“Emma!” Her voice is so much clearer now, and I can’t tell if this is just another one of Eraldon’s cruelties. But I let myself believe, because I wantso badlyfor my mother to be alive. And it’s her voice.Hervoicethat I haven’t heard in so long, that I thought I’d never hear again.
“Stay, Emma.” Eraldon reaches for me.
“Emma, wake up!”
Tears spring to my eyes as I follow the sound. Eraldon grips my wrist, pulling me back.
“Let go.” I struggle against his hold, and for the first time since he stole me, I feel like myself again. Like someone who will fight and claw for her freedom.
“Emma, it’s me. Please, please wake!”
“If she’s blooded by the crescent moon, I need to try some wolf ichor and a pinch of sea …” Someone speaks in the background.
Ahead, the black wall shimmers, and I see light.
“Her eyelids moved! Did you see that?”
“Mama!” I try to pull free of Eraldon, but he won’t let me go.
“Emma, please, just open your eyes.” She’s right within my reach.
“Don’t be foolish.” Eraldon wraps his arm around my waist and presses his lips to my ear. “Do you think she’ll accept you like this? Look at you. A ruin in her eyes. A queen in mine. Solano will destroy you, Emma, when he sees how deeply my venom goes. You’re fooling yourself if you think otherwise.”
“I’ve almost got it!” A woman’s voice. “I need to melt more gold to bind it. It’s close.”
“They’ll cast you out. Kill you if they can. You’re only safe with me. Your kind.” Eraldon’s words are almost as venemous as his bite, but I can’t listen to him. Not anymore.
“Don’t make me tell you again, Emmaline Phoebe Druzy!” Mother’s tone turns to the no-nonsense one she uses when I have a stack of darning that’s two weeks late.
“She doesn’t want you. Solano doesn’t either. Not like I do.” He grips me tightly as I get more glimpses of light, of red hair with silver streaks. Of eyes that shine in tones of green and flecks of gold.
“The alchemy worked. Let me try it on her.” That familiar female voice filters around us with a violet glow.
“Sleep, my pet. Sleep until I come for you,” he whispers in my ear. “It’s the only way to keep you safe, to keep you with me.”
“My mother taught me so much.” I’m held fast, caught in Eraldon’s embrace as the light glitters just ahead of me. “She showed me how beautiful the night is.”
“Then rule it with me.” Seduction lives in his whisper, false promises and empty lies.
“She also taught me how to defend myself against males who get handsy.” I bring my knee up and use all my might to stomp my foot down on top of Eraldon’s.
He yells and releases me, likely more out of surprise than pain. “Emma!” he bellows as I take my chance and spring away from him.
I run, throwing myself into the light and hoping with all my heart that my mother will be there to catch me.
32
Solano
The way into the small, nondescript warehouse at the edge of Sonnen’s merchant district is direct but fortified. What should be a simple wooden door is strengthened with bars of elder wood streaked with silver.
Unusual. But not enough for anyone to notice. Not really.
I knock three times as Lunarie instructed.
A small window high on the door opens. “Shop’s closed.”
“I’m here for the blumerin leaves.” I keep my hood over my head, my face in shadow. “The ones that come from the edge of Rosewood Lake.”
