“How long?”
Leisurely, the Crow paced in front of the meagre wood pile. “I appeared before Livia a long time ago. I told her I knew of a potion that would enable her to return to the ocean—her heart’s greatest desire. She agreed, no matter the cost. So we made a bargain. I would tell her exactly how to brew the potion and, in exchange, she would kill Basia for me.” She jerked her head towards the ramshackle cottage. “For years I waited, until, finally, you reached your age of ascension—you were ready to come to the mortal lands.”
“After you and I made our bargain, and I sent you off into that storm, I visited Livia once more. I warned her you were coming and instructed her to set the plan into motion.”
Tarben looked at me in disbelief. “You were never on the ship?”
Biting my lip, I shook my head. Another lie had caught up to me.
“Did she not tell you her true motives for being here?” theCrow taunted.
“That’s not important right now. Please, don’t stop enthralling us with your evil plan,” I said, crossing my arms.
“Livia and her lover got rid of Basia, and you agreed to another bargain without me having to lift a finger. Then you so kindly retrieved the grimoire without getting yourself killed by those beasties. Once again, the plan fell into place more perfectly than I could have imagined,” she said with glee. “It’s as if fate wants you to be mine.”
I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. This whole time, I had been nothing but a pawn in the Crow’s game, and I was too blinded by my desperation to break the curse to see it. “Maybe not,” I drawled. “Your good friend Livia tried to kill me and nearly succeeded. How did that fit into your plan?”
She stopped pacing, planting her boots on the knitted blanket and leaving no footprints. “Livia was a very naughty girl. I told her to wait for me before touching you. Regrettably, her desperation to return to the ocean clouded her judgment. It’s a shame she didn’t listen to me—I would have been a lot kinder when I disposed of her than your mortal was,” she said, making a throat-slitting motion with her finger.
“You touch Alara, and I’ll do the same to you, witch,” threatened Tarben from where he stood beside me.
“And what is it you want from me?” I asked, sounding as bored as possible. I was reeling from the Crow’s revelations, but I’d be damned before I let her see she had gotten to me. I’d already revealed too much as it was: now the Crow knew I cared about the mortals.
“I told you, child, I want you to remove the wards,” she said.
I snorted. “Okay. I’ll just snap my fingers and be rid of them. While I’m at it, I’ll turn the moon green. Is there anything else you’d like to request?”
Her next words came as a surprise. “Did granny ever tellyou the real reason I cursed the Mer?”
I crossed my arms and raised my eyes to the heavens, refusing to give her the satisfaction of knowing I was taken aback by the abrupt change in topic. “We’ve already been over this—my mother made a bargain with you, which she didn’t fulfill.”
She tilted her head to the side. “She never told you what I wanted from your mother, did she?”
Although my gut clenched at the mention of my mother, I released a dramatic sigh. “She didn’t know.”
The Crow’s cackle was bone chilling. “It seems I’m not the only one who’s been keeping things from you. Callianassa knew.”
My grandmother had lied to me? The betrayal stung, but I brushed it off, revealing nothing. “By all means, enlighten me,” I said, gesturing for her to continue.
She leaned in closer, her voice a taunting whisper. “You.” My throat bobbed. “I wanted your mother to agree to send you to me once you came of age. She refused and fled, so I killed your father.”
No.Like a battering ram to the gut, the words slammed through me, knocking me backward and wrenching the air from my lungs.“I killed your father.”
This vile, wretched creature hadmurderedmy father.
I was an orphan because of her.
Searing rage tore through me like a wildfire. I couldn’t speak through the hateful smoke choking my lungs and smothering my words. But from that inferno a vow was born, forged in flames. She would pay.
“By the time you were born, the Cold Queen had placed powerful wards around Vantillios to keep me out. So, I cursed you all.” She circled us, more like a shadow than ever before in the pale light from the slowly shrinking fire. My entire body shook in fury.
“But I still needed you. I bided my time, and I waited.Waited for you to ascend into your full powers. It was all too easy to make a bargain with you—you were so desperate to paint yourself as the savior of your people.” Another piercing laugh. “To get away from that forsaken kingdom and that miserable grandmother—I don’t blame you.”
“Do not speak about my grandmother like that,” I snarled, all pretense of being unbothered now gone.
She stopped circling me to ask, “Don’t you want to know why I sought you?”
I didn’t respond. With my fists clenched at my sides, I branded her with a glare that promised incineration. She deserved the Flames of Erasure for what she had done.
