For a moment, there is only silence.
Then the bow splinters in an explosion of light, fragments shooting outward like shards of a broken star. A deafening crack resounds, and the force of the strike sends Faustrius flying back.
The bow’s light gutters, then dies.
Sira whips her attention from me, her scream like a living thing. “Nooooooo!”
Wrenley stands, her shoulders heaving, hair wild, the shattered remnants of the bow at her feet.
Her gaze finds mine, and there’s a whisper of something familiar—regret, sorrow. Sira may still be able to control her, butwithout the queen’s divine weapon, we can deal with any of her magic.
I stand and turn to my mates. “It’s our time now. Cas, get Wrenley out of here. Sira falls today. Don’t let her escape.”
My mates move. Ice crackles at Keldarion’s feet, and in a flash of light, Ezryn, Dayton, and Farron summon their prismatic weapons. Cas darts toward Wrenley, briars coiling around him.
Sira’s face twists in a mask of fury. “Howdareyou, you wretched, horrid thing? That was your one purpose!”
“You will not use me anymore,” Wrenley growls. “Find another weapon.”
“Fine.” Sira waves a dismissive hand. “I command you to throw yourself upon that blade and end your worthless life.”
Every muscle in my body freezes as Wrenley’s eyes turn black. I feel like I’ve been tossed underwater, Kairyn’s scream muffled, my mates in motion. But no, this wasn’t part of the plan. We were going to save everyone.
Wrenley twists Faustrius’s black sword, placing the tip against her stomach.
“Wait!” A cold, crisp voice rings out. Caspian rushes between his mother and Wrenley, eyes flashing wildly. “I have a bargain to make with you.”
78
Caspian
Ialways have a plan. I’m always two steps ahead.
And even now, with my sister holding a blade to her stomach and my mother’s black eyes burrowing into mine, I have a plan.
It’s just…everyone’s going to fucking hate it.
Stars, I hate it.
“You’ve nothing to offer me,” Sira snarls. “Watch your sister kill herself and know you could not save her.”
Rage boils within me. I’ll always protect Wrenley. I’ve vowed it since Sira let a toddler stumble around Cryptgarden. Birdy saved me in so many ways when I returned to the Below after my and Kel’s utter destruction. I’m not sure who I would’ve become had I not spent so much of that time looking after her, teaching her to survive.
Learning that against all possible reason, my heart wasn’t completely out of love.
“I’ll give you what you’ve always wanted!” I plead.
Sira turns to Wrenley just as the sword punctures her armor, blood blooming from the metal. “Still your hand. If anythinghappens to me or anyone touches you, sink the blade deep into your heart.”
Wrenley stops, body trembling. Kairyn is near mad beside us, three Winter guards restraining him. His brother speaks to him in a low voice.
Rosie’s despair hits me like a wave. They were clever, those O’Connells. Rosalina, mobilizing Kairyn to use his mate bond to break through the bargain’s concentration. And Birdy, breaking the bow with Faustrius’s sword. Unfortunately, that little trick won’t work again. Sira’s mind will be as locked into Wrenley’s as a vise.
And my Flower never considered that Sira would kill her so-called daughter.
Never underestimate the cruelty of my mother.
Nothing to be done about it now but get this whole thing over with, I suppose.
