Page 64 of Merciless Is My Crown

“You could try.” I gave him a lazy smile and let a burst of my replenished magic gather around me, let that death-kissed power reach out and brush up against him, sending his mount skittering back. “But I doubt you’d succeed.”

“Don’t, Zeph,” Torin warned him. “Raziel’s right.” Her sightless eyes skimmed over the dead. “This is my fault. As much mine as anyone else’s.”

Seven long, fucking interminable days later, Tempeste finally came into view.

I blew out a breath, searching the skies for Reapers, picking a few out from the low-lying clouds. Once we got Zephryn into Bexley’s capable care and I actually got some food into me, I’d head to the High Barrens.

My best-case guess, the journey would take me two days depending on the weather and how fast my diminished magic refilled and I hoped I got there before anything went wrong.

Zorander would follow, then the others would join us the moment Zephryn could fly.

If he ever did.

24

ANARIA

Vireena didn’t spare us a glance as her warriors separated me from Dane and took the last of my weapons, tossing them in the corner with Tristan’s and Tavion’s, as if they weren’t worth the effort to even bicker over.

And why would they be, when the witches carried those deadly, ruthlessly curved blades?

The High Priestess was surrounded by her advisors, one pale hand flicking up to punctuate a point every so often. They spoke so softly I couldn’t catch a single word. But I didn’t have to hear them to know they were deciding what to do with Dane and me.

Dane remained untouched, though not every witch agreed with Vireena’s decision from the bloodthirsty way they sized him up, like he’d make a tasty snack.

Adele waited expectantly to the side. Waiting, I figured, for her reward.

Well, I wasn’t waiting around to be served up on a platter to these wicked creatures. I might be weaponless, but I still had my magic. I could still fight. Maybe with Dane’s help we could free Tavion and Tristan then battle our way out of here.

His eyes met mine then flicked to the exit, a silent question there.

I shook my head. Not yet.

We needed a plan. The way out of here was a gauntlet; we’d be picked off by their archers before we made it to the mountains. If we did manage to escape the Barrens, we still had to survive the treacherous passes. I couldn’t shift. Would only slow the others down. Chances were we’d get stuck in a snowstorm and either freeze to death or be dragged back here to be executed.

And if I released my magic and turned everyone to monsters…I shivered.

No, there had to be another way.

I whirled on my mother. “You will regret this, Adele.”

“This? I’ll never regret choosing you over them. This is your time, Anaria. Soon enough you will possess the two most powerful magics in our world. You will become High Queen of all the realms, a child of two worlds. There has never been anyone like you before, and there never will be again.”

“You betrayed us,” I whispered through numb lips. “Tavion and Tristan saved you, and you sold them out for your own gain.” The floor rumbled beneath my feet because even with the iron bands, my magic strained to get out. I had half a mind to strip the iron off, let myself burn, and fuck the consequences.

“And for what? Do you really crave power so badly you would sacrifice everything? You would sacrifice them?”

Adele’s eyes took on a maniacal brightness. “They don’t matter, and I had to be sure you had a good reason to fight for that throne.”

“I don’t fucking want it.”

“No, but you want your males to survive, and to save them you have to win. If you fail, your wolf and your wyvern are dead. The witches will drain them dry and skin them for their hides. I’ll make sure Dane dies, too.”

Adele’s smile told me she hoped that would happen, no matter how tomorrow’s contest turned out, and whatever remaining empathy I had for my mother winked out, leaving behind cold, hard rage.

Vireena finished with her advisors and smoothly descended the dais, stopping in front of us, a cold smile on her face.

She was taller than me by a head, thirty pounds heavier—all muscle—beneath the layers of leather and steel, and she moved like Zorander, graceful and deadly. A trained warrior crafted from darkness itself, a faint stain of dark magic hovering around her like a cape.

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