Churning like a diabolical sea all around us.
“Lies.” Lithava spits at me as she speaks. She actually spits now, though her movement is still weak; it can’t make it to me as it hits harmlessly upon the stone, though I see how acid bubbles in that expectoration as her darkest magic takes over. “Ever since we were both in our teens and Maryse abandoned me, Hedda saw my worth. She knew I would be a Bloodwalker like the ancients, and that Maryse was wrong. She knew I could bring our Lineage into the true unity of power weshouldhave. And sweep all non-believers aside. Like Maryse.”
“And me.” I lift my chin now as a hot defiance fills me, though I continue healing her. “You sent the Black Dragon after us in the High Council Hall of the Black Dragon Knights, way back when all this began. Your perfect kill, getting two enemies at once like that.”
“That attack was only for Maryse,” Lithava snorts now, though her derisive gaze is candid. “You were not supposed to get so harmed because Hedda and I needed you to break into the cairn atUnhaemmerten, when Maryse would not. Your injury in that hall was happenstance. Some energy interrupted my connection to the beast when I summoned it that day. You, it seems now.”
As Lithava’s eyes narrow on me, I feel her wonder again about me. She knows I can interrupt her connection to the beast and talk with it. I see doubt ensnare her then, as I feel her wonder if I’m telling the truth about Hedda using her.
Then her gaze clears, certainty taking her once more. Certainty and wrath, as she stares me down.
Then slowly moves, testing her strength.
She can’t sit up yet, nor move to strike me. I see Lithava think about it now, however, as I heal the serpent with my touch, knowing it will eventually come at me.
I have one more moment to make my case, though, and make it I shall. Because if a few moments of talk can change my sister’s mind, or even instill enough doubt in her to call this hunt off, it’s worth a million snake bites.
With a deep breath, I pull into my deepest steadiness now, though both my inner dragons churn to annihilate her. I can feel the vast strength of Bjorn, and the fierce love of Ström, through my bonds somewhere nearby.
The vicious purpose of Mikkel fills me, and the ancient mysticism of Baldur, knowing how all worlds turn, and that I can make fate turn differently by our magic.
I put everything into this moment now, willing myself to find Baldur’s fate-changing magic, if I can. I have no idea how to use it, only put my all into finding it now, as I open my deepest heart.
Sitting in my hate and love both, as my sister and I hash this out.
“You needed me to access the dragon cairn beneathUnhaemmerten, that sunken cathedral from Seerselen where King Örn Magnussen interred Hedda’s black soul-energy and most of her creationary things, plus her mates’ wights, to re-do her rituals. You needed me to access it and break the seal on the altar, because Maryse and Vjen wouldn’t.” I confront her now, as I finally understand how it all went down. “That’s why you saved me, my mates, even Maryse’s mates after her death in the Council hall, not to mention helping us as Ruta in the battle at Jurggadden, even though you called the Black Dragon there and broke my bone bracelet during the fight. Because youneededVjen to tell me where the cairn was, and you impersonated Maryse from the Void to get us there, even Hedda, to get me to open it. All so you could do her will… infected by her black soul-imprint as you already were, owning that ring and using it.”
“I needed the Black Dragon returned to its full power, after my matesand I combined our magic with Hedda’s and cursed the ancient containment field upon the Outer Island, to let it out from Örn Magnussen’s incarceration beneath the temple built to hold it.” Lithava confirms more of the story for me now, that she wasn’t working alone when she freed the Black Dragon, and that it was actually her who did it. “Hedda’s spirit led me to the altar atUnhaemmerten, but I could not break it. I led Maryse to it, but she wouldn’t. You are a simple idiot. Maryse never trained you to know when someone was lying to you in the Void with their power. She didn’t know it was possible—but Hedda did. And she knew how to use it.”
Reaching out, Lithava moves one hand now, to stroke the black ring upon her finger. But she’s still weak, and her hand flops away.
I have a sudden thought then, that perhaps I can remove it. Reaching down, I take Lithava’s hand with the black ring. Her eyes flashing wide, she tries to jerk her hand away—but even as I touch the ring, I get a nasty, searing burn from it, so bad I have to jerk my hand away instead.
Our sudden moves make Lithava’s partially healed wound rip open more. She grunts, gritting her teeth as a pained cry emerges, and I move my hands back to healing her.
Knowing I am not the one to wield Hedda’s creation—not yet.
“Nice try, youngling.” Lithava is condescending now as she coughs and grins with bloody teeth. “I think Hedda’s magic is a bit too advanced for such a simple trick.”
“Wear it and fry, Litha. It’s your funeral.” I shake my head. “I’m not lying to you about Hedda using you; she told me herself. She’s grooming me to take over with the Black Dragon. And you’re her pawn, to be discarded when she gets her queen in the game.”
“You’ll never do it. You’ll never align with Hedda, whom you see as a monster. Righteous to a fault,” Lithava snorts now, though I see that flicker of doubt pass through her eyes again. “You and Bjorn were always far too similar in that regard. Makes sense he’s your First Drake.”
“And you have a vendetta against all Blood Dragondom from whatMaryse did to you, rejecting you. Plus, you’re a fucking zealot, thanks to being infected by Hedda’s ancient ambitions. Bad combo.” I shake my head at her. “So how long were you impersonating Ruta?”
“Ever since the rebellion.” Lithava raises her chin defiantly, though she’s on the floor, so it doesn’t have much effect. “I had to go underground after I faked my death. Hedda showed me how to change my form and disguise my power to imitate another. So I disclosed my life to Ruta, saying I repented my actions in the rebellion and for her to come get me quietly and take me into custody. Then I killed her… It was warranted, for she had opposed my coup. I took her place on the Knights Council, where I should have been all along, although in Maryse’s seat.”
“Twenty years.” I whistle, amazed by the vast depth of Lithava’s duplicity. “And all these years, no one knew?”
“Lars and Arvid found out, but only because I was courting them as my mates.” Lithava’s smile is hard now as she regards me, her violet eyes glittering with malice. “Like Emil Beck, they had black rings passed down to them through their family lines, and they’d been hearing the whispers of Hedda’s drakes for centuries. I knew about them from Hedda feeling the whereabouts of her black rings, but they did not yet know about me. Only when I emerged wearing Hedda’s ring did my drakes know their real purpose. As did Bjorn’s father, when I made myself known to him. And he finally killed his wife, as he had wanted to do for years, making it look like battle took her.”
“Riksfold.” My eyes fly wide as I pause my healing, drawing my hands away from my sister’s wound.
And I know some real shit between us is about to go down.
4
GONE
