Page 143 of A Crown Without Mercy

One warrior walked between the others and nodded at Calista. “I am here to escort you to your chamber, milady.”

“Calista?” Lenora said. When she didn’t respond, she squeezed her hand. “Calista, you can stay with me and the girls in mine and Tobias’s chamber. You shouldn’t be alone.”

Venthana placed her hand on Calista’s lower back and wiped the tears off her cheek with her thumb. “It will be okay, darling.”I simply can’t lose Sylvana.She has to be okay,Venthana thought.

Lenora looked at Victor. “Please fetch Mira. She is in the west tower.”

“Yes, milady. I will have another bring her to you, but I must insist we move.”

Flames rose from the Mercurial symbol sitting a-top of the tower and it was not long before a wave of warriors spilled over the hills and into the valley below, while the Mercurial Guardians lined up along the large parapet beneath Vispera’s tower. She stepped forward, her right hand gripping the jeweled hilt of her sword as if she were prepared to remove it from its leather scabbard attached to her left hip. Her right shoulder was protected by silver, three-layered, rounded rerebraces tucked tightly under her shoulder plate, while smaller layers ran down her arm, stopping just shy of her wrist. Two shadow-black wings, shimmering in shades of iridescent green, woven into the braids just above her ears, fluttered with the gentle breeze.

She held up her hand and the sounds of the warriors pounding their swords against their shields fell still. “Ranan has slain your High Lord Dronve, whose corpse now rests on thy sacred altar! Ranan is a traitor, and we shall show nay mercy! Arise with courage and meet our enemy visage to visage, sword to flesh and staff to bone. Arise and put your armor on and let them hear our cries of triumph. Arise and paint thy forest with thy blood of thy soulless wolf!”

Chapter 20

Kadricpacedbackandforth after having searched every corner of the cell looking for any sign of weakness when he felt a presence behind him, he spun around and noticed a spectral form that appeared to be walking through the stone wall and a cold chill swept over his body.Vispera?he wondered.

“No, my love,” a seraphic voice said.

“Myrine?” he questioned.

“Yes, darling,” she replied, as her evanescent form took shape.

I see with my own eyes, but I don’t believe it. It has to be the Faye tonic. Unless Vispera is fucking with my mind,he thought, as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He then felt a coolness on his cheek; his eyes snapped opened and Myrine was standing before him, having cupped his cheek in her hand.

“Darling, I am here,” she said.

“How—this can’t be—you can’t be?”

“In this world, our presence dwells in the eternal light. We hear all, we know all, we see all.”

“I don’t understand?” Kadric replied.

Kadric felt Myrine wrap her arms around his neck, and he held her in a tight embrace. “How is this possible? I can feel you. I can smell you,” he whispered.

“I have missed you my love. Nothing else matters.”

“Why did you do it? Why did you take your own life?”

“My blood is all they needed to solidify their powers.”

Kadric pulled back, ever so slightly and looked into her eyes. “I will avenge you, my love, for all they have stolen from us and our bairns.”

“Tell me about them,” she requested.

“Alaric is strong and ambitious and Sylvana is as spirited and stubborn as her mother.” He winked. “Calista is stoic and reasonable, and Mira is a spitting image of you, and as impetuous as ever.”

“I would die a thousand more deaths if it meant I could hold our bairns one more time,” she replied.

Kadric placed his forehead on hers. “I would choose to die here and now if it meant I could be with you, but our bairns are being hunted by both Faye and Lycan.”

“Yes, and it is time for you to go to them,” she replied.

He pulled back and tilted his head. “How?”

“Come, my love. I will guide you, but you need to feed from me first.”

“Feed from you? Is that possible?”

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