Page 46 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
“I heard that,” a disembodied, gruff voice said from somewhere on Allie’s end of the portal.
“Good, I wasn’t whispering,” she called over her shoulder, the mask of the vicious, prideful Huntress slipping on seamlessly. “Stop eavesdropping.”
“I would if you didn’t curse my Clan–loudly–each opportunity you get.”
“I can’t help myself, it’s such a fertile conversational subject.”
A door slammed somewhere behind Allie. She growled, showing her teeth and all, before turning back to me. Her unflinching mask melted away. The corners of her lips drooped, her green eyes lost the fire in them, and her shoulders sagged.
She looked defeated.
“I really want to hug you right now,” I whispered, as if afraid I would somehow blow the portal out of existence. It shimmered and floated, soft as a feather in the wind.
I’d missed Allie and my cousins so damn much.
“We have to settle for words.” She sighed. “How are you, Evie?”
“Alive. How areyou?” I bit the inside of my cheek. “I heard about uncle Alaric. I’m so sorry–”
“I can’t.” Allie averted her gaze. In that simple movement, I saw the weight of the world flash in her eyes. “Not yet.”
“I understand.” I still couldn’t talk about my parents, either. Perhaps it was a Protectorate tradition, to bottle the feelings inside until they macerated into a wound that scarred you too deep to ever patch it up. “I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”
“Thanks.” Allie sighed again, her entire body deflating. She’d lost weight. Her eyes looked hollow, and her hair had lost its wild waves. “Just…talk. I’ve missed you.”
“I missed you, too. So much.” I licked my lips. “How’s everyone else?Whereis everyone else?”
“Silas is on my throne and I can’t find out how that happened,” she rumbled. “Clara is beyond herself, her father isn’t answering any of her letters. Thankfully, Dax and Dara have spun some magical scheme and postponed meeting both of their fiances. Nobody is crying a river over that, but I can barely get a hold of them.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“None of us did. And it’s not your fault.” She waved off my concerns, then took a deep breath. “When I find out who’s behind all of this, there will be no safe place in Malhaven for them to hide.”
There was the Allie I knew and admired. Shattered over the death of her father, but still fighting. She blinked, and the steel was back in her eyes. “Now let’s get to important things. Where is the Blood Brotherhood Capital? We’ve been looking for it for decades. Centuries, really.”
“I–I don’t know exactly.” I shifted from one foot to the other. “Somewhere near a coast, but not Marea Luminara, it’s too salty and humid here. The plants don’t look like anything I’ve ever seen, lush and plump and too big.”
Allie frowned. “I’ve never seen giant plants. Do you think it’s before or after the Bone Bridge?”
“Definitely after.” According to Dormant Deserts and Daring Peaks, the famed Bone Bridge cut the sacred lake in the middle of Malhaven in four. But after the beasts had risen from its watery depths, nobody had dared cross the bridge again. All journeys had to be taken by sea, and mine had been long.
“That is far,” Allie said. “Did they blindfold you on the journey there? The bastards. I should have known–”
“No, I…” I gulped. “I fell asleep. I drank some magicked water.”
Allie rolled her eyes. “I’m not surprised. The Blood Brotherhood would stoop to any low.”
“I didn’t think about it.”
“You would have had to drink water eventually, and you’re not used to Clan ways.”
My insides twisted. One of these days, I had to stop disappointing the people I loved. Though Allie didn’t seem disappointed, I could almost hear my parents’ frustrated sighs from beyond the grave.
My face must’ve been the same shade as the red columns around me. “I want to be. I want to learn how to survive here.”
“You need to. Because not everyone in the Blood Brotherhood is pleased that you’re there.”
So people kept telling me, but it was Allie’s opinion I trusted. “Do you really think someone would risk the prince’s ire just to kill me? I’m not that important, Allie.”
