“There aren’t, and you know it. I had exactly two choices, and as you well know, one is now dead, so you’re stuck with Storme. Do try not to kill Storme, Lyrae, because he only had one condition for taking this job, and it was for the queen to ensure his safety.”
I snorted. “There are about a thousand ways we can die during this mission.” And trust me, I’m planning to make the most of them.
“Fromyou, Lyrae.”
A smile played on Torin’s lips, like she was truly enjoying this.
“Let me make this clear. Storme only had one condition for taking this job, which was for Anaria to guarantee his and Varian Kronos’s safety fromyou. Our queen has given her word. Don’t you dare break it.”
7
LYRAE
Thanks to my life going down the shitter, me and the ramparts were becoming fast friends.
I blew into my frozen hands, a plume of mist wrapping around my head as I stared out over a frozen Tempeste, lights winking out as the city went to sleep. This city truly was beautiful, a far cry from where I grew up, a cesspool of tenement houses and rotting garbage and rats.
So many rats.
Kept Ariel and me from starving to death, though.
I could not fucking believe Torin cheated me out of killing Ryland and Varian.
I was Commander of the Dreadwatch, the most ruthless, brutal bunch of miscreants in our realm and now my hands were tied by a stupid promise I didn’t even make to a bastard who didn’t deserve mercy.
Not only could I not assassinate this Dark Prince character—and with a name like that, hetotallydeserved to die—now I couldn’t even put my meticulously planned murder/revenge plot into action.
Oh no, I had tokeep my hands off themand try not to accidentallystab one of them to death.
What was shaping up to be a promising vengeance mission was turning into a totally no fun slog down memorylane, a place I certainly did not want to visit again.Once was enough. I’d worked hard to put the past behind me, and I was pissed ancient history had swaggered back into my life with perfect hair and a gleaming smile.
With fucking Varian Kronos in tow.
Just the thought of him sent jagged spikes into my heart, my breath catching in my throat.
Maybe I’d let Ryland Storme keep his head, but Varian Kronos wasmine.
Varian signed his death warrant the day he’d sold out my sister and put a noose around her neck.
I’d dreamed long and hard about how I’d kill that two-faced bastard, and I wasn’t about to allow this chance—or him—to slip through my hands. I’d behave. Let them guide me across the border and through those supposedly unbreachable wards, then, once we found the three artifacts and made our way back onto Valarian soil…
I’d let Varian think he was safe. Let him bask in his glory and his gold, and when he and Ryland left Tempeste for whatever hellhole they’d issued from, Varian was a dead Fae.
I’d waited a hundred years for revenge, I could wait another week.
“Lyrae. There you are. I looked everywhere for you.” Zephryn’s dark eyes narrowed on my wind-chapped face, my snow-encrusted hair. “We’re making the final arrangements, but I wanted a private word with you before tomorrow.”
“There’s nothing to arrange. You drop us off, then we find out if these two are full of shit. I’ll give you fifty-fifty odds we actually make it through that ward in one piece.” I drew a frosted breath of razor-sharp air. “Don’t worry, I got Torin’s message loud and clear.No stabbing.”
Zeph cocked an eyebrow. “Ah. She told you? About the artifacts?”
For a second, I paused, debating whether to play along with the charade, like I had with Torin.
But Zeph was different.
He’d spent centuries as the Oracle’s prisoner, had his humanity stripped away, been forced to claw his way out of a literal black hole, just like I had. I’d always felt a certain kinship toward the big dragon shifter, who, also like me, didn’t tolerate bullshit.
“Those artifacts are nothing but a myth, and I don’t put my faith in Fae fairytales.” He didn’t respond, but that fire in his eyes simmered, like flowing embers in a fireplace. “On the other hand, I do believe in justice. And eye for an eye, or in this case, a head for a head. The prince declared war. I’m declaring it right back.”
