Page 89 of Lady of the Lake

“Are you tying me up to burn me?” My voice stays steady, but barely. I want to sound strong. I want the regal bravado of Queen Morgan, but she’s gone now, and regret coats my tongue like blood.

From the corner of my eye, I see Tarasque landing in the forest, her scales shimmering under the sun. Talan yanks me upright by my bound arms, my entire body trembling. Not just from the cold, but the sheer devastation of this moment.

My thoughts have gone muddled and dull, and a white noise hisses in my skull. I can’t think clearly because of the utter, mind-bending panic exploding in my head.

Is he going to burn me?

It’s the punishment for traitors. Everyone knows that.

“I’ve changed my mind about you since I first came here,” I whisper, my throat raw. It’s a desperate, last-minute plea, and the words come tumbling out like I can outrun his judgment. “Yes, I came here to kill you. That was my role. But you’re not who I thought you were when I first came to Brocéliande.”

“Not who I thought you were,” he says with a razor-edged coolness. “Well, little telepath…that makes two of us.”

I flinch. “You were different when I got to know you. You’re the reason I went rogue, especially after I went into your dreams, Talan, and saw the real you. I saw how you took the blame for all those things you never did. You’ll see, when you get back, that Nivene already returned to Avalon Tower at their command. I was supposed to go, too. I didn’t.”

There’s a flicker of warmth in his eyes like a lit match almost catching, but then it’s gone again. Did I imagine it?

He drags me toward the dragon. As we get closer, she rears her head in the cold winter sunlight, her metallic eyes gleaming.

Storm clouds churn overhead. Lightning streaks across the sky, and the rain comes fast and cold, drumming over my skin.

I shiver, hollowed out. Utterly broken. All that ancient power has now drained from my body, and I’m left feeling empty.

Tarasque lifts her head and lets out a low growl that rumbles through my bones.

I stare up at her, and the fear that takes hold of me isn’t swift or sharp. It’s slow, creeping, like webs of frost spreading over glass.

The clock has stopped ticking. The hour has come. And I’m all out of time.

CHAPTER 42

Is this it?

“I promised you the power to spare one life,” Talan says, his voice cutting through the hush of the forest. “I assume you want to use it now.”

I close my eyes, silently thanking the gods. Relief washes over me, flooding my chest. I let out a shaky breath, releasing the dread. “Yeah, now would be a good time.”

“And truthfully, Nia, I’d rather meet you on the battlefield someday than watch you die here. Get on Tarasque.”

I don’t open my eyes again until I’m sure I’ve blinked back all the tears.

At last, I open them. “So, I can leave here?”

“Go back to Corbinelle. Find your way home to Camelot.” His gaze is sharp and cold as a glacier’s edge. “Tell your Pendragon friends that I’m coming to kill them.”

The dragon lowers her head again, resting her long neck on the earth for me in invitation.

Only once I start to awkwardly climb on Tarasque do I realize that he was never going to burn me, was he? Not after what happened to his mother. He loathed fire more than anyone.

And now, I’m more certain than ever that he wasn’t to blame for Brittany, either.

Talan is playing the role of the beautiful monster like he always does. He could have ended it all so much faster if he really was one, and maybe this would have all been much easier. Maybe that would have been the less painful option.

That whole time we were fighting, he could have slammed my brain with a nightmare and ended it all. But he was testing me. Trying to learn the truth. How strong I was. How scared I was. He was trying to find the real Nia under the bullshit.

I could have done the same to him with my magic. I could have invaded his mind for the first time. But somehow, even as we slammed our fists into each other, that was a line we didn’t want to cross.

Clumsily, with my wrists bound, I clamber into position. As I slide my legs over the dragon’s scales, Talan cuts the vines from my wrists. Breathing out sharply, I slump forward, grabbing Tarasque’s spikes.

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