Page 47 of Tarnished Crown

“All the more reason for you to stay where you are,” I finally said. “At least, for now. We only have four more months, and that’s if no one gets through the rubble first.”

He shot me a doubtful look. “Even if they knew we were here, how long would it take to dig through that? That tunnel was demolished.” He leaned in, pitching his voice lower. “Which is odd, don’t you think? If it had been the storm, wouldn’t just a few rocks have tumbled in?”

“Maybe...” I tried to follow his line of reasoning.

“How bad was the storm, even? Bad enough to shake a mountain?”

I thought back to that day, the pressure I had felt, the awareness of the raging winds outside. They had been tame compared to the one that hit us on the road to the Summit.

“No,” I shook my head. “Not bad enough for that. So what? You think someone shut us in there on purpose?”

It was dangerously close to what Evander had implied.

“Not someone...” He glanced significantly outside the tent, and I bristled in spite of myself.

“You can’t think Theo did this,” I whispered.

“Of course not,” he said dismissively. “The man is obnoxiously upstanding and, whatever his faults, genuinely seems to care for you. His brother, on the other hand...”

I shook my head in disbelief. “You honestly think he shut us in there and just, what, hoped we didn’t die?”

“No,” my cousin countered. “I think he shut us in there and carefully left the supplies we assumed were for the smugglers. Did you know that up until three months ago, they weren’t even patrolling that tunnel?”

A sick feeling churned in my stomach. “How do you know that?”

“Like I said, guards talk.”

I opened my mouth to respond when an imperious voice cut through the tent cloth. “Lemmikki?”

I let out a long, frustrated sigh, but headed toward the outside of the tent.

“What does that even mean?” Davin muttered.

“It means...pet.” I risked a glance at his face.

His features were drawn tightly, his cobalt eyes flat in a rare show of fury. “We’re getting out of this stars-forsaken kingdom if it’s the last thing I do.”

CHAPTER33

Evander insisted I stay near him for the duration of the evening. Now that we were at the negotiations, he reminded me more of the man I had met at the Summit. Calm and condescending as always, but also endlessly calculating.

It was clear that he wanted everyone here to remember that I was his property.

We eventually made our way to the campfire, lulled by the smell of roasting meats over the fire. A freshly slaughtered boar was lying nearby, as well as a bucket of fish, covered in snow and ice.

I took one of the skewers with the boar meat and was on my way to sit by Theo when Evander’s commanding tone rang out once more.

“Lemmikki.”

I gritted my teeth, spinning around to face him.

“What?” I asked sharply.

He raised his eyebrows, giving me a look to remind me he held the power to agree to these negotiations or abandon them.

“Yes, Lord Evander?” I amended, my tone dripping with honey. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“You can fetch me a skewer and take a seat.” He gestured to the space on the log next to him, and a muscle ticked in my jaw.