Page 68 of The Serpent Prince

Kiran lifted his shoulder, unconcerned. “I can make one strong enough.”

“What about the longer-term ramifications? We announce her to the kingdom as your heartmate, then she’s going to have to play that role longer than just one visit. Your father won’t like this plan at all.”

Kiran shrugged again. “He’ll be furious at first, because I know he wants her for himself. But once I demand that Imani at least admit the location of Vathis, he’ll be more than pleased to give her up to me for a family of high-born elves. He’s going to make me marry someone—it might as well be someone whose secrets I hold over their head.”

At that, Imani broke. She hadn’t signed up for a lifetime with Kiran, or giving up the Draswood.

“And who says I will agree to be your puppet heartmate for the rest of our lives, attempting to provide you with these high-born elven babies?”

The look on Kiran’s face was utterly bored and uninterested when he responded. “You don’t have to agree. I can order you. Besides, once my father dies … well, let’s just say it won’t be for the rest of our lives.”

Imani bared her teeth at him. “What a healthy, loving relationship we’ll have.”

“That’s not in the cards for either of us, no matter who we end up heartmated to.” His lip curled in disgust as he hit back smoothly. “We might as well both benefit from it. For now, you’ll be treated as a princess, with all the power that comes with that, and I’ll get my father off my back with a much more beautiful, obedient mate at my side. He’s already salivating at the idea of breeding you—you’re lucky it’s with me and not him.”

Pursing her lips, she didn’t respond. This would just be another deal she broke once the Drasil was hers.

Imani crossed her arms. “You’re forgetting one piece of information that I know and you don’t.”

Kiran huffed out a laugh, another mad serpentine grin spreading across his face. “And pray tell, my darling, what could this delicious piece of information be?”

Playing with the loose string on her coverlet, she debated whether to tell him. But to pull this off, she needed to be honest. “Ayla wasn’t just going to make an introduction to Ellisar for your father. She was going to give him the passcodes to the security detail around the city. I’m assuming to help him infiltrate it as his first attack on Essenheim.”

Genuine shock showed on both the witches’ faces.

Zadie spoke first. “How does an exiled elf have access to that sort of information?” Her voice was deadly quiet.

“She told me her mother is the First Healer for Ellisar himself. I know from when I lived that all the passcodes are changed constantly, but her mother would have access to them all in case the high sentinel needed her in an emergency. I bet the poor mother thinks her daughter is coming back to beg for forgiveness and to live in the Draswood as if nothing happened.” Imani rolled her eyes.

“Ellisar would never do that,” Kiran said flatly. “He’s ruthless in protecting the city, and we know Ayla was already caught trying to help two covens enter the forest to do illegal magic trading with several unsavory elves.”

Ah, that explained how they had come across a Norn elf outside the Draswood.

A silence permeated the room, heavy with uncertainty.

“Well”—Zadie sighed—“we’ll have to make Imani offer up something just as good.”

“I would never betray the Draswood like that traitorous bitch,” Imani spat. “No matter what you’re offering me.”

“You’re going to drop these idealistic notions, or you won’t survive long here,” Kiran said. “Now … what are you willing to give up?”

There was only one thing she was willing to give up. One plan she already intended to execute for her own reasons.

“I’ll give you the imposter king’s head on a platter.”

Both Kiran’s and Zadie’s ears and eyes perked up at that.

“And how will you accomplish this, my darling?” Kiran’s voice was smooth, but she could sense his distrust.

Imani didn’t hesitate to tell the truth. “You know Tanyl and I had an … arrangement. Tanyl will let me get close to him, and then I’ll kill him. With the true heir hidden or missing, confusion will reign for at least a bit, and it will make Essenheim an easy target for an invasion.”

With a glance at Zadie, Kiran shrugged. “It’s an appealing offer. My father will make her complete a binding, but what’s one more, right, Imani?” He grinned.

She didn’t deign to respond. He had maybe a hundred active bindings on his body, and she had several, as well. The only difference was she planned to follow through with this one, so it didn’t scare her at all to make this promise to King Magnus.

“How will we cover up Ayla’s death?” Zadie asked.

“Respen, of course. He’s been terrorizing the kingdom, stirring uprisings in the camps, and now he’s killed my chosen in order to continue to unravel our father’s plans.”