Reign Shadowfell's Arc

Chapter 29 of 29

Reign stayed in the chair across from Thanos. The small room felt tighter now. Lux climbed down from his shoulder and sat on the table between them. Reign put both hands flat on the wood, the way the king had. He needed the old man to feel the weight of what came next before he heard it. "A group of men came to my inn last night," Reign said. "Four of them. They tried to take me to use as leverage against you." Thanos's jaw set. Reign did not stop. "Their leader wants your throne. Three are dead. We kept one alive. He talked." He watched the king's hands. The knuckles stayed white on the table. The pulse at his throat jumped once and held. "The leader wears my mother's earrings. Silver crescents. She stood in your inner circle this morning." Thanos did not move. For a long moment he did not even breathe. Then his eyes closed. When he opened them the tear was gone and something colder sat behind them. "Describe her," he said. Reign described the dark red dress, the pale throat, the earrings. He did not give a name because he had none. Thanos said one word under his breath. He did not repeat it. He looked at Lux. The imp pressed his face to Reign's wrist. The red stone under Reign's shirt went warm. Truth again. Thanos saw the small sign and understood it. His hand came off the table and closed around the edge until the wood creaked. "She sat by your mother's bed the winter Merida was small," Thanos said. "She was the one who brought me word of the fever. She has served me thirty years." He stood. He did not raise his voice. "You will stay in this room. You will not be seen in the hall. If she learns you named her before I have her, she runs, and the other eleven scatter into houses I cannot search without tearing my own court apart." Reign nodded once. Vixen and Lyla would keep the door. Lux would watch the corridor. Thanos took a key from inside his coat and set it on the table. "For the far door. It opens on the guard passage. If I do not come back by the second bell, you use it." The king went out. Reign heard the throne room fall quiet on the other side of the wall, then the sound of boots moving in formation. He pulled the amulet from under his shirt and set it on the table beside the key. He had spent the ride from the manor afraid the king was the liar. He had named the real one without saying her name at all, and his grandfather had believed him on the first telling. The trust had held. The trap was set. Somewhere past the wall, a woman in dark red still did not know her morning was over.