Chapter 23: Fates Entwined: Chapter 22

hat had he done?

Keen had mated with the girl. With Reese. A Halven. And nothing and no one could have stopped him. He tightened his hand into a fist and pressed the heel of it against his temple.

He’d defied his ruler by helping Reese tonight. Not outright, but through subterfuge so that he wasn’t disobeying the queen. He’d fought off the invaders during the battle. Then he’d assured himself the queen was safe and left the palace. With the girl who filled his every thought.

Storming back inside the palace, Keen found his soldiers searching every nook and cranny for Elena and her supporters—exactly as Keen had commanded before he’d left. He hadn’t mentioned that he knew where the others hid. But he hadn’t been asked for that information.

Again, he’d defied his ruler by any means necessary to protect Reese. And he regretted none of it. He would do it all again. For her. Always for her.

When he’d left her room, the pressure in his chest to return to her had weighed so heavily that he feared he might stumble down the stairs like a human. But he had to leave—had to deflect Portia’s suspicions and follow through on his commitment to Illa and Hakon Radnor.

Keen made it to the queen’s quarters, where no fewer than two dozen guards protected her surroundings. More would be inside.

He let himself in, and saw the queen braced against a chair across the room. Beside her, her daughter’s body lay on a bed covered in dark purple velvet, hands crossed over her chest in the death pose.

Beatrice had been Keen’s age, and young by Fae standards. She was also Portia’s only child. Regardless of what Portia told the gathering tonight, Beatrice had been labeled a traitor weeks ago during the race for a cure to the first disease Marlon had created. Little did anyone know that her mother was the mastermind behind everything.

Keen suspected Portia had kept her daughter out of the public eye until she felt she had firm control over New Kingdom. That Beatrice had shown her face this evening spoke for Portia’s confidence in her newfound power.

Keen moved closer, standing just beside Portia, who didn’t take her eyes off her daughter. It was a shame Beatrice had lost her life for her mother’s ambitions. Theda might have driven the deathblow, but Portia had given her no other choice.

Theda had killed Beatrice to save her own daughter—a Halven.

And Keen could find no fault in it.

He’d changed.

He no longer saw Halven as inferior, though he wasn’t sure when the change had occurred. Probably around the time he’d discovered Reese in the dungeon close to death. He’d wanted to slaughter every one of his kind for the atrocity.

Portia’s head tilted up and she looked over, as though just now realizing he was there. “Where have you been?” Her speech slurred with emotion.

“Searching for the Halven.”

“And did you find and destroy them?”

She’d ordered them found, not destroyed, thankfully, or he didn’t know what he would have done. “They escaped via portal.”

“According to Derek’s thoughts, they are on their way to Old Kingdom.”

Reese would be safe in the other land. She wouldn’t be with him, but she would be safe.

For now, that was all that mattered.

Reese felt a nudge on her shoulder.

“Wake up. We need to hurry.” Elena’s voice was loud, and seemingly right next to Reese’s ear.

She sat up, still wearing her dress from the night before, and rubbed her eyes. Elena was crouched beside the bed. And then Reese remembered where she was—smelled the clean cedar scent of Keen on her clothes—and her stomach cramped.

She wrapped her arms around her waist and leaned forward, trying to forget what had happened, and that Keen had left her when she thought this time he would stay. “Is everything okay?”

Elena stood. “Amund came by and said soldiers were on their way. They’ll be here any minute. We have to leave.”

Reese slipped on her shoes, and they hurried into the bedroom where Derek and Camille stood. The guard and Theda’s body were gone.

“Where’s your…” How did you ask your best friend where her mother’s body was?

Elena looked down. “Samuel, my mother’s guard, is watching over her until we can bury her in the royal mausoleum.”

Reese squeezed her hand.

“I just found my mom, and…” Her voice broke off on a light sob.

“I’m sorry—so sorry,” Reese said, and hugged her.

After a second, Elena pulled back and squared her shoulders. “I can’t think about what I’ve lost. We have to get out of here, or we’ll lose much more.”

Reese had to ask. “Did you hear from Keen?”

“No.”

“But he can hear your thoughts, can’t he? Not mine, for the same reason I can’t sense his emotions, but he’d be able to hear yours.”

“After you told us about his agreement with Portia, my mom taught us how to block him.” Elena pressed her lips together, as though the mention of her mom was unbearable. “Instead, we’ve communicated what was safe.”

“We’re returning to Old Kingdom,” Derek said. “We’ll be secure in my castle until we come up with a new plan to get Elena’s kingdom back. I let down my mental shield for a split second to shout the message to Keen. Felt I owed him that much after what he did for us here. And because…” He glanced at Reese, then shifted his feet and looked down, inspecting one of his knives. “He would have wanted to know we were safe.”

Elena’s expression firmed. “We don’t need to come up with a plan. I don’t want my mother’s kingdom. Not if she’s not here.”

Reese sensed the crushing sadness that filled her friend.

“You don’t mean that,” Derek said gently. “It’s your birthright.”

“Is it?” Elena stared blankly. “I think if you ask anyone inside this kingdom, they’d disagree.”

Derek moved closer and wrapped his arm around Elena. “It’s the last thing you have of your Fae family. It belongs to you.”

She let out a tense breath and shut her eyes. “You might be right, but it isn’t worth risking more lives.”

He pulled her into his arms. “No one said anything about losing lives. We’ll come up with a plan and it will be a good one.”

“We must go.” Camille ran her hands along the wooden wall of the tavern bedroom. “Guards have entered the building, and their energy levels are spiked. They seek to fight.”