Page 97 of Merciless Is My Crown

“What kind of clues?” I murmured, keeping my voice down.

“Once, she described the crying of gulls echoing against the cliffs. The only high cliffs are on the eastern edge of the Dearth. A…sort of natural wasteland.” Bella’s eyes flashed. “Not all that far from the Hammer.”

That couldn’t be a coincidence.

The place they—we’d—been born, the place that became Corvus’s lair because he was too dangerous or lazy or stupid to leave, and…what if the Oracle remained close as well? Whether because that was the source of their power, or because Fae and witches and human didn’t venture that far north, didn’t matter.

We had a location.

I didn’t know if this was fear or excitement curdling in my stomach, but strangely enough, something else settled into me. A sense of purpose. As if, despite these detours, we were still on the right path.

“Anything else?”

“Just one word. Ashbane.” Bella shook her head. “Morgana doesn’t know what it means, only that the Oracle spoke the word twice during their meetings. But she’s a truthteller, and to the Oracle Ashbane meant home.”

“So we find this Ashbane and we find what we’re looking for.”

“What are you looking for?” Bella asked, Morgana’s clever eyes pinned on me with such fierce intensity the back of my neck prickled in warning. “And why?”

“I can’t tell you that,” I murmured, Tavion moving closer, and I didn’t even have to look down to know his hand rested on the pommel of his sword.

“I can’t tell you yet,” I clarified, wondering if the truthteller would read my mind and be done with it like Vesper had spoken into my head. “We are searching for the last of our allies,” I told them quietly, well aware how closely Tavion listened. “Cosimo was imprisoned inside a pendant by the Oracle three hundred years ago.”

Everything went back to that point.

Something had happened then, something that goaded the Oracle into action. Something that set all this into motion.

Morgana’s eyes went half closed again as she fed Bella more information, neither of them looking surprised, as if trapping people in pieces of jewelry was a commonplace occurrence.

“Was he an astrologer?” Bella asked. “And did she wear the pendant around her neck?”

I shook my head. “Yes. She captured him and somehow…I do not know how…she imprisoned him inside this pendant. But no one has seen the necklace for a few months. I have a theory?—”

Tavion hissed out a soft warning beside me and I shook my head. “They are our allies. I will tell them what I know and perhaps they can help.”

I held Bella’s gaze then my eyes lifted.

Adele barreled through the front doors of Stormfall, heading straight for us. I spoke faster.

“Trapping the astrologer was how she controlled Torin and Simon for so long.” I met Bella’s eyes and patted my chest where the hand drawn copy was hidden. “According to Zor, Cosimo can read any language. He could decipher those symbols you found. We could find out what they mean. For both of us.”

Bella’s eyes sparked and the two engaged in another short mental discussion while Tavion glared at me like he was thinking of doing terrible things.

I smiled up at him sweetly. “While everyone else slept the night away, I got shite done, husband. You can thank me later.”

38

ANARIA

Whatever clever response Tavion had come up with died on his tongue when Adele shoved between us, her face ablaze.

I’d been bracing myself for this confrontation all day, had practiced my speech over and over, yet was still not prepared.

“I was informed, not by my own daughter I would point out, that I will not be riding out with you today.”

“That is correct. Where we are going,” I said, reciting my carefully constructed speech word for word, “will be dangerous and the conditions harsh. You are safer here.” I’d decided to leave feelings out of this. The last thing we needed before we left was another fight.

“I’m going with you.” She dropped her voice. “You owe me that.”

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