Page 106 of Merciless Is My Crown

“You don’t know how to submit, do you? I should kill you right now.”

“Ah, but you can’t.” I stepped in front of Zorander, my body a shield between us as darkness enfolded her like a spider’s web. “Kill me now and you’d have to start all over again. Just think of the centuries you’ll waste.”

“Anaria,” Zor hissed in warning.

“You are fast becoming more trouble than you are worth.” The Oracle’s midnight gaze skimmed over us and Raz bared his teeth in feral challenge, a growl brewing in his chest.

In response, she licked her lips, the predatory glow in her eyes turning hungrier.

Good. Hungry was good. We had to keep her focused on us, away from the north, away from the pendant and tonight’s real purpose.

“No wolf tonight.” Her wet lips caught the light. “Did he finally die? The poor thing was so sick, death would have been a mercy.”

“Like you know anything about mercy.”

“No,” she admitted. “I don’t. What do you need the books for, Anaria?” Her body bled black shadows as she stalked closer, her eyes fixed on the spines, angled so the titles were clearly visible.

“Magic? Fae history? Bloodlines?” She clucked her tongue. “Whatever are you trying to prove, Anaria? Or better yet, what is Torin searching for in the wreckage?”

“I’ll never tell you anything,” I muttered stubbornly, clutching the books closer. “Don’t you have someone to torture or kill?” I braced myself then gave her a mocking smile just to piss her off.

“Oh, that’s right, there’s nobody left.”

Raziel’s hand skimmed lightly up my arm, leaving goosebumps in its wake.

A reminder not to drag this out any longer than necessary.

The Oracle took another step, her foot crunching on crumbled bone, her face slackening when she beheld what littered the entire floor and the empty spot where the skull throne used to sit, her breaths turning jagged.

When her head whipped up, her eyes meeting mine, I couldn’t decipher her expression. Furious out-of-control rage, but something else, something I’d counted on seeing but hadn’t been sure I was right about, not until this very moment.

Complete devastation.

“Why?” she keened. “Why would you destroy the skull?” The Oracle was genuinely distraught, dark magic leaking from her eyes and mouth, the smell of brimstone stronger than the stench of decay. “Why this one?”

Her anguish was the key sliding into a lock, the proof that I’d been right, that she had a singular weakness we could exploit.

Delight—every bit as wicked as this evil creature—coursed through me.

I fucking loved when I was right.

“Because that thing was a fucking abomination. A monster,” I taunted softly. “That was Gattica, wasn’t it? And now you’ll never touch him again.” I swiped my foot through the bone shards, sending them flying as I gave her a wicked smile. “Unless, of course, you want to scoop him up and put him in a jar.”

Please, please, do not send me to the Pit and make me burn for this unforgiveable desecration, I prayed in case there were any gods left listening. I only did this for the good of Valarian. I did this so we can build a better world.

Zor vanished, gone in the blink of an eye.

Her scream of fury ripped my hair free, stirring up a storm of dust and paper so thick I held up a hand to shield my eyes.

Raziel slammed into me from behind, wrapping me in his arms, the Oracle’s dark power reaching out to snare us…but Raziel was already sweeping us out of this room and into oblivion.

We were hurtling through a freezing no man’s land—wherever this was—where nothing was solid and time itself streamed past us in a constantly changing ribbon of shadow and darkness.

We never stopped moving, but I managed to open my eyes enough to give Raz the barest nod goodbye as he handed me off to Zorander, darkness an ebony wave around us, cold pouring down my throat.

This was the tricky part of tonight’s plan.

The part that could get us all torn to shreds. But then Zor’s strong arms banded around me, tight enough to crush the air from my lungs as Raz spun away into the churning dark wave and disappeared, his gleaming brown eyes the last thing I saw before time and space blurred together again in a frantic rush.

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