A Kingdom of Venom and Vows (Stars and Shadows #3)(51)

He nodded his head, but I had no idea if he believed my words, if he could see how serious I was.

“I know it was my hand that led you to a life you’ve been forced to live, my hand that took you from her, and I can’t explain to you how badly that fact has haunted me. I didn’t know what they were capable of then, but I still did it. I am still responsible.” My chest tightened to the point I almost couldn’t breathe as I thought of what I took from her, from him. “I will never forgive myself for what I took from her. It will haunt me for the rest of my days, but I didn’t know that the queen still had you or Gavril’s mate. I had no idea.”

I shook my head and let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know what I would have done if I did, but I’m not the same man that I was then. I have always known that your daughter would be the one to change our world, but I hadn’t realized how much. I hadn’t known then how she would change me.”

“You have my blessing.” He searched my gaze, and relief flooded me. “Although, I don’t think you need it.” He laughed, his voice deep and rough. “Adara doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who needs anyone’s permission to do what she wants.”

“She isn’t.” I laughed alongside him. “But I’m still honored to have it. I can’t tell you how much.” I bowed my head in his direction, showing this man who had been my father’s prisoner the respect he deserved.

“Sir.” The sound of one of my guard’s voices had her father and me both looking in his direction as he pushed through the door. “You need to come.”

I looked back to her father before storming from the room and in the direction the guard had just walked in. I followed him to the main entrance of the castle, and I searched the halls as we passed them, my body tight with the need to find Adara to make sure she was safe.

But I stopped short as soon as I hit the entryway and saw Sorin covered in blood. He was carrying someone in his hands, but I couldn’t see who it was as I moved toward him.

“What’s going on?” I demanded, and Sorin looked up at me with a solemn, heavy gaze.

He laid the body on the ground before me, and I stopped short when I noted the blood caked on the side of Adara’s mother’s face. I would never forget the face of the woman I watched hand over her daughter so willingly. Her eyes were closed, and I couldn’t tell if she was breathing.

But it was the parchment that was staked into her stomach that drew me to a stop.

A mother for a mother.

“Is she?”

“Dead.” Sorin nodded and lifted his hands. They were covered in her blood, along with his shirt, and dread and rage filled me.

I turned behind me at the sound of approaching footsteps, but it was Adara’s father who now stood behind me, staring at the body of the woman he once married.

“Where was she?” I asked Sorin, and my muscles tensed as he answered. I could feel my jaw clench and my fists tightened as the heat of my anger filled me.

“On the front steps of the palace.” He slowly met my gaze, and my entire body tensed. “Whoever brought her here did so without any of us noticing, without being caught.”

“Where’s Adara?” I turned on my heel, storming toward the hall to Thalia’s room, but stopped short when I heard her laughter.

“We’re coming. Thalia tried to hit me at least three times, but I finally forced her out of bed.” She stopped short when she saw my face. “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t come in here.” I held up my hands, and she craned her neck to look past me.

I wouldn’t lie to her about what my brother had done, but she didn’t need to see. She didn’t need any more nightmares to haunt her dreams.

“What happened?”

“Someone from the fae kingdom was here.” I said the words softly, but both she and Thalia froze. Thalia’s hands shifted to the dagger at her side, and black smoke dripped from Adara’s fingers.

“Was it Gavril?”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head and steeled my spine for what I was about to tell her. “But they left your mother.” I looked at her. I stared into her eyes as I told her the horrible truth. “She’s dead.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment. She just stared at me, her gaze searching mine, and I wished I held the answers she was searching for. I wanted to protect her, to shield her from this pain, but I couldn’t do so.

She shook her head back and forth as her hands trembled at her sides, and she walked toward me until she was passing by me completely.

I reached out for her, taking her hand in mine. “Princess.”

“Don’t stop me,” she pleaded, her voice quivering and tears shimmering in her eyes.

I didn’t drop her hand. I tightened my hold on her as I turned to face the way I had just come. I lifted her hand to my mouth as we started walking together, and I pressed my lips against her knuckles.

Her gaze roamed over those standing around the entryway, and I noted my own mother, the queen, standing there with her hand covering her mouth.

The smell of earth, death, and sweat bombarded us. The smell of blood and magic.

Adara pushed through the few people blocking us from getting to her mother’s body, and my chest hit her back when she stopped completely. She stared down at her mother, at what was left of her in this world, and she was so still that I worried she had quit breathing.