Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
47
Romeria
My shoulders sag with relief the moment the crypt walls appear. “I was worried you wouldn’t make it back.”
“You were worried about me, Your Highness?” Tonight, Lucretia wears a brown leather outfit to match Abarrane, her hair in three identical braids. “I am touched.”
“Tell me you learned something.”
“I learned many things.”
“About Sofie and Malachi and what is happening in Cirilea,” I press. I know Lucretia’s game well by now.
She slinks around Jarek, pausing to tip her head to admire his face. “Hello, Commander. I missed you.”
The muscles in Jarek’s jaw ticks. “Answer her question or you are no longer of use to us.”
She grins as if she was baiting him to get that hostile reaction. “The new queen of Islor misses her husband dearly.”
“She’s not Islor’s queen!” Zander snaps.
Lucretia frowns with genuine confusion. “But she wears the crown.”
I squeeze Zander’s arm. It’s not worth arguing semantics with the sylx. “Tell us what you saw.”
“The king fornicated with a mortal and then ended her life.”
I share a look with Zander. “In front of Sofie?”
“No. Well, the fornicating part, yes. But the not-queen of Islor left to her chamber and I stayed for the end.” She slides her fingertip over Jarek’s vest and he slaps it away. “It was quite something to watch.”
“That must have been difficult for her to see,” Zander admits.
If Malachi took over Zander’s body and made me watch that? “It would be soul-crushing.” No wonder Zander’s words about Elijah needled her.
“He does it nightly, according to the servants who whisper when they think no one is listening.” Lucretia waggles her eyebrows as she slinks around the vacant stone pillars. “Sometimes they are servants. Sometimes they are lords and ladies. Those, he does not kill.”
We don’t need explicit details on Malachi’s sordid sex life. “What else did you learn?”
“She cried herself to sleep last night longing for the male trapped within the male. I gave her dreams to help console her, much like the ones I give to you.” Lucretia smiles up at Jarek. “She enjoyed them as much—”
“What else? What is important for us to know?” I cut her off before Jarek pulls his daggers out and chases her off.
“Are they executing the mortals with the daaknar? Is it true?” Zander jumps in.
“Yes, and it was a slaughter. Both young and old. They died and everyone watched. They keep the beast in a cage. That is the only way to control it. There will be another event tomorrow night, and every night after until the mortals learn their place.”
Zander curses. “And what about Annika? Was that also true?”
“The source of that information was the wielder, who communicated it to the not-queen tonight while they were on their way to you.”
“There was a ship that left before everyone else. Seamus told me about it,” I confirm.
“So we will go to Northmost tomorrow. See if we can find her.” He scratches his chin. “I cannot imagine who the lord would be who held her hostage.”
“An easterner who escaped and used her to gain passage out?” Abarrane suggests.
“Yes. Maybe.” Zander paces around the stone circle. “What Sofie said about Malachi finding another host and returning … How are we to rid ourselves of him if this is the case? If he can simply return in another form and then what? Are we to live this nightmare over and over again for all of eternity?”
“Is it true?” I ask Lucretia.
“I cannot tell you what the Fate of Fire will choose to do.”
“But can he turn around and come back through the Nulling if he wants to?”
“Yes. The passage is open.”
“And we can’t close it.”
“You cannot do anything. Only my previous masters can choose to close the Nulling.”
“And how do we make them choose to do that?” Abarrane demands.
“You wish them to return to exile after they have done so much for your kind?” The smirk on Lucretia’s face is infuriating.
“Why not? I mean, where are they, anyway?” I throw my hands out. “I don’t see them anywhere!”
“There is as much that you do not see as that which you do.” She smiles. “Perhaps Her Highness should summon Aminadav or Vin’nyla for counsel.”
“No.” Why is she pushing for that?
“It is your choice to not heed my advice.” She shrugs. “The not-queen uses the wormhole.”
I falter at the sudden change in topic, and then process what she’s telling me.
Zander frowns. “What does she—”
“The nymphaeum door.” God, I wish I had never called it anything but that. “What do you mean, Sofie uses it? She can do that?”
“Of course she can. The not-queen of Islor is a powerful wielder like you. These passages were built for them and the rulers they served.”
“Can Sofie come here?” I point to the door that leads to Cirilea, momentary panic setting in.
Lucretia’s musical laugh carries. “These will not open for anyone but the Queen for All.”