Page 88 of A Queen This Fierce and Deadly

“I don’t understand,” Asinia said. “These wards are ancient. How could Rothnic have found a way to bringthem down?”

“According to our spies, the wards won’t remain down. They’ll merely be temporarily shifted into another world.”

Madinia scoffed. “Another world?”

Demos raised one eyebrow. “You may imagine yourself the center of this world, but it makes logical sense that there would be others.”

I sighed. Just as the sky was blue, Demos and Madinia would always dislike each other. Next to Demos, Asinia gave him a warning look. His mouth twitched, his eyes heating.

Now,thatwas interesting.

“If I may reclaim your attention?” Marth bit out.

I looked at him, and something inside my chest cracked. Not long ago, it would have been Marth teasing the others, keeping the atmosphere light, not allowing us to give in to dread and fear. Since Cavis’s death, he was a grim, joyless version of himself.

“This is the ward.” He swiped an apple from a bowl of fruit on the table and placed it on a piece of parchment to his right. Our world. “Rothnic uses his weapon.” He placed the apple on the table, away from the parchment. “The ward still exists, but it’s no longer in our world. It’s temporary—power is always drawn back to its origin.”

“So Rothnic shifts our wards. How long will they stay that way?”

Marth shrugged. “I don’t know. It depends on the power of the weapon and the one wielding it. Likely, Regner will have infused both with as much stolen power as he can.”

Dread hollowed my stomach, and panic slid neatly into the gap.

Slowly, I got to my feet. “It’s time to clear the Asric Pass of Regner’s soldiers. And then we will begin moving any hybrids who want to leave the fae lands—or any other kingdom—toward the Pass.”

Regner would learn those soldiers were dead and instantly retaliate, but we had no choice. We had to protect the innocent.

Rythos swept a hand over his jaw, his expression grave. “Without the wards, he will take Quorith. If only to disable our ships. I need to go. I have to tell our people what my father has done—and what the consequences will be.”

I nodded, but my chest tightened. “I don’t want you to go alone.”

A hint of impatience flickered in his eyes. “Pris—”

“Please, Rythos.”

He frowned. “Fine.”

“I’ll go with him,” Madinia said.

She stood near the door, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. Perhaps volunteering to go with Rythos was a way for her to avoid so much…togetherness. If I knew one thing about Madinia, it was that she preferred to be alone. And she’d been different since she returned from the hybrid camp. Before she’d left, it had seemed as if she’d softened in some ways. Now, her walls were firmly in place once more.

“Thank you.”

Rythos didn’t argue, just gave a stiff nod.

“I told you we should have killed Rothnic,” Madinia mused.

Lorian pinned her with a look. “If Rothnic had died that night, we wouldn’t have been able to free Jamic.”

Hevdrin had been mostly quiet up until now, but at that, he cleared his throat. “We need to split our forces.”

He was right. I knew he was right. That didn’t make me any happier about it.

Lorian nodded. “We need the last amulet. If we’re going to trust Kaliera—and we know for sure she wants her son—then we’ll need a larger group to go into the mine.”

Demos leaned back in his chair. “If it truly is where Regner has been breeding his monsters, we also need to find a way to wipe out as many of them as possible.”

“By now, he will have moved many of them out,” Galon said. “The attacks against both the rebel camp and Sorlithia made it clear he’s already using them.”

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