Page 73 of Seduced By Darkness
I’ve never had a dream. I’ve never dared.
But hearing his words, hearing the yearning in his voice…. I want that too. And maybe this was reckless, maybe it will bring ruin, but it feels like I’m setting fire to the old Vi and out of her ashes dawns anewversion. A phoenix of resurrection that will forge me into something whole, something stronger, something that can take on the world and win.
I want tobethis Vi.
He’s given me that.
The chance to bloom.
I won’t ever let him surrender to the weight that bears him down.
13
Thiago
The final morning of the queensmoot dawns, and with it, the last meeting of the alliance.
The Council of Queens makes its way toward the enormous rocky outcropping that looms over the field of tents.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Eris tells me.
So do I. “Enough, Eris. It’s done.”
I’m still wearing the braided strip of material around my wrist that bound me to Vi for the night. When dawn kissed the sky she slipped from my arms, pressing a finger to my lips to still my protest before she kissed me.
“I have to return,” she whispered. “Just this once. My mother must never suspect what has happened until it’s too late. We don’t dare give her the opportunity to plan ahead.”
We spent half the night plotting together about how to play this.
Adaia’s fury is a storm. It builds and builds and builds, finally breaking over you and hammering you until you’re bloody and defeated. We can’t afford to have her forewarned. Vi is leaving with me as soon as this meeting is done, before Adaia has time to launch a counterattack.
Eris chafes at the order, but she nods. “Fine. The tents are being stripped as we speak. Lysander’s in charge. He thinks we should be packed and prepared to evacuate within the hour. Baylor’s got ten warriors nearby, just in case. We didn’t dare bring any more. We leave as soon as this is done.”
I nod and duck beneath the lintel stones of the Hallow.
Adaia shoots me a glare from where she’s murmuring something to Maren. Lucidia merely looks curious, as if wondering why I changed my mind about our negotiations yesterday.
Kyrian is late, as usual, taking his seat soon after I take mine.
I’ve barely seen him this queensmoot and the look he shoots me says he’s aware of it.
Something I should know about,asks the quirk of his brow.
“Another chair, if you will?” I say to the attendant, loudly enough to snag the attention of my fellow rulers.
The attendant blinks. This is unheard of, and yet he snaps his fingers and a chair is produced, albeit somewhat less ornate than the one I—and the other rulers—sit in.
Four sets of eyes lock upon me.
“You need two chairs, Thiago?” Adaia’s lip curls in disdain.
“Perhaps it’s for his ego,” Maren murmurs, smirking into the glass of water one of her servants has produced. She looks like she spent the night frolicking and is paying for her sins this morning.
Lucidia’s eyes narrow. She alone seems to sense the tides shifting.
“Yesterday, when we met, I spoke of peace,” I reply, lounging back in the thronelike chair. “I offered a conciliatory gesture toward the Queen of Asturia, and I am here to hammer out the details of such an arrangement.”
“Mistmere is not yours to offer,” Adaia hisses, no doubt smarting from the loss of her bargaining chip.
