Page 128 of Vicious Is My Throne

“That’s not good enough.” My throat closed up, tears burning my eyes as I shoved hard at his shoulder. “Not good enough.”

“It’s done,” Raz said gently, laying his hand on my back while warm, soothing magic flowed into me, my eyes fluttering closed no matter how much I fought. “You are our treasure, Anaria. We exist only to serve you. If this is the price we pay for that, then so be it.”

Earlier, I’d wished none of them would ever pay the cost for my actions.

Little did I know, they already had.

I wanted to tell them I never wanted them to suffer for me, but sleep took me before I could utter a single word.

54

ANARIA

By the time I made it downstairs the next morning, I was worn down by nightmares that ate away at my sleep. By the exhaustion that dragged my thoughts to dark places.

I’d be lucky to stay seated on Tristan’s back until we reached the Wynter Palace.

“There’s a good argument for going back to the palace. I left the page with the symbols there,” Raz was saying, though I only heard bits and pieces. “Maybe we missed something that could help.”

“My experiments are still there,” Bexley pointed out. “Yes, she smashed my potions and shredded my books, but there could be something to salvage. And you need time to learn how to master your witch magic, Anaria.”

“We’re out of time.” I rubbed my burning eyes. “We have days at best, Bex, not months. I don’t have time to master anything.”

“Still, I could teach you some basic skills,” he offered casually. “A few tricks to help until we have time for proper lessons.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him we’d never have time for a proper anything.

Chances were the Oracle was on her way to claim the magic, and the second she arrived, this was all over anyway.

“Here. You need to drink something.” Tavion pushed a glass of something that looked suspiciously like liquor over to me before he ran his fingers down my cheek, worry sparking in his eyes. “It’s the weakest wine I could find since the cistern’s contaminated now. We’ll have to make do until we reach the mountains and find an unpolluted stream. When is Tristan due back?”

That brought me out of my fog. “He left?”

“Before dawn, he carried Finnian and Kael beyond the blight, though there’s no telling how far he had to go to reach safety. They have money enough to buy passage on a boat and start a new life across the sea.”

“Fuck, that sounds good,” Raziel muttered, taking the chair beside me and draping his arm over my shoulders. The second our skin made contact, magic began flowing into me, gentle and warm, relaxing every strained muscle, easing the never-ending vise squeezing my heart.

“White beaches and clear water,” I murmured.

“Sleeping all day.” Raziel’s smile turned blindingly bright.

“Hold that thought,” Tavion said as wingbeats boomed against the front of the castle. “Because we’re about to find out just how fucked we are.”

“Always such a ray of sunshine, wolf,” Raziel muttered.

This wing of the castle was the only safe zone left, and we’d cordoned ourselves last night.

Bexley had guided me through setting up a protective ward around the undamaged wing of the castle, including a landing pad outside big enough for a wyvern. The task had taken too long, the magic was sloppy and haphazard and drained me to the core, but so far…the rot hadn’t gotten through.

And I hadn’t set foot into the ruined eastern wing where –according to Bexley—blight had overtaken every last surface. I hadn’t been outside, but all around us was nothing but silence.

No birds or frogs singing in the forest, no dogs barking, no rush of the wind.

Only that endless, deep quiet, as if Corvus had wiped away everything that had a voice.

“Where is Zorander?” Raz murmured in my ear. “Don’t tell me he’s still sleeping.”

“Out like a light and I didn’t have the heart to wake him. He was completely burned out, Raz. Pushed himself too hard while he was injured and didn’t give himself time to heal. Then he weathered the fall of the ward. After the fall into the forest.”

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