shock now coursing through me.
“My dear Farrah,” he said as he halted just a couple of feet from me. “Someone tried to poison me a couple of hours ago.”
“W-what?” I willed my voice to be surprised by such revelation. “What happened?”
“I had company,” the prince explained, his tone amused. He thought I didn’t know he still took innocent female fae to his bedroom almost every night? “She drank from my wine before me, and within seconds, she was dead at my feet.”
I put a hand over my mouth. “That’s horrible.”
“I agree.” The prince nodded. “The fact is someone inside this castle tried to poison me and we’re intent on investigating everyone until we find the culprit.” His dark eyes held on mine. “You wouldn’t mind if my guards searched your bedroom, would you?”
“Of course not.” I gestured wide. “Go ahead.” I mentally gave myself a pat on the back for having gotten rid of everything before I went to bed last night.
The four soldiers rummaged around my chambers, looking under and behind every piece of furniture and painting and other decorations. They searched my bathroom and my closet.
And found nothing.
Prince Lark tsked. “I’m so sorry I doubted of you,” he said, his voice almost earnest. He snapped his fingers and a male fae was brought into my room, being held by the arms by another two soldiers.
I stood up as the fae’s desperate eyes met mine. “Who is this?”
“My winemaker,” Lark explained. “I’ve been searching for a while now, and I can’t find anyone who would want to poison me. Thus, the winemaker must have put the poison in my wine himself.”
“My prince, it wasn’t me!” the fae shouted. “I wouldn’t have! I—“
I gasped in horror as Lark moved his arm as fast as lightning and slashed the winemaker’s throat with a dagger I didn’t even see he was holding. A gurgled sound came from the fae’s mouth and blood seeped from his throat.
First the poor female fae who drank the wine, now the winemaker. Two fae had died because of my plan. Because of me.
Prince Lark turned to me, his face serene, as if he hadn’t just killed a fae in cold blood. He took another step closer to me and I did my best to hold my ground. I couldn’t show him how much I was disgusted with him, how much I feared him.
He reached for my hand and held my arm. He clasped a black stone bracelet around my wrist. “A gift for my wife,” he said in a honeyed tone.
I glanced down at the bracelet, stunned. What the hell was he doing? “Thank you,” I whispered, still in shock.
Lark placed a kiss on my cheek. “Sorry to have bothered you. I’ll let you go back to bed while my soldiers and I resume our investigation.”
With that, the soldiers dragged the winemaker’s body from the room, leaving a trail of blood on the floor. Everyone walked out and the doors closed with a finite click behind them.
I stood there in absolute horror for a few moments, trying to gather my wits.
I knew Prince Lark was evil, but I hadn’t realized he was more than that. He was insane and evil, and he liked it. My skin crawled with revulsion and fright.
I had to get out of here. I couldn’t stay here as a victim, especially now that I knew Lark had lied to me and imprisoned my brother and my people, instead of letting them go as he had promised me. I had to get out of here and find a way to go back to the fae realm to save my people.
After waiting a few minutes, I changed my nightgown for sensible clothes—black leather pants, a thin sweater, and boots.
As I left my bedroom, careful not to step in the blood smearing the stone floors, the sun was going up outside the window. Hopefully, the hallways would be still dark and since the soldiers were all following Lark wherever he was going, I would be able to slip through the fortress unnoticed.
To my relief, I made it to the outer wall of the fortress just fine. But there were two guards standing in front of the gates leading outside. I quickly put a glamour over me, disguising as another fae guard. I didn’t have to interact with them. All I had to was cross the gates.
Then I would run like a mad woman until I was far away from here.
My plan worked well, until the moment