I needed to focus on being High Queen of Annwyn, ruling without my king. I did not have time for this trial and failure.
I gripped the tree roots, ready to shove myself up—
And fell right back on my ass in shock.
Not ten feet in front of me, silent and serene as always, was the fucking Lady of the Lake.
“What are you doing here?” My mind scrambled, trying to fit this new reality into my understanding of the world, even as my body did not shift an inch. Not a tremor, not a twitch. I held myself with obstinate stillness.
Maybe Morgyn and I had more in common than I realized.
I hated that thought.
I cut her off before she could open that perfect mouth and speak. “You lied about having the void power. It was you all along. You lying bitch.” It was the only explanation for her being there.
She didn’t interrupt me. Her pale blue eyes didn’t even flare at the insults I leveled. It made me want to throw out a dozen more. But I held my stillness, staring her down, trying to place what this meant.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I was going to kill her. I did not move, but I inventoried my weapons. Checked my power. I could step through the void and be behind her in less than a second, dagger pressed to her throat.
“Are you done?” she finally asked, voice barely above a whisper. She did not want to wake my companions; did not realize they were far enough away they would not hear the sound of her head hitting the ground when I removed it from her body.
There was no one to talk me out of killing her for her deceit.
I was already calculating how long it would take me to get to Arran, how many long jumps through the void.
When I did not hurl any more epithets in her direction, Morgyn continued in that breathy voice. “You are the one and only wielder of the void power,” she said. “I am neither a queen nor blessed with a mate to tether me. The voids of darkness remain solely at your command, Majesty.”
“Then how are you here?” Even as I asked, I noticed the inconsistencies through my haze of icy rage.
Neither her gown nor her hair moved in the breeze. She’d always seemed to hover above the ground, the mist providing as sure a footing as anything else. But as I blinked, I realized there truly was an inch between the hem of her lavender robes and the stony ground.
“You ask the wrong question.”
I rolled my eyes, hoping that the irreverence would annoy her even if I never saw any outward sign of it. My heart was slowing down, reality sinking back into me. The need to fight and kill still simmered just beneath the surface of my skin.
But if Morgyn sensed it, she did not react.
She merely inclined her head—the movement slower than it should have been, stuttering. “Avalon has kept its secrets for tens of thousands of years. I will not share them now.”
I unfolded to my feet, carefully silent but seething. I swiped a rock from the ground, deciding to test the theory that had taken root in my mind. As I straightened, I chucked the rock right at her head.
Where it sailed through Morgyn’s crown of brown hair without even touching her. She did not truly stand there at all—this form a mere shade of her corporeal self.
“Fun trick,” I spat. My fingers twitched for my blades, but I forced them to still, crossing my arms over my chest instead. “Itried to use the communication crystal because I wanted to know about Arran. If you have no news of him, then I do not wish to speak with you.”
Morgyn blinked. A long-suffering tell. I was annoying her. Good.
“You ask the wrong question,” she said again.
“I did not ask any questions at all,” I countered. “Tell me news of my mate, or go away.”
Morgyn opened her mouth to respond, but I cut her off. I did not give a fuck if she was the Lady of the Lake. I owed her no allegiance. She’d kept Arran alive, but only in the most nominal way. If she was any use at all, he’d be at my side now.
I was so tired of being alone.
“I don’t want to do this bullshit again. I played your game on the lakeside, and it ended with Gorlois attacking and my mate nearly dead.” So tired of everything.
I turned my back on her, starting in the direction of the camp. I suddenly wished I had not walked so far, alone through the darkness. Every step now seemed impossible, the distance interminable.
