Page 33 of The Court of Secrets
Tears swam in my eyes. “I don’t want to be alone.”
“You won’t be.” He looked around the room. “I don’t fully understand your culture, and yes, some of it is questionable, but I see the incredible change you’re bringing already. I believe you can be the leader these people need. You have Morgana.”
I gulped. I hadn’t spoken to her since. I think, in a way, we were both nervous to be around each other. The necromancer was such a big thing to tackle, and neither she nor I had the energy to do it. “Yes.” My gaze found Marissa in the crowd. “I suppose I’ll have Marissa. I like Amara too.”
“There.” He smiled a sad smile, then held my hand. I should have told him no, but his touch was needed. Wanted. “Just do me one favor, Winter.”
“What?”
“I saw the way you lit up when you saw the peace treaty. Do what you need to do to keep peace between your kingdoms, but don’t trust Blaise. He’s dangerous. I’ve heard stories about him. Some maybe you don’t know. He manipulates you. I saw it when we were in Niferum. I think he likes you, but the way he shows it isn’t right. You deserve better than him.”
I blinked back tears. “I don’t want him, Cedric.”
He cast his eyes downward. “We both know that’s not entirely true. Don’t forget, I can tell when you’re lying.”
My stomach flipped. “What bad things have you heard?”
“He drove a girl to madness, to becoming a feral fae. Then she died. He’s slept with many women and broke their hearts. He would drink and scheme. There’s even a rumor he killed his father in cold blood. He plays with people’s emotions. I know,occasionally, we all have to betray the people we care about to do the right thing, but he does it all the time, for the wrong reasons. Just be careful.”
His horrified expression paused me. My mouth felt horribly dry. “What if there was good reason for it?”
“Don’t defend him.” He shook his head, his expression shrouded in disappointment. “How can any reason be good enough for those things? If you think him redeemable, then you’re not the person I thought you were.”
“You’re so blinded by hatred for him, you don’t see what I do.”
“I can’t believe you’re defending him.”
Our conversation was beginning to call attention our way. “We will discuss this later.”
He stepped back, then put his hands in the air. “We don’t have anything moretodiscuss.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
I stormed back to my room as midnight chimed. Anger kept me awake. I was being left… again. Something about Cedric was off. He kept talking about Blaise so much, I was starting to wonder if he was the one who was obsessed with him.
I punched the bed and realized I hadn’t taken the second dose of the potion to keep the necromancer’s presence suppressed. I looked around for it, but my mind was fuzzy. Black dots floated in my vision as the pull for slumber was too strong to resist. I felt emotionally and physically drained, and the bed was a warm embrace filled with blankets and duck-feather pillows.
Snuggling against my mattress, I drifted into blackness.
I had barely fallen asleep when I was awake again, but things were distorted. Stone walls brightened from the shadows as the lamps flickered on. Air swept through the open window, circulating cold around my bedroom. Pale moonlight illuminated crimson-soaked gray. The floor was covered in drying blood; next to it, a body.
“What’s happening?” My voice echoed. I whipped my head around, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood erect. The floor felt icy my bare feet. The candle in my hands shook and the flame died, leaving a trail of smoke climbing upward. “Hello?”
I jolted back when I saw a pair of soulless gray eyes watching me. His stare latched onto mine, unwilling to relent the tug-of-war between my conscious and subconscious. It was growing darker. The corners of his lips curled into a sadistic smile. There was no humanity left in him, not even a scrap. He was darkness incarnate. Blaise had once told me the tale of Evangeline. It spun back into my mind, painting a story of the girl who defeated the necromancer’s hold over her, with death.
“You’re the necromancer,” I stated. My breath fogged in the air. The temperature dropped a few degrees. A shiver snaked down my spine, and I shuddered it away.
“Good observation.” He turned his back to me, looking at the body on the floor instead. “It’s a shame about your father. He was a man who knew what he wanted.” He waved his hand in the air. “It’s a pity I only got to meet him through the eyes of others.”
“Others?”
“Those who use sacrificial magic.” He picked at his nails, which looked like talons. He looked not from this world. “They never last long, but you and Morgana, you’re tough.”
My eyes narrowed. “We are. You’re in my mind.” I could sense the coldness prickling every part of me numb in my waking life. “How did you attach yourself to me? Was it while I was on the other side? I wasn’t a part of the deal.”
Not that I wanted Morgana to be either, but he’d not stuck to their agreement, and I needed to know why.
“A part of you always belonged to me, Winter Mortis.” He tilted his head. “The first time you used dark magic, you opened a door. Your ancestors temporarily blocked it, but I knew eventually I would find a way in. To have a queen in my pocket… and now I do.”
