“You’re right. I am. I will stop atnothingto protect the people I love and the kingdom I call home.”
“Might as well get my execution over with, then, since I’ll stop at nothing to give humans equal rights.”
“They fuckinghaveequal rights, Ksen!”
“They still can’t buy land in Fae districts!”
“I signed the land grant act last week.”
“Well, it isn’t as though they have the money to buy anything.”
“Not yet, but in time, they will.”
“They should be given the land for free.”
“Gods, nothing will ever be enough in your eyes, will it? Why do I even bother trying to reason with someone whose outlook on the world is so bloody hermetic?”
Ksenia’s lids pinch. “You should kill me before Izolda wakes. This way, you can tell her I perished in the crossfire and…”
Words keep leaking from her mouth but all I hear is a new heartbeat—one that is neither hers, nor mine.
“Sorry we’re late,” Vance says, stepping right through the door. “Didn’t expect your sleeping fumes to knock me out quite as fast as they did.” He surveys the scene. “Just glad to have regained consciousness before the others.”
I stare at the male, at his glowing palms. And then I stare at another set of glowing palms.
With a jut of his chin, Vance says, “Mind pointing that thing elsewhere, Vizosh? I would very much likenotto dig more shell casings out of my body.”
“Isla…I got the bullet out, but…” I let the rifle settle against my hip, my gaze dragging over Mestyla. Even with amber hair and ebony eyes, I’m struck by how much of my sister dwells in her. “Can you do something to hasten her recovery? Suture her skin or?—”
“The obsidian needs to leak out. Elio used water on Lach and Aodhan, which sped up the process.”
The news he brings eases the tautness in my neck, punching in the reminder that her stasis is temporary.
“Perhaps your sister could help?” he ventures.
I gape at him, appalled by the mere thought. “Neither Ksenia’s hands nor her magic are going anywhere near Isla!”
“I meant Izolda.”
I peer at where she lays, half-concealed by the bed. “She’s still unconscious, and her palms need healing.”
“I’ll get to work on that. Come, Mestyla.” After inspecting the damage, he asks, “Iron?”
“No,” I reply.
After slicing through Izolda’s restraints, he blackens her palms with his blood. “Elio’s on his way with Lach and Aodhan. He can tend to Isla once he arrives. They should be here any minute.”
A swallow creaks down my throat. “Once you’re done, can you remove your glamour from Ksenia’s skin?”
“Of course.”
As he works on Izolda, I focus on the girl he ferried back from the underworld. “Did you want me dead, Mestyla?”
“Like she’d tell you the truth…” Ksenia mutters.
I don’t pay my sister any mind, but Mestyla does. She narrows her eyes on Ksenia.
I step in between them to sever the connection and coax my niece’s fathomless stare back to me. “Concentrate on me.”
