Blackbird Crowned (The Witch King's Crown #3) - Keri Arthur Page 0,64

my brother’s gaze.

“I’m sorry” was all he said.

“You will be,” I replied and raised a hand.

Nothing came out. The inner fires had flamed out. As had my strength.

I dropped my head and gave in to capture.

Chapter Nine

Waking was a slow and painful process. Every bit of me ached—even my damn hair pulsed in agony. My shoulders were on fire, and a river of energy surrounded me—one so foul it made my skin crawl even though it wasn’t physically touching me.

That I was even awake was surprising—the last time I’d called on the lightning to the extent that blood blurred my vision, I’d been out for days.

Of course, I may well have been, but surely if I had, I wouldn’t still feel this shitty.

As my other senses slowly came online, the first thing that hit was the stench in the air—it was a putrid mix of rotten meat and human waste. I had no idea what Darkside smelled like, but I didn’t think this was it. It was more likely that I’d been dragged into a sewer of some kind.

If that was true, it really made no sense. Why not simply take me through the nearest dark gate and be done with it? There would have been no escaping and no possibility of rescue from Darkside, and they could have then taken their sweet time to torture the information about Elysian out of me.

Unless, of course, I was bait. Max might not believe the sword he held was fake, but he wouldn’t chance that I was telling the truth. He also knew Mo would move mountains to rescue me, though it was doubtful he was aware that she could literally do that. He’d never really witnessed her using her mage gifts and had no idea just how powerful she truly was. Not even Winter had witnessed the full scope of her skills, though more than a few demons would have found their deaths via them over the centuries.

I tried to move my arms in an effort to ease the fire in my shoulders and discovered my hands had been bound tightly behind my back. It didn’t feel like rope but rather tape of some kind. There was more around my waist—no doubt a means of keeping me upright against the thick pole or pillar or whatever the hell it was I’d been tied to.

My left foot was icy and shoeless. I was still wearing the sock, but it was wet and not helping the ice situation. Given the stench, I hated to think what it was actually wet with.

I tried to open my eyes, but they were caked shut, thanks no doubt to the blood that had dried on my lashes. I attempted to scrub them clean against an arm, but that was a pointless exercise given how tightly I was tied.

“Ah,” a deep and familiar voice said. “You’re finally awake.”

I jumped; fear hit so hard that for several seconds I couldn’t breathe.

Winter. Fuck.

I turned my face toward him and drew in a deeper breath, trying to pinpoint his exact location.

Big mistake.

The wretched foulness of the place burned into my lungs, leaving me gasping and coughing.

Winter chuckled. “Yes, it’s best not to breathe too deep here. The fumes are somewhat toxic.”

“Where are we?” It came out a croak. My throat felt raw and speaking hurt.

“Deep underground and well protected. Your witch of a grandmother won’t be able to use her magic to find you here.”

I wouldn’t bet on that. Whether she could find me before Winter did whatever he planned to do was another matter entirely.

“If you fear her so much, why haven’t you dragged me into the hellhole you call home?”

“Aside from the fact we couldn’t, you mean?”

Of all the answers I’d been expecting, that certainly hadn’t been one of them. “What do you mean, you couldn’t?”

“Has the energy you unleashed at your beloved brother affected your hearing as well as your sight, dear sister-in-law?”

Another shock rolled through me. Sister-in-law? Surely Max wouldn’t have … I gave myself a mental kick. The time for being surprised by anything my brother did had long since passed. “No celebrant in their right mind would officiate a wedding between a human and a half-breed.”

“Which is why we found one who wasn’t in his right mind,” Winter said with a laugh. “It’s quite legal, I assure—”

“I hardly think so, given clones don’t exist in our world let alone have any sort of legal status.”

“Ah, but there are few in this world who would even