Page 74 of The Court of Secrets
I inhaled sharply. His words cut deep, but I wouldn’t let my anger or pride kill Morgana. “If I was to consider agreeing to your terms, what exactly would they be?”
The corner of Morgana’s lip tugged upward as he watched me carefully, searching my gaze with intent. A shock of pain coursed through my body, as he felt me from the inside too. “I need power, to harness souls so I can come back. I also need the daughter of Xenos of Berovia.”
I had been right. The firstborn daughters were something to do with it. “Neoma.”
“She must come and perform a ritual. Her sacrifice will be sufficient payment, with the souls required to bring me back to the living, to spare you both.”
My gaze flicked around the dungeon. I didn’t want Neoma to die. My few memories of her at the castle from when I’d been kept prisoner there were fond. She was a decent person and didn’t deserve to be sacrificed. “There must be another way. Something else you want.”
“No,” he said icily.
“How many souls?”
An unsettling smile set over his expression. “A hundred.”
I closed my eyes. “I can’t kill a hundred people.”
“I’m certain you will find a way.”
I shook my head. “I won’t do it.”
“I feel her soul withering away.”
“She wouldn’t want me to do it.” I gripped the sides of the stool, my nails digging into the splintering wood. “Morgana would rather die than help you.”
“Yes. But you’re not Morgana. You’re willing to do what others won’t, for the people you love. It’s no surprise you and the faery king are drawn to one another.”
The statement was too personal, striking a chord deep inside me. Blaise had said it before. He won’t always do the right thing, but he would by me. Was I the same?
“You’re no hero, young queen,” the necromancer said slickly. “Quit trying to act like one and agree to this like we both know you will. At least now you can save Morgana from her anguish sooner rather than later.”
Tears swam in my eyes. “That was the old me. I love Morgana, but I won’t risk everything to save one person. She wouldn’t want me to. The answer is no.” My stomach hurt as the words left my lips.
He sneered. “Let me add some extra motivation, shall I? If you do agree to bring me back, I will find a way to reduce this pathetic kingdom to ash, burn your forests and crops, bring plague and disease…”
My gaze narrowed. “You couldn’t.”
“I’m inside her”—he pointed at himself—“and you. More will come along who will turn to my magic, and through each of them I will change my goal to destroying Magaelor. When I put my mind to something, I get it in the end. Are you willing to risk it?”
We stared off for a good minute, until I blinked. My lips parted, uncertainty watering my eyes. I couldn’t risk Magaelor, Morgana, and myself. If I’d had more time, perhaps I could have found a way out of it all, but time was something I didn’t have.
“Take your time.” He picked at Morgana’s nails. I slumped my head and rolled it back until I heard a pop in my neck. Everything in me ached. His presence was heavier than stone.
“Only if you leave us both now, without the need of potion. No more controlling us.”
“If you make a deal in blood, then it must be fulfilled. If you don’t, the entire kingdom will turn to ash. I’ll find a way. It may not be this year, or the next, but at some point during your reign, you will see everything you love disappear.”
I believed him. My words shook as they left my lips. “I agree to your terms. We have a deal.”
He approached the bars, the shackles pulling the chains along the ground, chinking over small stones. “You have seven days to prepare. On the seventh day, bring me back, when the moon is full.”
“Why when it’s full?”
“Full moons are the ideal time to perform a ritual.” He looked me up and down one last time and closed Morgana’s eyelids.
Morgana collapsed to the ground at the same time the heaviness lifted from me. He had gone, as he’d promised, and now I had to kill the same people I’d sworn to protect.
***
