Page 82 of Enchanted Crown
I quickly moved her blanket as to not get any of the blood on me on her. “What can I say, I am rather efficient.”
“Noted.” Her eyes fell back closed before she added,I love you.
I love you. Even when I am pissed at you.
Today was my fault.
It was. But we will do the work together to make sure it doesn’t happen again. No more shutting me out.
At the same time her hand settled on my oblique, her beautiful green eyes opened to look at me, and I both saw and felt the emotion swirling in them.
Sleep,I commanded her.I’m here. And I’ve always got you, Es.
CHAPTER 29
“We lost the damn trail.” Zaire’s neck muscles were taut.
We were in the war room, Amory leading the meeting since Esta was still recovering. She hadn’t stirred yet.
“It was like she just disappeared into thin air,” he continued. “The felines were closing in quickly on her scent, and it altogether just dropped off.”
Otis commented, “If I didn’t know any better, I would say she’d been healed and could still fly.”
“But we do know better,” I said from my normal seat next to Whit. “And because we do, that means someone else is working with her. Someone with wings.”
“Dammit,” Zaire growled. “We were so close.”
To give Zaire credit, based on all Dex told me, Zaire had been relentless on his hunt, and Dex had also not left him alone. If I didn’t trust Dex, I would have been concerned that Zaire was the one working with Morana. That his wings had helped.
Patrols were decided upon by Malachi and Whit, but there was something about the previous day which kept bothering me.
“The burnt spot where we first spotted Enoch and Morana, what was burned?” I asked.
Nyx, who had come just for this meeting to give his perspective, chimed in, “It was a device to shoot the spears. A makeshift one. They anchored it to the ground and were able to send the spear that much farther and faster.” Our eyes met as he added. “I made sure to destroy every inch of it.”
My magic burned, ready to kill Enoch all over again.
“It could’ve been over,” Zaire continued stewing. “We could have ended this yesterday.”
“But then we would not know about this other shifter working with her. And Enoch has been dealt with,” Zaccai said wisely. “A clear threat to anyone else who dares to work with her.”
“So where does this leave us?” Amory asked. “We know she’s running. We finally know it’s her, and we know someone else is working with her.”
Nana Mallick let out a sigh. “I have spoken to her father, in only a way that a mother can. He was lucid enough when I did, but he says he had no part in it.”
“She has worked with us for years,” Otis said. “What made her snap?”
“The mortality of her own father?” Malachi asked. “The tension of knowing that her family would always be next-to but never trulyonthe throne?”
Nana added, “Jealousy is a rather compelling beast. She has always imitated our Estalena. I naively thought it was out of adoration. But she allowed that beast to fester, until she became it.”
I thought of Morana and Zaire having their moment; whether it was once or lasted a while, I didn’t know. But I also knew if the disease would not have happened, there wouldn’t have been such a ripe setting for Morana’s deceptions to work. “The disease my father thrust upon the realm did not help matters.”
Amory flashed me a quick smile. “About that.”
“My team will heal another batch of shifters today,” I told her. The half which hadn’t been actively healing shifters yesterday would take their turn today. “We are not worried about Morana. I’ll of course go with them, and Malachi has been kind enough to send his unit to help again. If we stop healing Dra Skor, then Morana wins. We willnotcower.”
Amory’s eyes went to Malachi’s before landing back on mine. “It is not that, though thank you both for your efforts in keeping to the lottery.”
