Page 44 of Lady of the Lake

I study the sleeping lord. I know from experience how unsatisfying sleep can be when I have to keep up my defense against Talan’s powers. “Let me see. Maybe I can do something about it.”

Sitting on the edge of Aedan’s bed, I touch Aedan’s cheek, letting my powers unravel. I stifle a hiss of pain at a jolt in my skull. Touching Aedan’s thoughts, I can see them more clearly now. Some part of his mind is still awake, defensive. Trying to block an intrusion—and he’s sotiredof doing this all the time. He’s desperate to give in, to let himself falldeeplyunder the surface.

You don’t need to keep up the wall, I whisper in his mind.Let go, just for a few minutes. You’ll feel so much better after.Give in to real sleep.

Aedan’s defenses collapse, and his mind relaxes. Talan doesn’t need me to say anything. I can feel his power pour into Aedan’s mind, a current of energy that collides with my magic and nearly pushes me off the bed.

Talan’s dark eyes are locked on Aedan, and his jaw tightens. Around us, the air thickens with his magic, coiling like smoke. “Almost there,” he says quietly. “Give me a few minutes.”

Talan closes his eyes, concentrating intently.

Raphael’s words flit through my thoughts.Don’t wait for Avalon Tower to give you the order. When it comes to the Dream Stalker, you take your chance when you can get it.

What does Raphael know that I don’t?

Talan’s attention is fixed on Aedan. Right now, he’s entirely at my mercy. A lock of dark hair falls into his eyes, and his tattoos glow with faint magic as he weaves his spell. His thick lashes cast shadows against his skin, his focus utterly absorbed in the delicate artistry of his magic. He’s so lost in the dreams that for the first time, he doesn’t look completely untouchable.

He won’t notice if I strike now. With a poisoned-tipped blade, even someone as strong as him will die. One of humanity’s greatest threats will be gone, dead by my hand. Half my mission accomplished. And without Talan, maybe the Fey’s war machine will grind to a halt. After all, I believe he’s the true mastermind behind everything.

With shaking hands, I pull the vial of poison from my pocket. As I unscrew the top, a dreadful thought whispers in my skull.Does he know what I’m doing now? Is this a test?

I pour poison on his knife, hoping that even as sharp and calculating as he is, he’s too lost in the dreams to notice me. His eyes are closed again, like he trusts me.Whydoes he trust me?

Gripping the poisoned blade, I feel as if the toxin is spreading inside me, turning me rotten from the inside out.

When Mordred trapped her in the tower of Camelot, they say the willows in Shalott turned bone-white with sorrow.

I swallow hard, my nerves crackling with adrenaline. A sharp tendril of loneliness coils between my ribs, and my hand freezes.

It’s not even my assignment. I don’t know why Raphael told me to kill him, but it’s not my official orders. My mission is to get close to Talan, earn his trust, and coordinate the king’s assassination. If I kill him now, I’ll blow my cover.

And if there are other reasons I don’t take my chance…well, I’m not ready to face them right now.

I close my eyes, letting out a sigh. I screw the top back on the aconite and shove it into my pocket. Going to the door, I openit and myself face to face—or rather face to chest—with the last person I want to see.

Maertisa towers over me, her red hair flowing over black armor.

Her eyes widen in surprise, and I know she recognizes me.

CHAPTER 20

Dread coils through my gut at the sight of her. Time slows, and I suck in a deep breath. The door closes behind me with an echoing click, and I slide the hilt of my knife into one of my pockets.

Maertisa holds my stare as I crane my neck to look up at her. Her expression shifts, turning into the same cunning smile she’d worn when she captured Raphael.

“ItoldVidal you looked familiar,” she barks. “The royal prince’s bride—a human agent. Arwenna was right about you.”

I hide my shaking hands behind my back. “You’ve got it backward,” I tell her, keeping my voice calm. “I’m a spy. That much is true. But I work for Auberon on the King’s Watch. I spy on Avalon Tower for him. And now, I spy for him on the royal prince. I’m not ahuman agent,you idiot.”

“You, a member of the King’s Watch?” She lets out an amused laugh. “That’s a rich tale.”

I shake my head slowly. “What’s more likely, Maertisa? That a human agent found her way to Brocéliande and somehowmanaged to marry the prince, or that the king’s undercover agent finished one job and was assigned to another? For oncein your life, think this through. Auberon won’t take kindly to anyone messing with the King’s Watch.”

I see a flicker of hesitation in her eyes, but she’s too sharp to be convinced so easily. Within a few seconds, she’ll examine all the angles and figure out the holes in what I just said. Already, her eyes are trailing down to where my dagger is hidden. I can’t afford to wait.

I lunge forward, and time slows, an ancient power thrumming through my muscles and blood. Just as I strike, she slashes back. She’s Maertisa, one of the deadliest Fey captains in existence, and she’s swift as lightning.

Her curved knife blocks my attack. The blades screech against each other, and my thrust merely cuts her fingers. She hisses and strikes back, her knife cutting deep into my arm. I let out a grunt but manage to hang on to my knife. As she hunches over, cradling her injured hand, I headbutt her, slamming into her nose with a satisfying crunch. She stumbles back, blood running down her chin.

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