Page 52 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
Lies. “I am the Protectorate heir–”
“You were. Silas has seized the throne.”
The room rushed around me as my heart plummeted near my dangling shoe.
Silas?
FuckingSilas?
“You’re lying,” I said, not believing my own words. “Uncle Maks would not stand for this–”
“He’s missing.”
The cracks in my heart deepened. “My cousins–”
“Are all incapacitated at the moment.”
“Incapacitatedhow?” My hiss blended in with the snap from the fire. It reminded me too much of that blasted mist creeping toward me.
The Commander sighed, as if he’d rather be anywhere else than here. “The Lost Daughter agreed to marry The Dragon. She’s in the Blood Brotherhood Capital as we speak.”
Oh, Evie. I truly did care for her, but she had disgusting taste in the men she agreed to wed.
Perhaps she did it out of fear. To protect us. Maybe because The Dragon had killed Fabrian.
What mattered was that she’d reached the secluded heart of the enemy Clan. The one the Protectorate had never been able to find.
Maybe we could use that. Evie didn’t have a shrewd bone in her body, but perhaps she could be coached–
“As for the rest of you Vegheara lot, the Clan Council was livid at what happened on your island. It has decreed the easiest way to prevent a Clan war is to tie your fates to the Blood Brotherhood Elite.” He paused for the briefestmoment. Hesitation? A way to make me hang onto his words? “Congratulations, you’re getting married.”
Laughter resounded all around us.
Only when it roared in my ears did I realize it was my voice.
Mydesperate and dark laughter.
I was truly reaching my wits’ end.
Perhaps this might truly break me, shattering me like glass.
“Who’s–” I licked my lips, struggling to speak past the frenzied giggles. “–who’s the lucky guy?”
“Me.”
I laughed harder.
My entire body shook and ached, as it tried to relieve some of the tension threatening to split me from the inside out.
“Do you need a healer?” he asked. This time, I could clearly detect the concern in his words.
Yes, yes, The Huntress was losing her mind.
“I think–” I sucked in breath after breath, trying to calm myself. My jagged bottle was still aimed at him. “–I think I need a crone from the Shuddering Isles, because I’m clearly cursed. Or dead, and paying for my sins.”
“Perhaps we should continue this another–”
“No.” That lone word slashed through the echoes of laughter. “Tell me everything.”
