Page 108 of Clash of Storms
"It's a myth," Stellan snapped. "Everydrekican shift betweendrekiand mortal form, but to wear another's likeness? Merely an old tale spoken of by superstitious peasants."
But the queen's lips thinned.
She alone knew the truth.
"I can prove it is possible."
"Prove it?" Stellan sneered. "How?"
Sirius let the whisper of the shift sweep through his veins. It felt somewhat akin to pushing from mortal todrekiform, but slightly different. A sidestep, instead. His face morphed, pain darting through his nerves as his bones and skin shifted, and then it was done, leaving him panting in the middle of the throne room. "What do you think now, Father?"
Several of the guards took a step back. The one with the spear lowered its point to the ground in confusion as he peered between Stellan and Sirius.
Who wore his father's face.
Stellan's mouth dropped open. Sirius mimicked him, laughing as rage mottled his father's skin.
The queen stayed frozen.
"I killed the king," he told his father, "while under the queen's spell. I thought it but a dream. A nightmare. Until I came to beside his body, with my hands dripping with blood."
"You're a liar!" Stellan snapped. "Amadea had nothing to do with it."
With another faint blur, he was back in his own skin, working his mouth to ease the muscles in his cheeks.
"She had everything to do with it. Do you think I wished to kill him?" Sirius looked down, at the blood splashed across his knuckles. "For years I wasn't even truly certain if it was me. You made me kill him. And then you made me forget. But the one thing you didn't count on was the nightmares. It took me years to understand what had happened." He looked at the queen. "You were sending King Harald bad dreams, in the hope you could convince him to kill himself, and I suddenly realized what you'd done to me. You're a dreamwalker."
"That's enough. Why are you here?" the queen demanded, her skirts making a predatory swish as she paced the dais.
"I came for Andri."
Satisfaction gleamed in the queen's eyes as she exchanged a look with Stellan as if to say,see?"A risk, for we might have already taken his life."
"No." Sirius eyed her. "Father might have, but you would not allow it. Both Rurik and I care for him, which gives you leverage. Besides, if Andri were dead there'd be no reason for me not to kill you all."
The queen's fingers drummed on the back of her stolen throne, her eyes narrowing to thin slits as she paced behind it. "Ah, you always were the clever one, Sirius. My favorite nephew, truth be told. But I never trusted you. My mate paid you far too much interest. The king thought there was somethinggoodwithin you, something to be cherished and nurtured. I couldn't trust you."
"Likewise."
"Put down your swords." The queen's voice rang through the throne room.
"Do you think that makes me any less dangerous?" he mocked. Taking a step toward her, he held both blades low, slightly menacing to the guards who moved in step with him.
"Sirius?"
The voice sent a shiver down his spine. It came from behind him.
"Ah, Andri, so kind of you to join us," Stellan mused.
He and the queen shared a look, and Sirius's shoulders slumped as he gave a bitter laugh.
Stalling. Of course, the queen had been stalling. There was no other reason for her to allow him to say what he'd said. Slowly, he turned his head and laid eyes upon his brother.
And the onedrekiwho should have been in the room.
Andri's arm was slung over Balder's, his cheeks thin and sunken. Bruises still darkened the hollows under his eyes, but at least he was standing. At least he was awake.
For now.
