Page 77 of When Storms Collide

He lay across the sheets, shirtless, his skin spells on full display. He had other tattoos dancing across his chest, too. Just like hisson. He was barefoot, his arms folded behind his head, a deep grin playing on his lips.

“I do believe the stress of losing my precious Noctani aged me ten years,” she replied, leaving the vanity to join Zachariah on the bed.

She curled against him, her hand on his chest as she gazed up at him.

Oh… Mother above.

That was… that was twisted. I know Nik had said she was working with him, but I hadn’t realized she waswithhim. After she had been with his son? She was much older than Nik, but I hadn’t imagined anything going on between her and Nik’s much older father when Zachariah had appeared at her side in Siraleth.

That answered the question of whether she knew of the fate of her Noctani, though. We had painstakingly taken the time to bury all the bodies—Noctani included—but somehow she knew.

“My Queen, you haven’t aged a day.”

Her dark gaze traveled down the muscles of his abdomen and I tried to push out of the dream, fearful that I might be forced to witness something I most certainly didn’t want to.

“I wonder when Nikolai will be back,” she mused, her voice taunting.

“You don’t think he was killed with the others?” Zachariah asked, his brow raised as he gazed down at her.

Donika laughed, and the sound sent a shiver down to my toes. “You underestimate your son, Zachariah. Not only would they not have had the heart to kill him, but he would never let them. He is faster and stronger than even their best soldier.”

“Then he will be back,” Zachariah mused, nodding.

So… they didn’t know Nikolai’s location, and they didn’t know about the antidote, either. That was good. Very good. We could use that to our advantage, especially with one antidote left to spare. It will come as a shock to Donika when we march against her, a perfectly mortal Nikolai at my side.

If he was up to it.

She couldn’t know the damage turning him Noctani had caused him, not that she would care. They didn’t call her the Black Heart for nothing.

“I must say, Isaac’s passing threw a wrench into my plans,” Donika admitted, tracing her long, delicate finger against him.

I wasn’t fooled by her appearance, there was nothing delicate about her.

“You’ll have the little Stormshade bitch’s magic soon enough, you won’t need his,” he assured her.

“No… ” her voice was cutting. “I won’tneedhis, but I wanted it.”

Zachariah laughed, his pearly teeth on full display. “My Queen, you will have so much magic you won’t know what to do with it.”

Her sinister lips lifted into a malicious smile. “I’ll knowexactlywhat to do with it.”

Donika hadn’t known we killed her contingent of Noctani until Isaac’s magic had left her, another win for us. Another thing she hadn’t planned. We might not have the upper hand in this, but she wasn’t predicting our movements, and I was relieved at that.

“How many Noctani does that leave us with?” he asked, stroking his hand against hervibrant hair.

Donika thought for a moment, her gaze on the ceiling. “About forty, give or take.” Her laugh made my stomach fall, a stone in my gut. “Luckily, the Araneoch are much easier to make.”

No.

Oh no.

We had no idea how many of those she had created, and with their size and poisonous pincers they were equally dangerous. They couldn’t steal our magic, but they could kill us all the same. I had never seen where she was creating the monsters, where she was keeping them. My dreams never showed them to me. How many were there, if they were soeasyto make? Tens? Hundreds?

I needed to find out before we marched on The Stone City. I needed to figure out how to leave a token and dream walk wherever I wanted, as Corian had. I needed to find out what we were up against so that we weren’t going in blind.

I tried to pull out of the dream once more, but it held me firmly. It was as if I were underwater, their voices becoming harder and harder to hear. I knew I was waking up, but it was taking longer than I would have liked.

“No one is as smart as you, my darling,” Zachariah rumbled against her cheek, grasping her face in his palm and capturing her mouth with his.

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