Lora threw up her hands. “I had my reasons.”
“Exactly.” Eyden’s mouth tipped upward.
Elyssa hadn’t seen him this happy in years, maybe ever. Which was strange, considering they were on the brink of a revolution that could cost them their lives. But they were all in it now. She’d damn hell if they didn’t succeed.
“We need Farren,” Elyssa stated. “He can tell us whether he and Amira might have a chance at breaking Lora’s contract. Once it’s broken, we can take Karwyn out. We can help Lora win the ritual, which would render him powerless too—and very, very dead. There would be no need to use the binding spell.”
“The ritual still sounds risky, and taking Karwyn out could damn us all—no one gets away with killing a king. What if we force him to abdicate?” Amira suggested. “We can still use the artefact to bind his powers too unless we’ve run out of strength. He would be powerless.”
“I doubt he would willingly step down, powers or not,” Lora said.
“But if we can avoid the ritual,” Eyden added, “and take him out another way, we should try.”
“It’s his choice then,” Amira said. “If he lives or dies, it will depend on him.”
Elyssa bounced on her feet. “I say we take him out for good, but if you want to ask nicely first, I’ll give him ten seconds to decide.” The princess tilted her chin in agreement. Sometimes, saving people meant taking a life. The king wouldn’t be missed by anyone.
“How do you even know about this spell, and what artefact is this?” Lora asked.
“Tarnan has a huge library. You’d love it,” Elyssa said. “The artefact is one of the two which were used to create the border spell, so it must be freaking powerful.”
Lora seemed to be taking it all in, chewing on her lip. She probably liked the idea of digging up the artefact used for the border spell even less than Elyssa.
“King Tarnan, you mean?” Eyden asked.
“Yes, he’s on our side,” Elyssa boasted. “He wants Karwyn off the throne too. He was the one who told us about the virus and the attack on Quarnian.”
“What about Quarnian?” Lora asked. Her right hand clutched her necklace. Elyssa hadn’t noticed it until now.
“Karwyn set it all up,” Amira said. “Do you know how Rhay is doing?”
Lora let out a long breath. “I wish I could say I’m shocked, but I’m not.” She turned to Amira. “Rhay is…Rhay. He’s not physically hurt, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Elyssa still didn’t know who exactly Rhay was to Amira, but this wasn’t the time. “Back to Farren. Eyden, go get him so we can talk spells.”
“I’ll be back in a bit. He’s at Halie’s.” He made to move, but Elyssa stepped in front of him.
“No, I mean get himnow,” she ordered. There was no time to keep up fucking pretence. Amira already knew too much. And not enough judging from the questions swirling in her striking amethyst eyes.
Eyden’s attention shifted to Amira, clearly struggling to trust her. Trust anyone. “Eyden,” Elyssa said, drawing out the word. It was a plea and a command all at once.
Eyden’s gaze snapped to hers. His struggle to give in shined through the light blue of his irises. Elyssa put all her emotions into her gaze in return.I trust Amira, please trust me.
A challenging half-smile turned Eyden’s lip upward. “No going back now, then.”
And then he vanished in front of their eyes.
Chapter53
Amira
Amira’s eyes went back and forth between Lora and Elyssa, but they didn’t seem surprised by Eyden’s disappearance.
“Such a show-off,” Elyssa said like she hadn’t witnessed something close to impossible.
“I thought that power was long gone.” Drifting was such a rare power that Amira had never heard of anyone wielding it in recent times.
This whole evening had been completely surreal. The dealer Rhay had found for her was Elyssa’s brother, who also knew Karwyn’s cousin Loraine—or Lora, as everyone called her. All of it had been planned, and Amira would have felt completely left out if it wasn’t for Elyssa’s warm presence by her side, chasing away her doubts.
