Page 5 of Merciless Is My Crown

And prayed he kept ahold of.

“Where is this healer of yours?” I studied the circling Reapers before my eyes dropped to the dark, abandoned city below, no signs of life. “Not still in Tempeste, I hope?” I dismounted, then tore a strip off the bottom of my thick, woolen cloak. Then another, until I had four.

Raziel watched, pulled an extra wadded up cape from his saddlebag, and did the same.

“No, he lives outside the city walls.” Torin’s face tightened. “But Bexley’s powerful enough to remain hidden from the Reapers and clever enough to stay alive. He’s there, Simon just has to convince him to help.”

“What? Why would he need convincing?” I stared at her in disbelief, Raziel baring his teeth with a low, rumbling growl, tendrils of black magic reaching for the seer like clawing fingers. Torin backed her horse away, fear shining in her face.

“Bexley and I parted on bad terms. And the mage has a history of being generally…difficult. Unless there’s something in it for him.”

My hands tightened on the reins. For a split second, I was tempted to let Raz finish her off. After years of lies and manipulations, perhaps that would be for the best. She’d used us from the beginning.

Was using us even now.

“You never mentioned your healer wasn’t willing, Torin, when you urged us to turn around. I swear to the gods, if you cost us valuable time and Anaria dies, we will kill you.” I barely noticed the strain of my tired muscles or the hunger gnawing at my belly.

Only the lying, conniving seer in front of me.

“You tricked us to get back on Caladrian soil.” Raz growled, his furious gaze fixed on the seer like a wolf eyeing a rabbit. “Why the fuck would you risk Anaria’s life?” The expression on his face…If Torin wasn’t terrified before, she should have been.

His shadows snaked around Torin. “If the woman I love dies, nothing will save you.”

She swallowed, finally realizing she was trapped between Raziel and me, Tristan in front, Adele behind, blocking any escape.

“She wouldn’t have made the two-day journey to Nightcairn, Zor. We all know it.” Torin’s eyes darted between us. “This was her only chance. Simon can be very…convincing when he has to be. Bexley is the best healer in Tempeste, perhaps all three realms. If anyone can get that poison out of her system in time, it’s him. I swear, I want the same thing as you. Anaria’s survival is all that matters. Without her, everything falls apart.”

I ground my teeth. I didn’t know if Torin’s claim was bullshite or the truth, and I wasn’t about to gamble with Anaria’s life. “Adele.” I didn’t trust her any more than I trusted the seer, but she’d been in that city for twenty years.

“Have you ever heard of this Bexley? The healer?”

“I know of him.” Torin clicked her tongue and Adele’s smile turned serpentine. “Even in prison you hear things, Torin, and sometimes, when Solok required certain…special services performed, Bexley was who they’d call. None of us ever wanted to hear his name, trust me.”

I licked my cracked lips. If this Bexley healed the sort of damage Solok dealt out in the dungeons, perhaps he could heal Anaria.

Raz’s horse danced sideways. “We have to get moving, Zor. We’re wasting time here.”

I eyed the Soul Reapers again, the route we’d have to take to reach the palace barely visible above the mists. The trip up the mountain would take an hour.

Longer, if we were careful.

“Quietly, then. In two groups,” I decided. “Raz, you and Torin go first. When you reach the bottom of the path, bind their hooves. That will muffle the sound.” I warned him softly. “Do not kill her, no matter how badly you want to. We bring those Reapers down upon us and we’re fucked. Tristan, go with them. Adele and I will follow when it’s safe.”

Raz didn’t hesitate, heading into the trees, Torin right behind him. Tristan brought up the rear, flipping his cape over that flaming hair. When they vanished, I rubbed the back of my neck, eyes fixed on the lazily floating Reapers. They didn’t seem to be guarding the city. In fact, they didn’t seem to be doing anything at all.

“How long do we wait?”

I jerked my head toward the forest and the rocky foothill where the path to the palace began. “When they get halfway up that trail, we’ll move. With luck, the Reapers won’t notice us in the dark, if we don’t make noise.”

Waiting was killing me, but this was the smart move.

Raz had healing magic. I didn’t.

If Torin’s healer didn’t arrive, he could help Anaria in ways I could not. He could protect her using his magic. But I twisted my hands tighter in the reins until my fingers went numb.

“Magic that corrupts everything it touches.” Adele, like me, kept her eyes fixed on the palace spires. “What are the chances a common healer can get something that ancient out of my daughter?”

“They’d better be one hundred percent, or I’ll slaughter the seer and the healer both.”

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