A beat of silence passes, then he slams his mouth to hers, kissing her so hard she knows he’s marking her in his own way. And, Goddess, it feels so right to have his lips on hers. He breaks the kiss too soon, Astrid chasing the taste of him.
“Good,” he says against her ear. “That’s all I needed to hear.”
She smiles, grasping his arms. “We need to get you out of these shackles.”
ASTRID! She spins to her familiar. SHE IS COMING, he roars.
Just as Queen Ottilie and her Primes storm the room, flanked by Dreki.
Skylar’s pale power spears out for them, lashing and thrashing like a caged beast unleashed, whipping weapons from sheaths and turning them on their owners. Her face is alive with malice and delight, as if she couldn’t imagine anything better than the arrival of these people. Astrid knows all she has on her mind is revenge. She yells “Forsvare,” throwing up the strongest shield she can around herself, Bastet, and Zryan, to protect them from Skylar as much as the guards. For a moment the Dreki panic, then Ottilie slashes her hand out.
“Enough.” All the power is sucked from the room. Astrid’s spell evaporates, the blades clatter to the floor, and the tendrils writhing around Skylar snuff out. Zryan tries to push in front of Astrid, but his chains rattle in protest. His mother’s eyes flash at him, but it’s not Astrid she’s interested in. The queen looks at Skylar.
“Finally. You’re here.”
55Skylar
Finally.Ottilie’s voice echoes around Skylar’s mind as she realizes just what the queen means. Realizes that this is not a rescue mission after all—but a trap. Cold spreads through her and she reaches out automatically to take whatever energy she can in preparation to kill the whole damn lot of them—only there’s nothing.
I can’t cast, Astrid whispers into Skylar’s mind.
Can the Heart do this to us? Block our powers?
I don’t think so. I think it’s her.
She’s a Discerner—she can’t.
I don’t think she is. I think she’s a Nullifier.
A Nullifier. It makes sense. Because that’s what’s happening, isn’t it? Which means… Which means all this time, the queen has been lying. To her country, to her people. Even, if Zryan’s reaction is anything to go by, to her son.
And she’s not just an ordinary Nullifier. To be blocking all their powers like this, she’s got to be a Prime.
Zryan straightens, his chains rattling. “Why are you doing this?” His voice is hoarse and his gaze darts from Astrid to his mother and back again. Well, good. Between the two of them, they might be able to protect Astrid from whatever the fuck is about to happen.
“It’s all for you, don’t you see?” The queen’s voice is soft and so obviously sincere. And that, Skylar thinks, is what is really scary here. “So that you’ll still have something to rule.”
Zryan observes his mother for a second, then lunges toward her, his face an echo of Mjolnir’s thunder. But he’s barely got to the end of his chains when he is jerked to a stop, his expression twisted.
Skylar looks around frantically—and then she sees. There is the queen’s pet Blood Wielder, holding out his hand toward Zryan. So, it’s only their powers that are muted, then. And Skylar realizes now why the queen kept the menagerie around. Not for protection—she clearly doesn’t need that. But to collect them—collecting powerfully Blooded the way some people collect shells.
“Don’t hurt him!” Astrid cries, stepping toward Zryan.
“Hurt him?” The queen actually sounds offended. “He’s my son. I would never hurt him.”
Not him—but them, for sure. Skylar feels weirdly calm about it, but still, she shifts so she is in front of Astrid, sees Bastet do the same. If Mjolnir was with them… But if the queen is here, that means Ziva is nearby, too. And Skylar doesn’t want to know what a Solar Celestial can do when enraged.
“I thought you’d come for him,” Ottilie says, with a flicker of a smile. “It’s nice when hunches are proven right, isn’t it?”
“Come for him?” Skylar repeats dumbly.
“Yes,” the queen says mildly. “In case the duel didn’t go the right way.”
Skylar clenches her teeth at that—and is relieved to find a spike of anger fighting the calm. Therightway. What, with Skylar killing Astrid, then the Dreki killing her? Or vice versa, if the army backup at the duel was anything to go by.
Astrid moves from Zryan’s side to Skylar’s, putting a restraining hand on her elbow.There’s no way we’re getting through that lot without our magic. We have to be smart. And we need to know what’s going on. She hasn’t killed us yet. That means she wants something.
The queen’s eyes dart from Astrid to Skylar and back again, almost like she can hear the conversation. Skylar supposes, being mated herself, she’s one of the few people who knows what it’s like.
