Queen of Shadows

“Lysandra is waiting for you in the drawing room,” Aroby

Rowan was watching Aelin very, very carefully. She gave him a slight nod.

Rowan met Aedion’s gaze—the general stared right back.

Honestly, had she been anywhere else, she might have pulled up a chair to watch this latest little dominance battle. Thankfully, Aedion just turned toward the stairs. A moment later, they were gone.

Aroby

Black, rage-filled eyes glared at them and blinked, sca

“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way,” Aroby

Stevan just smiled.

Aelin listened to Aroby

“How does the king control you?” Aroby

The demon laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Aroby

She frowned at her dress. “I don’t want to get blood on it.”

Aroby

Aroby

“How?”

“He has a ring, too—uses it to control us all. Ring goes on, and it doesn’t come off. We do what he says, whatever he says.”

“Where did he get the rings from?”

“Made ’em, I don’t know.” The dagger came closer. “I swear! We wear the rings, and he makes a cut on our arms—licks our blood so it’s in him, and then he can control us however he wants. It’s the blood that links us.”

“And what does he plan to do with you all, now that you’re invading my city?”

“We’re searching for the general. I won’t—won’t tell anyone he’s here … Or that she’s here, I swear. The rest—the rest I don’t know.” His eyes met hers—dark, pleading.

“Kill him,” she said to Aroby

“Please,” Stevan said, his eyes still holding hers. She looked away.

“He does seem to have run out of things to tell me,” Aroby

Swift as an adder, Aroby

Aelin stepped clear of the spray of blood, holding Stevan’s stare as the light faded from his gaze. When the spray had slowed, she frowned at Aroby

“Where would the fun be in that?” Aroby

“I’d dump that ring in the Avery if I were you.”

“The king is enslaving people to his will with these things. I plan to study this one as best I can.” Of course he did. He pocketed the ring and inclined his head toward the door. “Now that we’re even, darling … shall we eat?”

It was an effort to nod with Stevan’s still-bleeding body sagging from the wall.

Aelin was seated to Aroby

She had bid hello to Lysandra, who’d been keeping Aedion and Rowan company in the drawing room, keenly aware of Aroby

The note was gone by the time Aelin leaned in to kiss the courtesan’s cheek, the peck of someone not entirely thrilled to be doing so.

Aroby

“I have to say,” Aroby

Aedion, who had watched every bite she took of that soup, lifted an eyebrow. “You want us to make small talk after you just interrogated and butchered a demon?”

Aroby

“Careful,” she said too quietly to Aroby

The King of the Assassins straightened the silverware flanking his plate. “Shouldn’t I be concerned about who my protégée is living with?”

“You weren’t concerned about who I was living with when you had me shipped off to Endovier.”

A slow blink. “Is that what you think I did?”

Lysandra stiffened beside her. Aroby

He missed nothing, it seemed.

Aroby

It was so convincing that Aelin might have believed it. Through some miracle, Aroby

Aelin drawled to Aroby

“How else would I get to see you? You would have just dumped that thing on my doorstep and left. And we learned so much—so much that we could use, together.” The chill down her spine wasn’t faked. “Though I have to say, this new you is much more … subdued. I suppose for Lysandra that’s a good thing. She always looks at the hole you left in the entry wall when you threw that dagger at her head. I kept it there as a little reminder of how much we all missed you.”

Rowan was watching her, an asp ready to strike. But his brows bunched slightly, as if to say, You really threw a dagger at her head?

Aroby

I’m begi