“We don’tknowif it’s Adara,” Sparrow corrected.
“I’m not ruling her out,” I replied abruptly, the bite in my words meant for my twin, though Sparrow cringed, immediately making me feel like the shittiest friend ever. I needed to get out of this house, needed to expel this pent-up frustration. Every time I turned around, something was altered–wrong.Just this morning, Sparrow mentioned Adara closed the borders of Irridessen to diplomats from the Larimar Islands to “focus on strengthening our own lands,” and I had almost thrown my coffee mug against the wall.
I frowned at my nails as they grew back into daggers, now fashioned out of black diamond. Infinitely stronger–and much sharper. Cupping my tattooed hand, I willed a ball of golden light into my palm, the power pumping and whining to be unleashed. I squeezed my hand into a fist, and it disappeared.
Soon.
Soon these nails would be wrapped around Adara’s pale throat.
And it would take all my concentration to not rip it out.
Without meeting anyone’s eyes, I acquiesced, “I will not kill Adara until we know for certain there are no catastrophic spells in play to be triggered upon her death. The dungeons underneath the Obsidian Palace are where I’ll put her. For now. Until we learn more.”
Sparrow inclined her head towards me, as if my words were more apology than information. Which–they were. She knew me better than anyone. For Lenna’s benefit, Sparrow added, “The first ruler of the Obsidian Kingdom was the Witch Queen, Queen Minerva. This was, of course,longbefore the fall of the Witch Covens. But while in power, Queen Minerva ordered her Coven to etch runes into the caverns below the Obsidian Palace. Though the witches have been banished from these lands, the runes remain. They nullify all fae magic, making them an excellent way to imprison beings with powerfulacatis.”
“If we imprison Adara there, it will give us time to figure outwhatshe’s been up to this past year. If she has anything to do with the missing beings, we can decide what to do with her…long term.” I picked at my nails as inklings of a solid plan formed in my mind.
Merrick gruntedhisopinion of what I should do, miming a knife sliding across his throat and silently pretending to gag and slump over, dead. Sparrow shot him a look that would have faltered the gods themselves, though the gargoyle only smirked and shot her a wink.
If Adara had been capturing beings for some nefarious purpose, I did need her alive to question her. I felt restless without the backing of a court, of a Kingdom–adrift. There was nothing I could do to protect Irridessen except survive until I could rip Adara from the throne that I never wanted.
Until now.
Pivoting to the Oracle, I pulled out two daggers I unearthed from my bedroom in Sparrow’s house, items that Keerian had left behind when we returned to the Opal Palace. Swallowing against the lump in my throat, I tapped each blade against my horn–thetinkthey made confirmed they were deadly and perfectly sharpened. Lenna looked at me in shock as I presented them to her. “You’re going to want these.” I pushed the hilts into her palms, avoiding looking at the daggers themselves, one of the only material things I still had of my mate’s.Keerian would’ve made the same decision if the roles were reversed,I reminded myself.He would never send someone into battle unarmed.
“I’ve never used a dagger before. I’ve used a bow and arrow hunting but that’s…about it.” Her face blanched as she eyed the blades.
“Hopefully, you won’t need to use them at all. Between the lot of us, you only need to draw these if we’re all dead but… I don’t want you to go in unarmed. If it comes down to it, aim for the throat.”
Lenna let out a hoarse whimper as I demonstrated a few slashing and parrying moves that she could practice. I prayed she would never need to use them. I prayed our plan would go off without a hitch.
I prayed Keerian knew I was coming for him.
I was doing way more praying these days than I had in my entire life. And it made me feel completely helpless. If these damn gods were any good at their jobs, I wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.
Chapter fifty
Lenna
Theportalwasreadyas the sun set in Florra. Laurent had barely left its side these past few days, stating the finesse it took to transport five beings while also keeping most of his magic intact was the reason for being so protective of it. Apparently, making a portal where the exit wouldn’t appear until precisely when they went through it was something even Laurent and his expertise had admitted he wasn’t masterful at.
Lenna and Sparrow snuck peeks at the portal once or twice, but were shooed away each time by Laurent. He wouldn’t let anyone except Merrick into the living room until it was done.
Esmeray had been in and out of the house, citing she had a few avenues to explore to make sure she was prepared to take on Adara. Sparrow hadn’t asked, and when Lenna had, Sparrow told her that was just “Meer being Meer,” and to leave it at that. Sometimes the Queen came back dejected, slamming the door shut to her bedroom. Sometimes she came back covered in blood. If that was the case, Sparrow would give her a pointed look–but ultimately sigh and wave a hand, the sound of the tub in Esmeray's room filling with water a compromise in itself.
Finally, Lenna had gone to Esmeray directly, feeling slightly guilty for going behind Sparrow. When she asked Esmeray where she was going,Esmeray sighed softly and admitted she was trying to find any information on the missing beings to see if anyone could pinpoint who had been taken, or if there were any leads. Esmeray said she was using illusions to infiltrate cities and ask questions, listen, and to try to gather any tidbits or details that could be useful. From the drawn look on Esmeray’s face, Lenna came to the conclusion there was no new direction–the search was coming up empty. And the Queen was taking it hard and personally.
Lenna had come to care for cocky, sarcastic Esmeray. Lenna became used to the smirk and the sass and was in awe of the ease and confidence the Queen exuded. Lenna even considered Esmeray a dear friend, and they had spent the last day while Laurent finished the portal telling stories of their pasts to each other whenever they had a moment to sit down. The glittering green eyes and the swishing curtain of black hair leaving a room was as familiar to Lenna now as her own red curls. Black wings launching off the patio was a normal sight, and Lenna found herself watching Esmeray as she flew off, hoping and praying her friend would make it back safely.
The silent, soulless, bloodthirsty Esmeray that stormed out of the bedroom this morning was not the being Lenna was familiar with–the haunted look in Esmeray’s eyes put Lenna on edge. That look scared her more than stepping foot in the Opal Palace, or projecting the Prism’s memory to an entire court. Lenna hoped the Esmeray that came back from the Opal Palace still had her soul intact.
But she pushed it down. The portal was ready. Laurent had given them an hour warning telling them to get dressed and to make it quick.
Now, Lenna stood in the hall by the kitchen, swallowing trepidation as she chanced a look at herself in the mirror Sparrow hung to make the hallway seem wider than it was. In Lenna’s small bathroom mirror, shehad only taken a quick glance at herself before losing her nerve and scooting out of the room.
But here, now, the reflection staring back was a different sort of stranger than the reflection that haunted her in Doortan.
She was dressed in soft black armor, the heavy leather material specifically designed for her curves. Flexible panels of golden metal protected her shins and her stomach, and harnesses strapped around her thick thighs, cradling the daggers Esmeray had given her. Lenna twisted and turned in the mirror. A hum began to roil through her blood, as if even her very bones said,look, look at you–thisis you.The knowledge that she wasneededandintegralto this plan made her heart swell. She felt more important this past week than she had in thirty years.
