A Queen's Shadow by Melissa Kieran

Author:Melissa Kieran [Kieran, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798986522968
Published: 2023-07-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

ADRIEN

Shadows danced over the steel entrance of the High Ground, courtesy of the roaring pyres lining either side of the imposing stone pathway. Two guards, clad in armor that bled into the night’s darkness, stood at either side. Not rigid and at attention, but joking with each other as if the mountain castle-like prison stretching its talons up through the peaks didn’t hold some of the most notorious and vicious criminals that had ever walked Morai.

Lying flat on his stomach on the rust-colored rock, elbows nudging him through the plumes of stone dust, Adrien crept closer to the edge of his shadowed hideaway, ensuring his scent was masked. Sweat dripped down his brow, courtesy of the humid night and exertion of the summit.

Yes, he was the Goddess-damn Prince—still, for now, thankfully, he hadn’t seen his father once since he’d returned to Io. And yes, he should’ve been above sneaking around his own kingdom, but he couldn’t risk Cassius knowing he was here. Whatever meeting the Imperial Alpha was holding must’ve been vital and too dangerous to expose if he was having it within the prison’s confines, away from the hall that was typically swarmed by gossips or filled with other officials and pack members.

He wasn’t sure what would’ve been worse, coming home to his father’s reaming or what he actually got—absolute silence. As if Adrien didn’t matter or exist…as if he’d given up on him.

So, Adrien had called in a favor. Now, he had to hope Park, one of the Imperial Guards he watched on patrol now, honored his word.

He ducked as the watchtower light swooped nearby, grazing but never hitting this particular crevice. It never would, and the stalking guards would never reach it, either. He knew this area was too much of a risk for them to survey with its needed climb, where one fumble would send you falling and possibly tumbling off the mountainside. One would need to be desperate to attempt it—it said much about himself—and most in the High Ground had burned every bridge in their lives.

His thumb ran over the pads of his rock-torn and now-healing fingertips, his body still sore from the ascent. He’d known he would be okay, though, since he was exceptionally good at getting into places he shouldn’t be. Either way, it was worth the risk. He couldn’t chance his father leaving him out of anything if he wanted to protect Isla. She and Deimos were most certainly Cassius’s target, and if war was coming, if there had been rebellions, then Eli's death had only stoked the flame—only poked at a sleeping, bloodthirsty giant.

It was two nights later, and Adrien hadn’t been able to shake the image of the general’s corpse from his mind, his body shredded to bits. Not by the claws of a bak but another wolf’s. That was the only minute comfort he had when he remembered Raana’s blood-splattered face. She wouldn’t be capable of something like that—but what had she been doing in Deimos?

On his

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