Page 36 of Of Bargains & Betrayal

Between the unease still simmering beneath the surface of all this and the way the humming of Eilir’s wings echoed as they trailed a path close to the ceiling, I felt the need to fill a bit of the air with my voice.

Maksym glanced back briefly but did not slow his pace. “Yes.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Goddess help me.

“The Blackspire clan has led Grimmoria since The Divide,” Eilir said as they zipped down beside me. Talk about a prayer answered quickly. “Except for one little hiccup span of a few hundred years, give or take, Max comes from a long, long line of rather noble Blackspire men.”

“Max?” I chuckled. That was awfully endearing.

“Don’t,” he shot back without even a glance over his shoulder.

I let that slide in favor of a more pressing question I had.

“Wait…” I swallowed. “Didn’t you say you killed your father?”

“He did,” Eilir answered in a chirp for the now silent king. “As they all have, truthfully. Max’s father, Callum, killed his father to take his throne. Callum’s father had killed his own father to do the same, and so on and so forth. They can be rather vicious in their search for⁠—”

“Enough, Eilir,” Maksym ground out. “You’ll have plenty of other time to regale Miss Wynn with history I know too well when I’m not around.”

A sore spot for the king, clearly, and one I noted in the recesses of my mind.

He’d seemed incredibly proud of his patricide when he was set on intimidation back in my cell, showing me the blade that severed his father’s head like it was a prized possession.

Eilir, though, let out a tiny squeal as soon as Maksym stopped speaking, their hands clasped in front of their wooden body.

Their attention bounced between the king and me as they squeaked out, “She’s staying? You’re staying?”

I opened my mouth, but Maksym interjected.

“Miss Wynn has not decided yet,” he stated with a shrug. “She may very well be leaving us in one way or another in three days’ time. I wouldn’t get too attached.”

Despite being made of a substance as usually unmoving as wood, Eilir’s entire tiny face fell into a frown.

“Oh,” they breathed. “That was presumptuous of me. And I can hardly blame you either, princess. I can’t say for certain if I’d rather be sent to my certain death or be stuck married to Max. He can be quite⁠—”

“EILIR.”

The sprite squeaked a startled noise as Maksym’s hand swung back and nearly knocked them out of the air. They zipped up high above us and shot farther ahead.

I finally let out a laugh of disbelief. “So, sprites aren’t extinct, you’re a temperamental asshole, and, what, let me guess—your horses breathe fire here? Or is there anything else I should know to help me make my decision?”

The king shot me a withering glare as we stopped at a set of modestly carved doors in the eerily quiet hall.

“This is, and will continue to be, your accommodations should you choose to stay.” He pushed open one side and motioned me ahead. “And I swear on that, so don’t bother asking.”

The suite must have been the size of my apartment in the fortress, if not larger, and far more lush.

It had all the hallmark traits of the rest of the Keep—dark stone walls, wooden rafters, and a vaulted ceiling swallowed up into darkness—but there were deep, jewel-toned velvets and plush, dark furs everywhere in sight. A spacious four-poster bed, too, set back between two arched windows, and topped by a circular piece with red stained-glass flowers.

Everything spoke of luxury and comfort, of thoughtful finishes, of status.

It felt wrong in so many ways, and not just because I’d assumed I would end up in some half-dilapidated broom closet meant for the guests you never wanted to have visit again.

“Who was this all for?” I asked.

The king seemed taken aback. “It’s for you, for the time being, and ongoing, should you choose to stay.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” I ran my fingers over lacquered whorls carved into the trim of a table in the entry. “Who was this all for? Before me. Because I don’t believe for a second you pulled all of this—” I gestured to the room at large, “—out of thin air just for me, your prisoner, whom you hadn’t spoken with until yesterday. So I’ll ask you again, King Maksym. Who was this all for?”