Blackbird Crowned (The Witch King's Crown #3) - Keri Arthur Page 0,91
You’re a target, remember.”
“Yes, but while their attention is on me, Mo can surreptitiously track down the last remaining version of Winter and grab him.”
“Max won’t trade his life for Winter’s,” Mo said. “Your brother is many things, but romantic was never one of them.”
“Whether or not he loves Winter isn’t the point,” I said. “Winter is his link to Darkside. They may be using his relationship with Winter to get their hands on the sword and the throne, but Max is well aware of that and using it to his advantage.”
His comments on the bridge had made that pretty obvious.
“He’ll just attack Ainslyn in retaliation,” Luc said. “He knows you care about the people there.”
“But by the time that happens, her defenses will have been strengthened. And we’ll use the map room as a control point and hit any location where we see them gathering, hard and fast.”
Luc’s expression remained unconvinced. “There are other gates you can close without risking London. Max will still get the message and react.”
“Yes, but I need to send a warning as much as a message. Shutting down the London attack will do exactly that. Besides, Winter is in London.”
“No witch king has ever been able to shut down an attack by themselves,” Luc said.
“No other witch king had mage powers to call on.”
“Yours are too raw to be reliable.” He glanced at Mo. “You know that.”
“Her talents may be raw, but they’re also strong.”
“It’s too great a risk, and you both know it.”
“What I know,” I said heavily, “is it’s a risk that’s absolutely necessary to take.”
“Bunkering down in Ainslyn makes more sense.”
“Do you honestly think the attack on London will cease if I use Elysian to shut down the gates around Ainslyn?” My voice held an edge I couldn’t quite control. “The royal family is key to his domination plans. While they exist, he cannot legitimately claim the throne—”
“Which he can’t claim anyway, because he didn’t draw Elysian,” Luc cut in sharply.
“But how many people actually know the sword in the stone wasn’t the real one? I’d wager most of your fellow Blackbirds don’t even believe it.”
“There are some—”
“And if the very people who are historically responsible for guarding the sword and the king who draws it won’t believe the sword in the stone is fake, why would anyone else? We need to show everyone the truth in a very public manner.”
His gaze met mine. I wasn’t entirely sure what he saw, but after a moment, he nodded. It was a short, sharp, and extremely unhappy sign of acceptance. “Fine. I’ll notify the crew in London to be ready for your appearance. If you’re going to put on a show, the palace grounds will be the safest location, but they’ll need to patch a variation in the shielding dome to give you access.”
“Good.” The last thing I needed was to make it to the palace only to be bounced away by the magic protecting the place. “I don’t suppose you could also check if there’re any spare Blackbirds who could come up to Ainslyn and help?”
He shook his head. “It’s all hands on deck in London at the moment, and that’s unlikely to change. We’re obligated to protect the current monarch, even if Elysian has found a new hand to wield her.” Amusement briefly flared in his eyes. “You’re just lucky duty and heart have finally crystalized as one in this timeline. Otherwise, I’d be there rather than here, and our souls might have been destined to travel through hundreds of more years before they finally got a fitting resolution.”
If he thought Vivienne had any intention of making it easy for him in this timeline, he wasn’t paying attention. Or maybe it was in fact me who wasn’t paying attention, because his words very much suggested he would still choose duty over love, no matter how strong the pull between us might be.
I pushed the uneasy thought away and forced a smile. “I think my soul would shrivel up and die if it had to wait that long for sex.”
“Even Vivienne wouldn’t be that cruel.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that.” Mo’s voice was dry. “But given she did say timelines had finally merged, I’d suggest the only thing standing between you two, sex, and my grandbairns, is your survival.”
“Grandbairns will have to wait a while,” Luc said. “While I have absolutely no doubt Gwen and I will be dynamite in the bedroom, we need to discover if we’re actually compatible beyond it.”