Page 98 of Merciless Is My Crown

“I don’t owe you anything. And this is safer. For you,” I repeated evenly, relieved she hadn’t overheard our earlier conversation.

Face-to-face, my anger rose to the surface, sharp and wicked, ready to lash out. Adele’s betrayals ran far too deep for me to ever trust her again, and I was, deep down, furious she’d chosen greed for power over her own daughter. Over family.

I took a deep, cleansing breath. “Stormfall is safer. You can rest, recover.”

“While you ride off to glory,” she said bitterly.

“Hardly glory. More like certain death,” Tavion growled, every word filled with quiet threat.

“Please.” Adele grasped my hand so hard my bones whined. “You cannot leave me here. You can’t, Anaria. You owe me a life debt.”

“How, exactly, would you like me to repay you? How much, and for how long? Something tells me that even if I gave you every last shred of myself, it would never be enough.” I gestured to the witches watching from the windows, not a shred of warmth in their faces.

“These are your people, as you’ve pointed out so many times.” I dropped my voice as her ruined fingers dug into my arm. “For what it’s worth, I am trying to protect you, Adele, not punish you. This place is safer than where we are headed, and Vesper has agreed to give you sanctuary.”

“Sanctuary,” she hissed. “This is just another prison, except there are no bars on the doors.”

“I’m offering you more than you ever gave me,” I muttered, and her face closed off, eyes gleaming with malice.

“You threw me into the Arena with a battle-trained warrior in a fight to the death. You were willing to risk my life in your own quest for power. I don’t owe you a thing…but I have arranged a home for you here. A fresh start, Adele. You can view Stormfall as another prison, but it does not have to be. People hurt you and I cannot undo that. Only you can decide whether or not to forgive. This was the best solution I could come up with.”

“The best you could come up with,” she spat. “You cannot do this. You are my daughter.” Some of that wickedness glittered in her eyes, her face hardening into a mask. “I gave birth to you. You owe me for what I went through.”

“I owe you nothing. Nothing. You are a spiteful, twisted creature, and maybe your corruption happened down in that prison cell, but maybe it began long before that when the Oracle offered you a chance at greatness and you took it, hoping you would become more than a High Barrens witch.”

“So fast to point the accusing finger.” Adele’s smile was frighteningly bright. “Wait to see what you become, daughter, filled with such terrible magic. I’ve heard the stories of what you’ve done. To Solok. To Solomon. The wicked creatures spawned from your wave of rebirth.”

A roaring started in my head.

But I clawed through the squall of emotions and focused, perhaps for the last time, on the creature who had spawned me.

“Stormfall is where you belong, as you were so thorough in explaining to me. Only blood matters, wasn’t that what you said? Well, their black blood runs in your veins, but only half of that blood runs in mine.”

“You will regret this. You’ll see.”

“Goodbye, Adele,” I told her quietly, my fingernails digging crescents into my palms. “And be careful. Everything that happens from this point is on you. No more scheming, because if you betray these people, you will be punished according to their laws, so I would advise you to be very careful in your decisions.”

She stormed away from Tavion, from Bella and Morgana, disappearing into the fortress. Sorrow welled up then sank beneath the waves of fury, her last taunting jab still clinging to me like mud.

What else had happened when I’d released that wave?

Bella cleared her throat nervously. “Morgana believes Ashbane is likely somewhere along the bluffs. That’s the only place the gulls gather, entire flocks of them.”

“The Dearth is a cursed place,” Tavion muttered, lifting his arm to signal the others. Raziel and Zor headed our way, followed by Zephryn and Simon. Tristan and a still-grumpy Dane caught up a few minutes later.

Torin was nowhere in sight.

I hadn’t seen her all morning now that I thought about it.

With everyone except for the seer present, I cleared my throat.

“Given what we’ve learned, I would like to propose a new plan.”

I ignored Dane’s eyeroll and pulled the page out of my coat. Tavion’s eyes widened when he saw the symbols, one hand drifting up to rub his chest. “Holy gods, where did you find this?”

“Bella found a book in the library. She showed me before Solomon tried to cut out my tongue.”

A bone-deep shudder went through Tavion, but he handed the pages to Zor, who passed them on to Simon.

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