I’d watched that evil spider twist two powerful kings around her little finger with whispered lies. Why not me?And using my own sister as bait…that fit her malicious nature to a tee.
I rubbed the raised scar on my arm, the one that stretched all the way to the circular patch over my heart. My constant reminder that freedom was a precious, ephemeral thing. “Nice story. Of course, if Ariel was alive, I’d ask her myself, but she’s not.”
Varian blinked, even Ryland stopping in his tracks.
“Your sister…isn’t dead.”
“You are a fucking liar. She was hung in the Tempeste gallows. I received a lock of her hair and this ring she always wore, so spare me your lies. They won’t save your ass, not this time.”
That very ring glowed on my finger, a band of silver set with a moonstone, the heart glowing a cold blue, the exact color as our eyes.
Varian shook his head, then muttered.
“Ariel’s not dead, Lyrae. She was never executed, at least, not in Tempeste.”
9
LYRAE
“Lyrae. Stop. Stop, goddamn it.”
Ryland’s hand clamped down over my shoulder with enough force I winced, my boots slipping on the icy ground as he stopped me a few feet away from two enormous stone pillars, the ward churning just behind them.
He ripped his face covering free, lips pale from the cold.
“Give me a minute before you go charging straight into that.” Ryland let me go, rubbing his hand on his thigh like he was cleaning off dirt. “Just…give me a fucking minute to think.”
“You saw this an hour ago.” I waved a hand at the wall. “Now you want to think about what to do next?”
I’d never admit my own fears, but this ward was terrifying. Those shadows took on a life of their own, blacker than the darkest storm clouds and filled with enough energy every inch of me prickled from the ozone-charged air.
The second we stepped inside, that magic would strip the flesh from our bones, if it didn’t smother us first.
Ryland swung his calculating gaze from one stone pillar to the other, then to the empty spot between them, his face flat. Unreadable.
I’d seen that shuttered expression a hundred times, and my heart plummeted.
“You said you could get me through,” I accused, tucking my hands in my pockets so I didn’t stab him in the chest. “You swore to the queen herself you were the male for the job, and now you’re standing there, trying to figure out how you’ll spin this situation to your benefit.”
“Shut up, Lyrae,” he pinched the bridge of his nose. “For one fucking minute, just…shut up.”
“You’ll never collect your gold if you can’t do this.” I hissed behind my face covering, and couldn’t even enjoy the bitter taste of his failure. “Poor Ryland Storme, slinking back to Tempeste as a total and complete…”
“I said shut the fuck up, Lyrae, or I’ll have Varian gag you.”
Varian winced. “I really don’t want to…”
“The fact is, you lied.” I cut him a hard, knowing look. “You were just looking for a big payout, just like always.”
One second Ryland was ten feet away, the next, he was in my face. “I don’t give a good godsdamn about gold or glory or whatever bastardized version you’ve twisted me into over the years. I’m not risking either of your lives needlessly. The wall’s denser than it’s ever been, and this smell…I’ve never smelled magic like this. It’s old. Foul. Corrupted. I don’t know what’s happened these past months, but something has changed.”
Old.
Corrupted.
Say…Like three ancient Fae artifacts fused together into a doomsday weapon…corrupted?
I peered over his shoulder, trying to pierce that void of darkness with my own eyes and see what horrors lay behind the veil.
