Page 10 of Enchanted Crown
I slid off Esta as she shifted back to her human form to approach with me.
“I am going to have Amory here remove her paw from your back only for you to face us,” Esta explained calmly. “It is in your best interest not to even attempt to run. No shadows can save you from the power of shifters surrounding you right now.”
Amory sunk in her claws gently, as if to prove the point.
“I just wanted to see it for myself,” the muffled voice defended as he gasped out in pain.
My eyes went to Owen’s. I recognized that voice. I wasn’t sure from where.
Without delay I walked over to the man, pulling his face up from the ground by the hair.“You.”
CHAPTER 5
“You have no fewer than four seconds to start talking before I kill you.” I felt my magic building and burning beneath my skin.
“How do you know him?” Esta asked.
“He was on the ship,” Owen explained. The ship when we left in a hurry with Kian behind us. He had been in the lookout more than once. And had been on board offshore Dra Skor one of the other trips back and forth. The trip that brought Jorah and Owen here last time around. He had helped her off the ship into the smaller one that brought her feet to Dra Skor.
“I am originally from Agria, obviously,” the man offered as Amory let up softly and he was finally able to turn around. “My name is the same one the crew knew me as, Lorenzo.”
Keir?Amory asked.You wanna do that thing where you freeze someone? That way I don’t puncture something vital.
“Gladly.” I sent my magic out to encase him, starting with his hands in case Agrian Enchanted worked similar to our own in that their hands called out to the shadows. And then I willed it to wraparound him. Within moments, his fate rested entirely in my hands, lethal and capable of dealing the killing blow.
“I was in Wylan when the poison hit,” the man explained, talking quickly as my power continued to cover him, rendering him paralyzed. “Ten years ago, Corsha started acting odd. Cut off communications entirely. Almost as if they knew something we didn’t. Since they get visions, seemed obvious it was exactly that, they knew something was coming that we did not. We tried to reach out on multiple occasions, but they would never receive anything. We’ve gone to their shores multiple times the past few years, only to find their islands deserted.”
White fuzz bumped into my side. Amory, trying to calm me down it seemed. My Enchantment pulsed with my need to fix this. More than I felt betrayed myself, I felt that I had brought this prick to Dra Skor’s shores.
“Keir, don’t kill him,” Esta added from next to me. “Let him talk.”
My eyes, lit up from how hotly I was burning, met hers as I stated, “If he is responsible for the attack on you, I will use my power to break every bone in his body, one at a time, and onlythenwill Ikill him.”
“I didn’t!” the man swore. “I promise you. I was on the ship that came back with you, remember? So I was in Wylan with you when it all happened.”
He had me there, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t responsible for everything else. Or was somehow working with our culprit, the master puppeteer behind this mess in Dra Skor.
“Who are you working for?” Esta demanded, her tone all business.
“Agria.” He looked to me. “Prince Keiran, you sent all those letters to Agria and the other countries over the years. All the correspondence. You just didn’t realize you were putting them onto theship right into the hands of an Agrian spy. I know you are nothing like your father. Learned it from years of listening and watching the Wylan royals. All I am ashore for here was to be certain that the lakes here were healed. I already saw that the queen was healed. Since I am one of two of us that still have our powers, I was sent in to see with my own eyes and report back.” He inhaled deep. “Just got caught by a patrol, or I would’ve gone right back to the ship.”
“Bold of you to assume you will be reporting back at all now,” I snapped.
“Prince Keiran,” he tried again. “You helped take down your father, you are actively righting his wrongs. Agria has no issue with you. If anything, they need your help.”
“Funny way of showing that. Where were you for the first assassination attempt?”
“The one Serkan died in?”
My Enchantment flared even harder at that name, and he visibly winced. “Sorry. And no, I was aboard the ship. Offshore. You can ask the crew members. I never left them until today.”
“You have shadow magic and most of them are human, I am not sure they will understand what you are capable of,” I argued.
Esta stepped forward. “We will not be letting you go until we know more.”
“What about for the attack on Kian?” I asked, not ready to end my interrogation yet.
“Again on the boat. I have no idea why you’d believe me, but if I really meant anyone harm, why would I wait ten years, all these trips back and forth to do so?” He gave me a shrug. “You’ve healed Dra Skor. Those rumors are reaching the entire realm. You don’t think the rest of us want to be healed too? You don’t think we deserve that?”
