The Promised Queen (Forgotten Empires #3)- Jeffe Kennedy Page 0,68

the old stories. Like the one about the guy trapped in the labyrinth chased by the monster, and him forever looping back and finding himself facing it again and again. See? I’d listened to that story.

Hopefully Calanthe wouldn’t send a monster to drive me into the pool.

Though I guessed She wouldn’t have to. The advantage of immortal beings who wielded time bubbles was they could wait you out. And if Lia was some kind of extension of whatever spirit inhabited this island, then Calanthe knew everything that Lia knew about me. Which I already knew about myself, right? I mean, I didn’t need to drink some water of truth to be very aware of my many crimes and failings. I’d fucked up over and over. I’d killed countless people, either by my own hand or through orders to others—and all out of arrogance and hubris. I carried the weight of those deaths willingly, as a punishment I deserved. There wouldn’t be any surprises in the water.

Especially Lia’s death. I might as well have handed her over to Anure personally, I’d been so determined to kill him myself. I wasn’t kidding myself about that reality. Even if she said she didn’t blame me, I knew it was true. I could feed her on my blood for the rest of my forsaken life and never make up for that failure.

Or the fact that she clearly still believed I’d inevitably leave her. Oh, she said it was because she figured I’d have to answer the call of Oriel, but I knew better. I’d broken my promises to keep her safe—had offered her up on the platter of my vengeance—and now Lia understood better than ever that I simply couldn’t be trusted with her heart.

I had to face that I’d failed everyone I’d ever loved. My mother who died in front of me. My father, drowning on dry land, his lungs filling with his own blood as he died in my arms. Rhéiane, captive all this time while I wandered free. Sondra and Lia. And all the people who’d followed me, giving their hope and their lives to me so that I’d rid the world of Anure.

I’d failed all of them. Of course Lia couldn’t love a man like that. She deserved better.

There: I’d faced the truth. And on my own, too, without that stinking truth water.

I glowered at the tinkling waterfall, so pretty with the mist and the filtered sunlight. “I get it, all right?” I said aloud, my voice startlingly gruff in the sacred space. I was the ill-mannered dog fouling up the place. “Start up time again or whatever. I’m not drinking. I don’t need it.”

Musical water answered me. Lia’s crown glinted on the mossy boulder a thousand leagues away. “Sondra, wake up. Let’s get out of here,” I said loudly, but she didn’t move.

Just great. I got to my feet and went to her, nudging her with the toe of my boot. Her breathing didn’t even change. I crouched down to shake her awake, but she stayed deep asleep. Fuck me.

“I thought this was an optional thing,” I shouted at the waterfall, my voice echoing back all around, like the distant howling of wolves.

I turned to go back to my seat, to wait Calanthe out. Lia would emerge eventually. She had magic, or was magic, and Calanthe would have to obey her and let me go. Dammed if I’d let some temple force me to, what? Relive the worst moments of my life? No, thanks.

But I couldn’t go back to my seat. My feet wouldn’t move. I tried taking a step sideways and just stood there like an idiot. Unless I took a step toward the pool. Oh right—that worked just fine.

“Fuck you!” I yelled at the waterfall, shaking my fist at it. “I refuse to be cowed by you. Enough already.” Twisting and snarling, I fought whatever kept me from moving backward, but it felt like fighting myself. I reached for my rock hammer, but I’d left it out of my reach. Unhooking the bagiroca from my belt, I swung it wildly, hoping to break the invisible bonds.

But I only ended up closer to the pool, my gyrations moving me forward by increments, the magic preventing me from going back at all. My shouts and curses echoed, overlapping and making a mocking chorus of my ruined voice, of my fundamental impotence.

What will you do, wolf? Lia’s voice seemed to rise from the chiming water. You can’t just bash them