Crow laughed, but my heart was beating too hard to do the same. So instead I smiled wider. It was fake, a rigor, but I hoped whatever illusion Crow was casting over me through his stone would cover my mistakes.
“This is not charity. This is my bid for who shall rule hell.” These words were easier to repeat. “I lured your brother away from the throne with lies about Ordinary’s strength. I lured your mother away as well, and your uncle. When you become the elder prince, themomentyou become the elder prince, you will behead your father with the axe. And assume the throne.”
“Why would you care if I took the throne? What do you get out of it?”
“I want the leprechaun and his magic.”
“Fuck off, Raven,” Patrick said.
Goap flicked a dismissive look at Patrick, not terribly surprised the leprechaun was no longer frozen. Then he glared at Bathin and the king with hunger in his eyes.
There was nothing he wouldn’t do to see his father and brother dead. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to be king.
Still, he was not foolish enough to take the bait.
“What is the leprechaun to you, Black Feather?”
“He owes me a debt as one trickster to the other. I intend to crush the payment out of his bones.”
That last bit made Patrick squint, as if he were trying to remember something.
There was more to what Crow was saying, more history I didn’t understand. Maybe Crow and Patrick had met, trickster to trickster. Maybe there was a debt to be paid. But I thought if that were true, Crow would have told me about the leprechaun and how dangerous he could be.
I was pretty sure Crow was lying about the debt between them.
“As I said,” Patrick repeated, buying into Crow’s ruse. “Fuck all the way off.” Then he smiled sweetly. “From one trickster to the other.”
“Make your decision,” I said for Crow. “Your hold, demon, is slipping.”
The ground trembled, shaking like a low, slow earthquake.
“Tick tick tick, Prince,” Crow said, I said. “Your little time trick is about to explode. What do you think will happen next? You’ve made your father very, very angry.”
Goap shrugged, as if he weren’t afraid of the king of hell. “Do it, Black Feather. Kill Bathin for me. Show your loyalty to the true king of the underworld.”
Bow, but not low,Crow told me.
I did, even though all I wanted to do was turn and see if Ryder was baring his neck to the blade in my sister’s hand.
Yes,Crow said.Go to Myra. Get the axe.
It meant turning my back on Goap, Patrick, the king, and Mithra.
I hated to do it. Every inch of me was hot, screaming, but I stiffened my spine and strode toward Myra like nothing about the dead demons spread across the ground bothered me. As if the grisly dismembered body parts bobbing in the stream were no big deal.
As if the double-crossing prince, and asshole leprechaun weren’t watching my every move.
As if the man I loved wasn’t about to be killed.
Ryder had stopped in front of Myra and bent so that the angle of her downward swing would slice clean through his neck.
I was going to be sick.
It was everything I could do to not touch him and shove him out of the way.
Goap could snap time back into motion any second. Could have planned to wait until I stood here so that I would see Ryder’s death close enough to feel the blood spray.
I reached for the axe handle and tugged. But Myra was fighting to hold on to it. I couldn’t pry it out of her hands.
