King Grath waved his hand toward Kar. It looked more like he was slapping at the air in front of him and only accidentally happened to do it in Kar’s direction. “Is that how this one is now mated to the princess? You were all sleeping? I should behead him for defiling the girl on the spot.”

“Grath.” The queen’s soft voice didn’t reach the king’s ears. Her delicate touch on his shoulder went just as unnoticed.

“Well, clearly, Ferro was doing something else entirely,” I bit out, forgetting to keep my tongue behind my teeth and meeting the king’s furious gaze again. That’s why I never spoke up in court. It was better to keep quiet and accept everything, then laugh about the absurdity later under Hiko’s bedsheets.

“To the dungeon, now! Sinister, drag this trash out of my sight.”

“He needs to go to the infirmary, not rot in the dungeon, Father,” Hiko protested. He was coming around to our side completely, throwing suspecting looks at Ferro who was already pulled away to the direction of our designated lodging for who knows how long.

If Ferro wasn’t going to be questioned, Isay would likely remain in captivity too. We’d never find her. And if I was going to die for this, I’d completely misjudged my king’s fairness.

That said king stared down at Hiko. “Will you ever just do what you’re told for a change?”

Hiko lowered his gaze, but he did not stoop as low as to bow. He’d told me once it was his way of testing his father’s patience.

I found it amusing then. Now? I was fucking terrified he was overstepping the king’s patience altogether. It was, after all, still his honeymoon and so far, we’d dealt with a delther attack, calming down the new explosive energy Isay had slammed into every fae in the court, temper tantrums, us announcing a dispute with Felroth, and then an all-out battle with the emotion-feeders.

It was not what a honeymoon looked like, not even in Vindica. It usually consisted of a lot of sex and never leaving the bed. In their case, even more likely never leaving the bed since they just recently were safely able to relish each other’s touch.

I expected Hiko to have another comeback on his lips, but he surprised me by marching over to where Sinister was doing his best to haul Kar’s ass off the tiles toward imprisonment.

With the help of Hiko, they managed to get his upper body off the ground. I groaned my displeasure before I grabbed both of his feet just as he began thrashing and screaming again.

We all dropped him like a sack of potatoes, unable to keep him between us as his body convulsed in his fever dream.

That man had a hell of a set of lungs on him, and he was not afraid to use them, that’s for sure. I’d be surprised if there was a fae in Vindica that didn’t hear him. The rumours of his unauthorised mating to the princess were likely spreading just as fast as the wavelength of his howls.

The moment Kar went limp, we continued dragging him toward the dungeon. When we were out of ears reach of the king, Hiko jumped on me.

“What the fuck happened, Reg?” he demanded.

“She wanted to go on the stroll of the gardens. I was with her when the Felrothians attacked the gate. Ferro stumbled on us when I was dragging her back to the palace. I… ah… might’ve suggested he’d take her so I could go protect the gate.”

Both Sinister and Hiko stared at me as Kar started convulsing again, his cries more muffled this time.

“She was your responsibility!” Hiko shouted at me after we placed Kar down more gently this time. He was already going to have a concussion and who knows what else when he woke up.

“Don’t you think I know that?” I yelled right back. “I fucking know that. But it was Ferro… We grew up together, for Death’s sake. I didn’t think he’d sell her out.”

“I defended you to the king!”

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. We didn’t fight. We never fought each other.

Now Ferro was a traitor, Kar was in a coma, Sinister was just trying to stay out of whatever we’d gotten ourselves into, and Hiko was at my throat.

For a good reason, of course. He had a good goddamn reason.

Swallowing hard, I nodded toward Kar, who’d stopped his most recent escapade, and we all hauled him off the ground again. At least Hiko believed me. That was a start.

It also sounded like me, dumb and single-minded.

What he didn’t know was how much my mistake ate me up inside. I had no time to focus on the guilt, but I was sure it would hit me like a sledgehammer once I was stuck behind bars awaiting my punishment.

All the while Kar kept up his episodic screamfest, reminding me just how much I’d fucked up.

Getting him down the stairs was a hassle I wouldn’t want to go through again. He weighed more than a muscle car by the feel of it. I wasn’t going to admit it, but I was glad when we dropped him on the thin cot in one of the cells, the farthest from Ferro we could get.

“I’ll let you stay next door,” Hiko said, ushering me out.

I didn’t budge. “I’ll stay with him.”

“Grath said to keep everyone separate. He’ll have my head if I let you stay.”

“He won’t have your head, he’ll have mine.”

“Get out, Regar! I mean it.”

With a look back at Kar, who’d turned pale, I pushed past Hiko and Sinister and stalked into the cell next to his. Dragging the bed to the bars closest to Kar, I sat down to watch over his disquiet slumber.

Hiko hesitated. “Regar, I—”

I looked back at the prince who lingered at the entrance to my prison cell, all the while Sinister locked the door to Kar’s. “Save it, Hiko.”

Punching the bars, he cursed. “I’ll get you out.”

I begrudgingly nodded and turned my eyes back on Kar. He’d picked up panting. His rasped groans vibrated through the underground in eerie echoes. It was going to be a long, long day.

Chapter 32

KARMUTH

MY WHOLE BODY WAS SHREDDED. PAIN LIKE I’D NEVER FELT BEFORE throbbed through every nerve ending as if giving me a complete close-up introductory course of my own anatomy.

I would’ve enjoyed a different approach a whole lot more. A lesson through pleasure. With Isay, specifically. Instead, I felt like I’d gone through a meat grinder.

Musty, humid air surrounded me, and I knew right away that I was in the dungeon. I was not pleased to be here, because that meant that the king still didn’t trust me. Even after all the pain I’d drawn through the bond I hadn’t known we’d created, not that I’d done that for the king.

No, that was for Isay’s benefit. Only for Isay’s benefit. The more I hurt, the less she’d suffer. That’s how the mating bond worked if used properly.

Mated to Isay. It had a delightful ring that made some of my pain flee, and my lips curled up in a smile. Nobody could say she wasn’t mine. Our souls had decided we belonged together, something I’d known the moment I saw her, no matter how hard I’d tried to deny it. I was never going to disaffirm it ever again.

Despite the pain, despite the evident imprisonment, there was nothing brighter than the love I felt for Isay.

In a world full of death, finding something to live for was the hardest challenge, and Isay was it for me. I’d go through another torment for her, anything, everything.

“You’re awake?” a rough voice asked close to my face.

I tried to push myself off the bed, and a cool wet towel slid off my face and dropped on the thin pillow I’d been using.