Page 118 of A Throne of Blood & Vengeance

“Wait.” Rynn suddenly sat up straighter, drawing me out of my ponderings. “‘While the Unseelie are adept at spying with their shadows, the Seelie have crafted a way to counterspy,’” she quoted. “‘By mindwalking through the minds of sentient but simpleminded creatures, they can easily put themselves in the same rooms as their completely unaware enemies. This is why we have put defensive measures in place . . .’” She trailed off, skimming the page before flipping the book to look at the cover. “I have no idea who wrote this, but it clearly wasn’t the Fae. It’s like a history of them . . . before they came to Lunaria.”

I glanced at the page, a frown forming on my lips. “It’s written in Seelie though.”

“Maybe it was translated?” We both stared at the book before looking around the room and its floor-to-ceiling shelves. “What in the fuck is this place?” Rynn murmured.

“We’ll just have to survive long enough to figure it out.” I grabbed the book and started scanning the pages until I foundwhat I was looking for—a glyph. I read the words below it, which were simple enough. Focus and intention were key. I could do this.

“Should we wait until the others get back?” Rynn asked hesitantly.

“No, they’ll just distract me.” I rose from the table, taking the book with me, and sat on the floor, crossing my legs. Then I set the book slightly to my right and bit my wrist until I tasted blood. “Besides, when I checked on Roth an hour ago, they were close to cracking how that barrier spell works, and we’re going to need that.”

“Fine,” she grumbled. “Just don’t get yourself stuck in a mouse or something, okay? I can’t be friends with you if you’re food.”

I rolled my eyes as I dipped my fingers in the blood flowing from my wrist and drew the glyph on the floor. “Noted.”

Rynn moved to sit beside me. For all her concern, I could feel the excitement practically rolling off her. This was a new spell, unlike anything we’d ever done before.

Following the instructions from the text, I rested my fingertips on the blood of the outer circle of the glyph that vaguely resembled an eye. Then I closed my eyes and focused on my intention, feeling it wrap around the magic that flowed through my veins before pushing it into the glyph.

Sometimes, when I’m sleeping soundly, I jerk awake with the intense feeling of falling.

This was exactly like that.

When my eyes flew open seconds later, they were not my eyes . . . and I couldn’t even close them.

Well, this was weird.

My body wrapped around a vine and continued its upward climb along a stone wall. There was a quick tongue flick, and suddenly, I was processing a bunch of different scents from theair. The blooming flowers, the dust that collected in the cracks of the stones, and the delicious bird perched somewhere above me.

Moons fucking damn me.

I was sharing the mind of a snake. With a careful, gentle nudge, I requested that it turn its head so I could look at myself. A flicker of annoyance brushed against my mind, but then the world tilted and I was looking down at a long, scaled body with an iridescent sheen, rainbows dancing across my scales with every movement.

Well, at least I was a pretty snake.

Umm, sorry about this?I thought loudly.Promise you’ll get that tasty snack of a bird later. I just need to borrow you for a few minutes.

More annoyance.

Apparently, snakes had a one-track mind when it came to food.

I didn’t exactly take over control of the snake’s body, it was more like I prodded it into doing what I wanted. We continued climbing up the vine for another few feet and then slid through a window, curling our tail around the bars and dangling into the room.

When I’d formed my intention for the spell, I’d focused on getting as close to the crown as possible. Despite Rynn’s joke about me not taking over a mouse . . . I’d totally thought I was going to end up in a mouse. They were everywhere, so it had seemed like a logical assumption.

Rynn had a thing about snakes though, so I’d have to lie to her about this.

I looked through the serpent’s eyes at the room we were hanging in. It didn’t see colors the way I was used to. The blues and greens felt so much more vivid, and its depth perception was different than mine. Despite the differences, I was able to make everything out just fine.

We were high up in a small space; the ground was almost twenty feet below us and the walls were circular. A turret, maybe? Probably one close to the top of the Sovereign House? Because that’s definitely where we were. I’d recognized enough of the landscape when we’d been outside to confirm our whereabouts.

There was nothing else in the room besides the table in the center. It was made of the same stone as the floor and walls, and resting on its smooth surface was the soul crown.

Samara?a familiar voice tentatively asked.

Yes?I had no idea why I’d answered the crown’s question with one of my own. If I had hands, I would have been slapping my own face right now.

Why do you feel . . . strange?

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