Page 156 of Crown of Briars
“Yes,” I said tightly. “We consummated.”
She let out a harsh chuckle, shaking her head as if I were a child. “Oh, Varius. How could you be so foolish?”
I glared at her. “What the hell are you talking about? She is my wife.”
“She’s a traitor!”
Shadows pooled around us as I bared my fangs at her. “She isnot. She swore it in blood.”
Tislora didn’t need to know that Sybelle had fae blood. Even humans could make blood vows with the fae, and it would bind them the same way.
“Did you tell her?”
I froze.
“Did you tell her that her life would be sacrificed to the curse, like all the other human brides?” Tislora asked in a hard voice.
I held my breath, my chest knotting so tightly I couldn’t breathe.
“No,” I said, my voice strained. “But I will tell her soon. And Iwillfind another way.”
I would save Sybelle from this fate. I would not lose her to the same dark magic that had already taken so many other lives.
“Damn it, Varius, the Necro Shadows are getting closer. Youknowthe only thing that can hold them off is blood from your line and from hers. You need to feed them. Our time is running out.”
I shook my head as raging thoughts clouded my mind. Thoughts of death and destruction. The image of the Pern District that had been devoured by the shadow storm appeared in my head.
“But perhaps consummation is the best thing right now,” Tislora mused. “It will strengthen your bond with her and make the elixir more potent.” She glanced at the jar in her hand, frowning at its contents. “Perhaps that will solve the problem.Something is off with my supply of powdered hellebore leaves. I think it might be?—”
“There will be no more elixirs,” I growled. “I will not subject Sybelle to the same fate as the others.”
Tislora blinked, then lowered the vial. “But you would doom your people to destruction at the hands of the Necro Shadows?” she shot back.
I ran a hand through my hair as my shadows thickened on the floor at our feet. This argument wasn’t helping things.
“This isn’t why I sought you out,” I said.
“Then, why did you?”
I paused. The last thing I needed was for Tislora to find out Sybelle and I had consummated our marriage, only for me to turn around and accuse her of treachery… at Sybelle’s suggestion.
I would need to word this carefully.
I cleared my throat. “I need to ask you something of a sensitive nature.”
She placed the vial in her satchel and crossed her arms, her nostrils flaring. Already, I could sense her ire brewing. “What is it?”
“I need to know where you came from before you began working at Agnarr Castle.” Even when I was a boy, Tislora had been here, working alongside my father. She had resided here even longer than I had.
I knew nothing of her background or her history. And now I realized just how alarming that was.
Tislora’s eyes became tiny slits. “Why?”
“Something about the original sorceress’s spell mentioned her bloodline living on,” I said, trying to avoid mentioning Sybelle’s involvement. “I just want to know if you knew any of the witches who lived here before—” I broke off with a wince.
“Before King Ragnus slaughtered them all?” she asked sharply.
“Yes.” I met her gaze to show her that I knew just how abominable my ancestor had been. I did not condone his actions at all.
