Page 136 of Vicious Is My Throne

Wondered what else I could do if I wanted.

Like mine, Zor’s magic was shadowy, but less tangible. His wings were black as night, and now I wished I’d taken a closer look at the patterns. Besides the iridescence, there was a definite dappled design to them.

“We can ask Raziel when he gets back.” I scrubbed my cold arms, pulling my knees up to my chest, wondering how soon that would be.

Raz and Tavion split their time so there was always someone patrolling this wing with Tristan, Tavion monitoring the perimeter and Raziel making one final trip to Whitehall before dark. Both for more water and to raid their apothecary if they had one. Bex had been tasked with keeping watch over Zor, and Tristan had been shoveling as much food into himself as he could ever since he’d returned.

“My return flight was against the wind, and I had to stay high to avoid the ash in the air,” Tristan said, piling meat and cheese onto a piece of bread and stuffing the entire thing into his mouth. “Tomorrow morning you’ll be on my back. I’ll need all my strength. I’m not taking any chances, princess. Not with you.”

“Let’s see if any of us are traveling tomorrow.”

I would fortify my warding around the castle before we went to bed, but outside, black had already overtaken the lower windows. There were only a few small spots where you could still see outside.

Not that there was much to see except destruction.

Ravenswood’s once-beautiful gardens were buried in blight, rot dripping from every bush and tree, thick black vines snaking over every surface. I suspected they were crawling up the sides of this castle right now.

They might crush this place once they became strong enough, and I didn’t have it in me to be sad. Then the air tightened and Raziel appeared, my already-cold skin prickling.

“We have a problem.” He dumped an armful of herbs and another wheel of cheese onto the table, then unslung the waterskins from his shoulder and set them down. “I took a closer look at the dungeon on my way through. No one set the Whitehall’s free. They clawed their way out, gouging straight through the iron bars, through the padlock, and that shank was a good inch thick.”

“Iron nulls magic,” I said, more to myself than anyone else.

“So how could they claw through?” Tristan asked, already climbing to his feet. “Unless…” Our eyes met with the same horrifying realization. “Unless the magic somehow…changed them?”

“That was my thought as well,” Raziel said quietly enough I knew he’d been having that thought the entire way back here. “Where is Tavion? We have to get Zor up; we need his input on this.”

“He’s sleeping,” I said flatly.

“Wake him,” Raz told me flatly. “If the Whitehall’s were transformed like Zor was, then fuck knows what powers they have now. One thing’s for sure, they knew we were here. If they’re coming for us, we need to be ready.”

58

ANARIA

“How is he, Bex?”

“Out like a proverbial light.” The mage didn’t take his eyes off Zor, a barely visible lump on the bed. Now that the sun was setting, only a few stray beams made it through the blight-covered window. By tomorrow morning, we wouldn’t be able to see outside.

And my wards…they might keep the blight out temporarily, but two pissed-off Fae—maybe more, if they brought their guards—would tear through my protections like paper.

“We have to get him up and moving. We have a problem.”

Bexley’s pale eyes filled with worry. “I know. I overheard you all talking. I’ve tried to roust him, but his body has completely shut down. He used too much magic and his flesh is completely drained even if his mind was willing.”

I peered down at Zorander, his face turned toward the sun, so relaxed in sleep he looked ten years younger and the weight of a hundred battles lighter.

He was so beautiful in the dying light. My fiercest protector, brutally honest, private to the point of taciturn, but here, now…I traced his sharp cheekbones, his soft lips, the dark lashes that were too long for such a savage face.

Here, with me, he was just Zor.

He was mine.

Sleep stripped away his harshness, softened his usually stern expression, and I traced my fingers over his mouth, his cheek. Zorander would lay his life down for me.

Unquestioningly.

This fierce, severe male had never once let me down, and even in this state, I knew if the Oracle arrived right now, he would take her on without hesitation.

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