arched. “Your sword was stolen.”
I scowled at him. “You let him steal Excalibur? You let him escape?”
“I didn’t let him. He did. And I was… otherwise occupied.” Impersonal eyes traveled over my bare shoulders down to the plunging neckline. My body tightened even under the cold perusal.
Two other mermaids held Oliver at swordpoint. On the ground lay several dead gargoyles. Vane stared at them. “The dissension among them is intensifying. Rourke should have declared his heir.”
“You know he couldn’t,” I said. Since Grey hadn’t transformed, only Oliver was eligible to take the throne. Rourke wasn’t about to name the son who’d poisoned him as his successor.
“More’s the pity,” Vane murmured.
“I am the king!” Oliver snarled. He lunged past the mermaids at me. They quickly subdued him. One pressed the tip of a sword into his chest, breaking skin.
“Stop,” Vane said. “He is still useful.”
I didn’t like the sound of that statement. “Useful how?”
Oliver laughed. “To replace you, sword-bearer. Why else? If I kill you, I can claim Excalibur.”
“Is that right?” Leonidas’s mermaid green eyes flickered over me. I could see his mind turn as he glanced at Excalibur. He’d beaten me several times in the pit, if only I hadn’t survived. A flash of green magic zapped the prince. He fell to his knees with a pained grunt. Leonidas’s sword flew into Vane’s hand. He put it above Leonidas’s bent head. Blood formed at the edge of the blade.
Still holding Excalibur in one hand, Vane pressed the second sword into the back of the prince’s neck. “Remember your place, mermaid.”
Leonidas took a heavy breath. “I beg your pardon, my king.”
Vane dropped the sword at Leonidas’s feet. Leonidas quickly grabbed it and stood up.
I faced Vane. “This is why you took me to prom. To use me as bait.”
He shrugged. “I knew he was lurking close. A trap is better when you’re the one who’s laid it.”
He’d laid it, and I’d fallen right in. My hands fisted at my sides. Anger coursed through me. “And coming to school? What was that about?”
His lips curved into a wistful smile. “A small ruse—”
“Ryan.”
Grey strode up the slight slope from the ballroom. Colin and a huge gang of gargoyles took up his left. On his right, Gia, in a flowing white dress, a group of younger gargoyles, and a surprising number of wizards dressed in formal suits flanked him.
Vane glanced at me. The thin strand of a weeping willow swung between us like a pendulum. Light flickered across eyes dotted with more hateful green. He stated, “There can be only one king.”
One gargoyle king. I went cold. “What are you doing, Vane?”
My heart sank when the green in his eyes intensified. He said softly, “What I have to.”
With sharp fingernails, I gouged my own palms. “There’s nothing you have to do. It’s always been your choice.”
He inclined his head. “I’ve never seen it that way.”
"Vicarati,” he said. A green breeze covered me briefly. I tried to move, but found my body locked in place. I grimaced. At least I could move my face. The Dragon’s Eye heated my neck as I began to fight against the spell.
Vane chuckled at my persistence. Drawing my hand up, he kissed it.
“Leonidas, keep an eye on her.” Even though I couldn’t move, Leonidas grabbed my shoulder and thrust a sword in front of my stomach. It dug into the bandage under purple silk, sending shooting pain up my abdomen. I hissed, the only thing I could do. Leonidas grunted in satisfaction at the sound of my pain.
Vane faced Grey with Excalibur in his hand. “I need the gargoyles, Ragnar. You’re standing in my way. The problem is if I kill you, I’m not sure the gargoyles will wholly fall into line. You’ve made some powerful allies.” His eyes settled on Colin. Then shifted to the dead gargoyles beside Oliver. “Unfortunately, his claim to the throne is stronger. He is Rourke’s direct descendant. Which leaves me one way to solve this.”
Vane crooked a finger at Oliver. With a snarl, Oliver shook off the mermaids holding him. He stalked forward, transforming into his gargoyle face—protruding forehead and elongated teeth.
“A duel,” Vane told Grey.
“No,” Gia and I cried at the same time on opposite sides of the field.
Vane faced the gargoyles. “He hasn’t changed. I thought he would after Rourke died. We all thought so. So did you.”
Colin and the gargoyles behind Grey shifted.
Gia protested, “There’s time—”
“No, there isn’t.” Vane pointed up at the sky. “The gargoyles must have a leader.