Page 102 of Merciless Is My Crown

Because I remembered my promise, and because I wasn’t a complete arsehole, I dropped down beside him, stretching out my legs until my stiff muscles groaned, then leaning my head against the sun-warmed stones.

“You and I cannot fly like they can, Tavion,” I murmured. “And the Oracle will not leave her lair to come after you. But she will come for me.” I let my shoulder rest against his, then let my head fall there, too.

“Simon said it himself. They laid a trap for her three centuries ago and she fell for it. She’ll come, which will give the others enough time to search for that pendant.”

“You’re offering yourself up as bait?” Tavion cranked open one blue eye and I withered beneath his frosty glare. “If you were listening at all, you’d remember how well that turned out for Cosimo. I forbid it, Anaria.” Too many emotions played over those words. Bitterness, resentment…fear.

“We have to decipher those marks and find out how to destroy them. Torin and I spoke to the elders, and we all agreed. Once the king is dead and the magic freed, she’ll be too powerful for us to ever defeat. We’d be her slaves, Tavion, until the day we die. We can’t take that chance. We need Cosimo.”

“Not as much as I need you.” Some of the frost had thawed in his eyes, but he was furious. Probably would be until he decided to forgive me. Fine. Tavion could be as mad as he wanted, so long as we all survived these next few days.

Then we could fight this out between us.

After that, we’d have to survive whatever came next.

“I have magic,” I told Tavion evenly, peeling the iron bands off my arms and dropping them into his lap with a dull clink. “And for the first time since I got this power, I’m not interested in containing a single drop.”

Now I had his attention.

“Bold. I like it.”

“I knew you would.” I peered up at Zor and Raziel. “How fast can you get me to Tempeste? Before sundown?”

Zor’s gaze slid sideways to a preening Raziel. “Raz could do it in one jump, but I’m not that fast,” Zor admitted stiffly, looking like he’d swallowed something foul tasting.

“Would you still have enough magic to get back here without resting? If you were carrying me?”

“I could, but…” Zor’s brow furrowed. “But I should take you there.”

I shook my head. “It has to be Raziel with me in Tempeste,” I told Zor gently. For about a thousand reasons, this had to be only Raziel and me.

“Then…yes. I can bring you back here,” Zor said, pinning me with a gaze that asked a thousand questions.

“Yes is good enough for me.” I climbed to my feet and explained the gist of the plan, trying hard to ignore Tavion’s increasing fury, Zor’s horror, and Raziel’s looming explosion. But in the end, they all agreed.

Good choices were something we didn’t have the luxury of right now.

Only dangerous ones.

I locked eyes with Tavion, his fingers toying with the iron bands in his lap. “Keep those for me for when I get back. Try not to lose them, at least.”

His pale eyes flickered to dark, predator green. “I’ll try my very best, princess.”

Oh, he was furious to call me princess instead of wife, but he hadn’t thrown me over his shoulder yet and locked me in a room, so he was keeping his word to keep his temper in check. I decided that was progress and winked.

“See that you don’t, or I won’t ever give you an important job again.”

His lips twisted, but this time with the barest trace of humor.

I wrapped my cloak tighter around me, then stepped into Raz’s arms and looked over my shoulder at Zor. “We’ll be waiting in Torin’s old room at the Citadelle. Get there fast. I have no desire to become a Reaper-infected blob of flesh.”

41

TRISTAN

Iwas flying.

I was fucking flying.

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