Page 11 of Onyx Cage: Volume II

Or was he one of the ones who would develop a hunger for it over time, the power of hunting easy prey, like a man shooting a bird in a cage? A Samu in the making.

He lit the fire, and before I could see the smoke blackening the sky, I steered my horse away. I had worked my entire life to keep my people safe, but at the rate my father was going, the only thing left to rule over would be a pile of ashes.

Sir Arès was the first to arrive, along with his daughter.

“You’ve been busy,” he said, quietly, while Taras greeted Mila with a supreme amount of awkwardness.

Was it a reminder that Lynx had spies, that he knew I had only recently returned from a slew of unnecessary executions?

Or did he mean that I had been busy covering for Rowan’s…departure?

Whatever he knew or suspected, I couldn’t give him confirmation. Ally or not, he was still the duke of another clan, and those were secrets that could get us all killed.

“There is always much to do for the clan, as you know,” I responded noncommittally.

Arès’ eyes narrowed slightly in response, but I kept my expression neutral and gestured for us to move toward the main doors of the palace.

“And how are relations with our neighbors?” he pushed, falling into step beside me.

“Good,” I lied. “I have plans to send Taras and Mila to negotiate trade after their wedding, actually.”

That part was true, at least, assuming there wasn’t already an army gathering on the other side of the pass. Arès knew the likelihood of that as well as I did, though. No need to point it out now.

“An excellent choice,” the Duke of Lynx said, his lips tilting with approval.

I wondered if he was considering the intentionality behind sending the two people who were least likely to be turned away. Mila was gracious enough to offer her help in negotiations, and Taras was intimately familiar with the needs of the clan.

And if they were well-positioned to keep an eye on things in Lochlann and ensure none of the dukesforgotthat the princess belonged to me, well, that was a happy bonus.

My father awaited us inside the doors. Physically, he played his part well, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, his chin tilted up to give him a better angle with which to look down on everyone around him.

But mentally, he was existing in that disorienting fog where he couldn’t trust his own thoughts. He wasn’t quite living in the past, but he wasn’t fully in the present either. Ava stood at his side, her thin arm laced through his, like she was a physical anchor, helping him to fake his way through it.

It didn’t stop me from imagining the many ways she might eventually meet her demise, but it was marginally better than the alternative, a world in which the clans discovered my father’s weakness at the very event designed to lend us strength.

We walked a precarious line, and today was the easiest of the greetings. Lynx was our new ally.

Tomorrow, we would welcome the enemies at our door.

Tomorrow, Elk would arrive.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Bear Palace hadn’t played host to all of the clan dukes since before the war.

It was strange to have them all under one roof, the tension within the walls like the charged moments before a lightning storm. Between having my spies stationed amongst the serving staff, providing insights into the chatter and gossip between the clans, and my most trusted men constantly updating me on everyone’s whereabouts, I was busier than ever.

Exhaustion clawed at the edges of my vision, but I would have been a fool to allow Iiro or Mikhail under my roof without taking more than the usual precautions.

With these measures in place, I managed to keep the Duke of Elk away from my father—and even more impressively, managed to keep myself from setting both him and his younger brother on fire, but I wasn’t enough of an idiot to trust his affable farce.

He was too smarmy, too content, considering all the things that had blown up in his face, considering that he was attending a wedding for an alliance he should be very much opposed to.

But regardless, I played my part, playing host to him and the other dukes, pretending my father was in charge of the clanwhile I circumvented his orders at every turn, even working along with the woman I despised most in the world to keep up our entire ruse as the strongest clan in Socair.

There was a storm the day of the wedding, strong enough to rattle the stained-glass windows high in the ceilings of the great hall. I tried not to see Rowan’s knowing expression as she looked into the distance, to not picture her curls standing out starkly against an obsidian gown, a bright contrast to Mila’s controlled brown locks.

I tried not to think about her at all, though that was impossible when my every conversation was spent navigating the mess she had left me with.