A Vow So Bold and Deadly (Cursebreakers, #3)(17)

She scowls, but she places her hand in mine. We stride out of the stable, but I hesitate as we cross over the threshold, my eyes searching the darkness for the enchantress.

Harper notices, because her step falters, too, and she glances up at me. I force myself to keep walking.

“Talk to me,” she hisses. “How can you say something like that and not tell me anything more?”

“I planned to, but you called for guards.” She is so impulsive. A cold breeze whispers against the bare skin of my neck and I shiver. I want to be inside. I want to be in my chambers. I want to be locked behind a door so thick that no one could penetrate it.

None of that would matter. Nothing stops Lilith.

We reach the rear doors of the castle, and a footman leaps to hold it open. Once we’re out of the chilly night air, I feel better. Less exposed. Dustan sticks close to us, and I want to send him away. I already saw what Lilith did to Grey, season after season. I have no desire to see it inflicted on more of my guardsmen.

But Harper has clearly spooked him. Once we reach my chambers, Dustan stations himself outside, along with three other guardsmen. He inhales like he’s going to say something, but I close the door in his face.

My eyes flick to the corners before I look at Harper. “I suppose I should be glad you did not alert the entire castle.”

“Don’t you dare get mad at me.”

“I am not mad. I am …” My voice trails off, and I sigh. I set my sword against the wall, then run my hands down my face. I have no idea how to finish that statement. I am …

Regretful.

Resigned.

Exhausted.

And the worst: ashamed.

Speaking those words would seem to give weight to my faults, and I’ve done that enough already.

“I do not know what I am,” I say.

“Did she show up at the party?” Harper draws an angry breath. “You should have kept Dustan with you. You shouldn’t have sent him after me, of all people—”

Silver hell. “Harper. Stop.”

She stops.

“Lilith has been here for weeks.” I pause. “Months.”

I watch as she absorbs this information, as her face shifts from worry and fear to confusion and bewilderment. I expect her to yell, for this to fuel her tirade, but instead, she turns thoughtful. “Months.” Her voice grows softer. “Rhen. Rhen. Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

I hesitate, and she sucks in a breath, pressing a hand to her abdomen. “It’s me. She threatened me.”

“Yes.”

Harper presses her palms together in front of her face, then blows out a breath. She drops into a chair in front of the hearth. “Okay. Start at the beginning. I thought Grey took her to the other side and killed her.”

I ease into the chair beside her. “He certainly tried. She bears a scar on her neck—and for all the other injuries he attempted on this side, she’s never had a scar. He may not be aware she lives.”

“And what does she want?”

“She wants me to win this war.”

“Why? Why does she care?”

“Because she wants to rule Emberfall. She blames my father—my country—for the destruction of her people. She wants the throne.”

“Then why doesn’t she just kill you?”

“You see that my dispute with Grey has already put us at risk of civil war. She wholeheartedly admits that she cannot claim the throne and expect my entire kingdom to bend a knee to her. She is powerful, but not that powerful.”

Harper considers that for a while. I wait, listening to the fire snap in the hearth. I have been terrified of this moment for … for ages. I did not want Harper to know. I did not want her to be at risk. But I did not realize how desperate I was for a confidante until she demanded this truth.

The thought tightens my chest, and I have to swallow the emotion. I still remember the night I met the enchantress, how she tried to charm my father first, and he had the good sense to turn her away.

I didn’t, and I’ve been paying the price ever since.

Harper’s hand falls over mine. “Don’t hide,” she says. “Talk to me.”

She’s kinder than I deserve. “When Grey and I were trapped in the curse, he was the only person who knew how terrible she was. It is … difficult to share that with you. Even now.”

“What does she want to do to me? Leave my body parts all over Emberfall?”

“Worse. She has threatened to return you to Disi.”

Her hand goes still over mine, and her expression freezes. “Oh.”

I hold my breath, worried that Lilith will show herself and make good on her threats, but the room remains quiet. The enchantress does not appear. The fire continues to snap.

Harper continues to exist at my side.

“So she wants you to win this war. She wants you to be king.” Harper hesitates, and her eyes search mine. “And she wants to be at your side once you are.”

I nod.

She’s quiet for a moment. “Do you really want to go to war with Grey?”

“I see no other way for Emberfall—”

“Stop.” She puts up a hand. “Do you, Rhen, really want to go to war with your brother?”

I sigh and rise from the chair, moving to the side table, where I uncork a bottle of wine. “He may be my brother in blood, Harper, but he is not my brother.” I pause to pour. “He ran instead of telling me the truth. He stood in front of me and kept this secret. He declared war on me.”