Page 157 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
My eyebrows flew toward my wind-swept hair. “Price?”
A hot coil of fury roiled inside of me. To think I could be bribed away from Zandyr awoke a fiery being that wanted to roar in Valuta’s face until she cowered.
There was no separating us.
I blinked against the intense emotion ravaging through me. That was new.
“Yes, yes,” Valuta said impatiently. “You were about to marry one heir for riches, now I’m giving you the same option tonotmarry ours. We have an island off the coast, completely secluded. You could stay there for a year or two, until everyone forgets your name once more, and then rebuild whatever life you want with the gold we’ll give you to vanish from Phoenix Peak without a trace. More than you or your servants can carry.”
I was left speechless, staring at her. Instead of a threat, she was offering me a deal? She also thought I’dwantedto marry Fabrian. For riches, of all things. Curious.
This didn’t feel right. But there was a desperation in her eyes, fighting not to be shown. Perhaps I hadn’t been the only one rattled by the Oracle’s words.
Zandyr believed the prophecy meant I wouldn’t be assassinated. Perhaps Valuta thought the same.
She mistook my pause, though, and a slow, sleazy smile appeared on her face, which surely had been beautiful at one point. “You can live however you want. No more rituals that scare you, no more rules you don’t understand–” She’d been watching metooclosely. How? “You can exist in your own little world, with your own little glimmers of happiness. That you decide. Nobody else.”
My heart thudded. Could I? Should I? Right here, where Valuta and dozens of eyes watched me?
I gulped.
“Yes, that’s it,” Valuta hissed, satisfied. A curious wind blew around us, a tangy taste on the tip of my tongue as she leaned closer, whispering right next to my ear. “You won’t have to play to anyone else’s whims.”
Just as my thoughts turned hazy, the pocket of power inside of me pulsed in warning. Magic. She was using her wretched powers on me.
I gulped again, standing perfectly still as my own power heated my chest.
Protect me, protect me, protect me.
But it sounded so good, all the sweet words dripping from her mouth.
“You get to decide your own fate and I can make it happen,” she said, her voice now a lullaby, singing to my senses. “No more fearing for your life.Ever. But if you don’t accept, you will never be safe in Phoenix Peak.”
Ah, there was the threat. My chest heated up even more, the blood in the vials swirling around.
I licked my lips.Stay strong, you can do it.
“How do I know that I can trust you?” I whispered.
“How can you not trust me, Evie? I only ever wanted what was best for you,” Valuta went on and, gods above, her voice started to resemble my mother’s. “I did everything in my power to keep you away from the Blood Brotherhood. So the prince could never find you. Now listen to me and go. Disappear.”
“How–how do I know the prince won’t come looking for me?”
“We will hide you well, even from his most keen trackers. And we will make sure he has other things to preoccupy him after you’re gone. You will be free.”
“I–” I sucked in gulp of air after gulp of air, but it still didn’t feel like enough; my power would cook me alive if I didn’t stopthis sham of a negotiation and release it. “I need to think about it.”
Valuta hummed low in her throat. “Until when?”
“The night before the wedding. Make good on your promise of riches, and we’ll talk.”
“We have an agreement,” Valuta purred, pulling back with a mean glimmer slicing through her gaze. “I knew I could reason with you. After all, who would want to live their life constantly looking over their shoulder? The night before the wedding, I’ll send my guards. Ready a carriage and leave it outside your fence, near the end of the path. You will have safe passage outside of Phoenix Peak.”
I nodded, body numb and overheated, and watched her leave in all her silken glory. Only when the crackle of her dress vanished did I move. My power receded back into its little pocket, draining my energy along the way.
Valuta’s syrupy voice haunted me all the way back to the house. I barged in, sweat dripping from my forehead, even as my limbs felt icy.
I pushed past the numbness threatening to consume me.
