“When babes are connected to our bodies, our bloods are mixed. Zendaya sliced her finger and drew the sigil over her stomach before she exiled you from her loins . . . before I could null the magic in both your veins.”
Not only do the fine hairs along my arms rise but my eyes also fill with rage, because I can picture the altercation that ended my mother’s life in too-vivid detail. “Is that why you murdered your own daughter? Because she tied our lives together?”
“People have killed for less.” The fingers of the hand not soldered to her lap curl around her armrest. “Why so surprised?”
How much rot lies beneath this woman’s skin? Instead of turning her into gold, the Cauldron should’ve turned her into refuse. It should’ve decayed her skin and gangrened her organs.
I almost wish the poison which had coursed through my body had stopped my heart so it could’ve stopped hers in turn. I suck in a breath as the realization that I possess the power to bring down the wards unfurls through my soul. The Crows would be saved. The Shabbins would be free. What’s one life when so many are at stake?
I swallow as Lore’s face brightens the backs of my lids, then swallow again as I remember him telling me that he’d rather live a thousand years without a throne than a day without me. The memory defuses my desire to end the Shabbins’ and Crows’ plight. If I cannot find another way, then perhaps I’ll entertain the idea anew, but I’m too selfish to terminate my life.
Dante blows air out the corner of his mouth. “Bloody cut her magic loose, strega, and pronounce us man and wife.”
My nostrils flare. “I’m not getting—”
“Chop off the sailor’s tongue, and do it with an iron blade!” Dante yells.
“NO!” Perspiration beads along my upper lip. I lick it away. “Don’t touch him. I’ll cooperate.”
He shoves me toward Meriam. “Unbind her.”
“First, the betrothal spell, Maezza, for the unbinding will rid me of much blood and energy.”
“Don’t you have to unbind me while the moon is full?” I say this so quickly that the words blur into each other. “Best to start with that one.”
Meriam observes me with those odd-hued eyes of hers before shifting them to Justus. Even though she does not speak to him out loud, I sense they’re communicating silently. Can they? Santo Caldrone, what if I end up with Dante’s voice in my mind? What if it replaces Lore’s?
“I strongly suggest we begin with the blood-binding, Maezza. It’ll take but a minute.”
“Will it even work if her magic hasn’t been triggered?” Dante regards Meriam from under sloped eyebrows.
“Her blood is still Shabbin, Your Majesty.”
“Fine. Let’s get it out of the way.”
She nods. “You’ll have to step nearer as well, for I will need to draw the spell on both your hands.”
Dante’s stance stiffens. For all his desire to make me his, he seems mighty chary of getting too close to the sorceress.
As he stares at Meriam’s thin fingers that will soon redden with magic, I rack my brain for a way out of this undesirable marriage. The only one I can think of is to faint. Not ideal, but I remember Phoebus going down like a sack of potatoes the first time Sybille had her monthlies and it had stained the back of her dress. He thought she was on the verge of expiring from some iron-inflicted wound to her nether regions. His eyes had rolled skyward and his body had gone as limp as an overcooked noodle.
Though I’m not looking forward to a concussion, I go through with it, adding a breathy, “I’m feeling unwell.”
After I hit the ground, I play dead.
“Get up, Fal.”
Nope. Never. When the noxious scent of rotted teeth fans across my face, I play extra dead.
“Can Meriam perform the rites if Fallon is unconscious?”
Anger jolts through me, jamming my molars and driving an angry flush across my collarbone.
“Yes,” Meriam says.
Well, screw a shrew. Not only will I be married off to a psychopath with a crown fetish and halitosis, but my new lump on my banged-up head was for naught.
Hands creep beneath my shoulders but are replaced by another set—ones with shorter, callused fingers. “I’ll hold her up, Maezza. You will need your hands unencumbered.” Of course Justus Rossi is the one to come to my rescue. After all, he’s so very excited to marry me off to his king.
