Page 251 of Kingdom of Ash

“I’m disappointed you did not figure it out.”

The pulse of Erawan’s power slithered over Dorian. So similar—so terribly similar to the oily power of that Valg prince. “Do you know what you have—” The Valg king silenced himself. Straightened his shoulders.

“I suppose I should thank you, then,” Erawan said, mastering himself. “Without you betraying my brother, I would not have discovered this delightful world. And would not stand primed to conquer it.” He sipped from his goblet. “But the question remains: Why come here? Why reveal yourself now? My ancient enemy—perhaps enemy no longer.”

“I was never your enemy,” Maeve said, her voice unruffled. “Your brothers, however, were mine.”

“And yet you married Orcus knowing full well what he is like.”

“Perhaps I should have married you when you offered.” A small smile—coy and horrible. “But I was so young then. Easily misled.”

Erawan let out a low laugh that made Dorian’s stomach turn. “You were never those things. And now here we are.”

If Aelin was here, if Dorian could find her, perhaps they could take on the Valg queen and king …

“Here we are,” Maeve said. “You, poised to sweep this continent. And me, willing to help you.”

Erawan crossed an ankle over a knee. “Again: Why?”

Maeve’s fingers smoothed over the facets of her goblet. “My people have betrayed me. After all I have done for them, all I have protected them, they rose up against me. The army I had gathered refused to march. My nobles, my servants, refused to kneel. I am Queen of Doranelle no longer.”

“I can guess who might be behind such a thing,” Erawan said.

Darkness flickered in the room, terrible and cold. “I had Aelin of the Wildfire contained. I had hoped to bring her here to you when she was … ready. But the sentinel I assigned to oversee her care made a grave error.I myself will admit that I was deceived. And now she is again free. And took it upon herself to dispatch letters to some influential individuals in Doranelle. She is likely already on this continent.”

Relief shuddered through him.

Erawan waved a hand. “In Anielle. Expending her power carelessly.”

Maeve’s eyes glowed. “She cost me my kingdom, my throne. My circle of trusted warriors. Any neutrality I might have had in this war, any mercy I might have offered, vanished the moment she and her mate left.”

They’d found her. Somehow, they’d found her. And Anielle—did he dare hope Chaol might also be there?

Dorian might have roared his victory. But Maeve continued, “Aelin Galathynius will come for me, if she survives you. I do not plan to allow her the chance to do so.”

Erawan’s smile grew. “So you think to ally with me.”

“Only together can we ensure Brannon’s bloodline is toppled forever. Never to rise again.”

“Then why not kill her, when you had her?”

“Would you have done so, brother? Would you not have tried to turn her?”

Erawan’s silence was confirmation enough. Then the Valg king asked, “You lay a great deal before me, sister. Do you expect me to believe you so readily?”

“I anticipated that.” Her lips curved. “After all, I have nothing left but my own powers.”

Erawan said nothing, as if well aware of the dance the queen led him in.

She extended a moon-white hand toward the center of the room. “There is something else I might bring to the table, should it interest you.”

A flick of her slender fingers, and a hole simply appeared in the heart of the chamber.

Dorian started, curling himself farther into shadow and dust. Notbothering to hide his trembling as a horror only true darkness could craft appeared on the other side of that hole. Theportal.

“I had forgotten you’d mastered that gift,” Erawan said, his golden eyes flaring at the thing that now bowed to them, its pincers clicking.

The spider.

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