldn’t move—couldn’t breathe. I pressed my hands against the cool stone floor to ground myself.

“I didn’t tell you because it is a burden to understand what is truly at stake. I didn’t wish to hurt you. But watching you pine over the spineless twit is making me… aggravated.”

The room wouldn’t stay still. My heart spun in my chest.

“So they’re…” I swallowed a lump in my throat. “They’re real?

“How much do you know of them…the Fae?”

“Not much,” I admitted, still reeling. “Ancient, violent creatures. Very scary, very old, very dead.”