Shadow Cursed by May Sage Page 0,69

the immortal. I can't…

I see steel flash through the air. A dagger.

A dagger I recognize.

It almost killed me once. Now it's aimed at the Vikus's throat.

The immortal catches it midair, turning in the direction from where it was thrown—behind me. He rises, letting me go, and I don't hesitate to crawl away.

When I'm a few paces from him, I rise, wincing.

The Vikus ignores me, eyes behind me. I dare a glance back.

Drusk.

Drusk is standing right behind me, his dark wings expanded behind his back. He flew to me, leaving Whitecroft, right in the middle of a battle. There are arrows sticking out of his back, but he ignores them all, ignores everything but me. Or rather, my back. At first, I think he's paying attention to my broken, ripped-off wing. It can't be pretty. But his eyes are set on something else entirely.

The mark running over my skin. The mark he has on his shoulder, too.

I feel the Vikus's magic before I see it: he's throwing destructive magic at both of us. Now we're two, he's done playing.

One of Drusk's wings wraps around me and pulls me to him. With a nonchalant wave, he molds Myst into a shield.

Now that I'm close, I reach around to pull out each arrow and start to heal him. He takes my wrist, shaking his head. "Not now. You have somewhere to be," he reminds me. He turns his attention back on the Vikus. "I'll take care of this."

I want to say no. He can't face an immortal by himself. Last time he did, he almost died.

The Vikus is striding toward us.

We should take him together. If Drusk can keep him occupied, I can attack when his shields are down.

Before I can say a word, Drusk kisses the side of my cheek. "Let me do this, princess."

I hear it in his voice. The raw need for blood and vengeance. I'm his. He didn't know it before, but I'm his and the Vikus was hurting me. He wants blood for it.

I nod, and rush toward the tent. The immortal tries to launch himself at me, but Drusk places himself in his path. The impact as they collide sounds like a roar. I don't give them another look, because if I do, I'll remain behind.

And I have my own war to wage.

I enter the tent.

Secrets and Lies

Vlari

My blood is ice.

For a long moment, I don't understand what I see at all. It can't be real. It must be a nightmare.

My personal nightmare.

The tent doesn't look like anyone's idea of a queen's war council. There's no map, no plan, no table. Just one throne, and in a corner, one large bed with red covers and silk cushions. A lovers' nest. Except the girl on it has been bound at the ankles and wrists, to be used as the Vikus saw fit, no doubt. She doesn't even move at my entrance, so still one might believe her dead.

Violet is a broken slave.

And from the one throne in the room, Morgana Lilwreath smiles down at me.

At her side, kneeling on the floor of the tent, there are four women, all naked, their heads cast down. They do not move. I don’t think they can. They may as well be made of stone.

"You're dead," I reason. "I saw you burned to ashes."

As the words cross my lips, I know them to be a lie. Not the kind of lie I cannot say: I've seen a woman burned to ashes, and I believed it was my grandmother. It'd been a decoy, a fake.

"And you're incredibly gullible," she says, bringing a bloodred grape to her mouth.

I can't make sense of it. Whatever way I try, I just don't get what's going on.

So I give up. I just ask, "Why are you doing this to her? She's your daughter."

Morgana chuckles. "Yes, I suppose she's that. But I've no use for a treacherous worm, let alone an incompetent one. If she'd come to me in peace, I’d have pitied her and given her some land to lord over. Instead, she intended to take my kingdom. We can't have that, can we?"

I nod. So, Violet schemed without her knowledge. One small piece of the puzzle, but I still can't see the full picture.

"Why didn't you come to Whitecroft? Reveal yourself? Your people would have welcomed you with open arms. You're high queen."

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, that I am. High queen of Tenebris, a broken, poor kingdom that can't rival the northern fae, or hope