Kingdom of Sea and Stone (Crown of Coral and Pearl #2) - Mara Rutherford Page 0,97

looking at me. The knife was still raised to my father’s throat.

Titania flew across the field like an arrow, and within what felt like a handful of heartbeats, I was pulling her to a halt in front of Ceren. My father didn’t register my presence, but Ceren had at least moved the knife away from his throat. I tried not to look at Phaedra and the blond man, who lay in pools of their own blood.

“I’m here. You got what you wanted.” My hair had come loose as I rode across the field, but I was grateful for the armor. It made me feel less vulnerable. “Let them go.”

Ceren glared up at me. “Why should I? You lied to me, Nor. Though I must admit, I never expected you to put your precious sister in harm’s way.” He tapped his chin with the tip of the knife. “The elders were right, you know. She is prettier than you.”

“Enough!” I screamed, grateful that my voice wasn’t as weak as I felt. “Let them go, or so help me I’ll cut my own throat, and you’ll never get a drop of my blood again.” I raised my sword and pressed it to the skin at my neck until I felt the bite of steel.

“Oh, very well,” he said. “No need to be so dramatic. I’ll let them go. But none of this ‘one bowl of blood’ nonsense. You’ll come with me to New Castle and remain there as long as I have need of you.”

I wanted to cry at the thought of going back to the dungeon, but I lowered the blade and sheathed it. “You’ll let all of the Varenians go, alive and unharmed.”

He gave a mocking bow. “Of course.”

I glanced back to my party. Talin and Zadie had ridden forward a bit, but they had stopped when they realized they wouldn’t catch me. At this point my safety was in question if they came closer. Ceren would get to me long before they did.

“I would have kept my end of the bargain, you know.” Ceren waited for me to dismount and approach him. “If you hadn’t sent your sister in your place, I would have let the Varenians go.”

“I will never again believe a word you say.”

He grabbed me by the arm and began to lead me back to the castle.

“Wait.” I tied Titania’s reins into a knot so she wouldn’t trip and took her head between my hands, pressing a kiss to the white star in the center of her forehead. She nuzzled me, expecting treats, but I released her, making the signal that Roan had taught me. Without hesitating, she turned and galloped back to join the others. Even though it was exactly what she’d been trained to do, a part of me wished she would have stayed.

Ceren pulled me roughly toward New Castle and my father rose silently, following behind us. I glanced back at him helplessly. When we were through the tented camp and had begun the climb up the stone steps carved into the mountain, Ceren turned and ordered his guards to remove the bloodstones from the Varenians. Alys was there, I knew. She would see her mother’s body any second.

When the screams began, I pressed my hands to my ears. Realizing they were free, the Varenians began to run toward Talin and Zadie. Not one turned to see Ceren and me watching them from above.

I nodded toward my father. “And now him,” I said.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. If I let him go, I’ll have no guarantee that you won’t try to sneak out or hurt yourself.”

I had thought I was numb, but his words hit me like a knife in the gut. “You promised you’d release them all!”

“And I will release him. Once he’s safely tucked away in the dungeon.”

I swallowed back the lump rising in my throat. “You can’t do this.”

“Or what? You’ll abandon your father?” He clucked his tongue. “Of course you won’t. I know you better than anyone, Nor. Remember that.”

I wished I could be numb, but fear and shame filled me as I resumed my climb up the mountain, wondering if maybe Ceren was right.

27

The climb up the stone steps carved into Mount Ayris was just as grueling as I remembered, though at least I wasn’t as weak as I’d been the first time I’d made the trek. I was grateful Ceren didn’t attempt to speak to me as we walked. I may be at his mercy, but