Blackbird Broken (The Witch King's Crown #2) - Keri Arthur Page 0,114
got the better of him, no doubt.
I sighed and glanced around. We were back at the mock Tudor mansion in Southport from the look of things. I flung off the blankets and padded into the bathroom. Mo might have healed me, but grit and grime felt lodged into every pore. I needed to get clean. Needed to wash away the feel of Winter’s fingers on my neck and the taint of his breath across my face.
Needed to not think about how Max was going to react to the news that I’d killed his consort.
I switched on the water, waited for it to reach the right temperature, then stepped under and raised my face. It washed away the grime, but not the fear of the heartbreak that was yet to come.
It was several minutes before I realized I was no longer alone in the room. I turned around. Mo was sitting on the edge of the ginormous bath, watching me.
“You okay?”
I smiled, though it held very little in the way of amusement. “As well as I can be, given I killed my brother’s lover.”
She blinked. “I had no idea that Winter—” She paused and sucked in a breath. “It explains so many things.”
“Yes.” I grabbed the shampoo and started washing my hair. “Where do we go from here, Mo?”
“We find the ring, though in truth it’s little more than a perfunctory action now.”
“I meant with Max.”
“I know.” She drew a deep breath and released it slowly. “And there’s only ever been one option once the truth was revealed.”
I briefly closed my eyes against the sting of tears. It didn’t help. Nothing would. And there was nothing I could do or say to avoid the coming confrontation.
I swallowed back the bitter rise of bile and said, “What actually happened in that cavern? What did I do?”
“The impossible.”
“Helpful.”
She smiled. “Remember what I said about Elysian forging a connection between this world and the unseen in which all energies move and exist?”
I nodded. “But I wasn’t holding Elysian. We don’t even know where she is at this point, let alone if I’m the true heir.”
“Do you truly believe you’re not, given what you did and achieved in that cavern?”
I wanted to. God, how I wanted to. “That doesn’t negate the fact that I didn’t have her, so how the hell did I manage to step onto the edge of the gray?”
“The ability to see the unseen is one that runs through the Aquitaine line, and it’s why many females of the line were revered seers.”
“Seeing what may be is a little different to stepping into the gray, though,” I said. “And it certainly doesn’t explain how I did.”
“Nex and Vita were created by the same hand that made Elysian; it’s natural they could tap into fields in a similar manner if so directed.”
I frowned. “But I didn’t—”
“Perhaps not consciously. Perhaps it was a by-product of desperation and need.”
“Possibly.” I rinsed out my hair, then turned off the taps and reached for a towel. “I take it the dark altar is no longer a problem?”
“It’s destroyed, as are the tunnels that led into that cavern.”
“I daresay they’ll try to reopen them.”
“I daresay they will—and they’ll find a lovely little surprise for them if they succeed.”
“You spelled?”
“Yes and no.”
“An enlightening answer, as usual.” I wrapped the towel around me and stepped out of the shower. “Are we heading across to King’s Island today?”
She nodded. “I think the sooner we get there and find the real coronation ring, the better.”
“You don’t think Max knows it’s there, do you?”
“No, but it did occur to me that, rather than attempting to breach our protections, he might simply destroy it.”
“Why would he do that?”
“To ensure the sword cannot be returned to it.”
“But why?”
“Because he plans for his heir to wield it after him.”
“Then Reign and Riona are his?”
She nodded. “Ginny got the confirmation back this morning.”
I drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. While the results were no surprise, it was still a reminder of the chasm that now separated us. “Only trouble is, neither Elysian nor the sword in the stone work that way.”
“We know that, but I’m not entirely sure he does,” she said. “For all that he’s studied our line, for all that he’s researched history, for all that he’s planned and schemed, he doesn’t appear aware that the sword he holds is a Mryddin-created replica. I have no doubt he would have contacted us for information if he had suspected.”