Page 79 of Heart of Night
Clio huffs a chuckle, which Myron pointedly ignores.
“We all know you for your lack of wisdom, King of Crows,” she shoots at him as if he’s an inconvenience on her path to free her mate when, in reality, he’s the best asset she has.
“Is that so?” Myron’s head cocks like in his bird form, muscles flexing down his bare back, and I could swear a shadow flickers along his arm.
“Wasn’t it you who traded all hope of breaking a curse for the freedom of one female?” I don’t recognize Clio’s tone, and I don’t appreciate it.
I understand she’s worried about Astorian, ready to run to his aid right now, but insulting Myron will not lead anywhere. It won’t free the males we’ve left behind.
“I’ve done exactly that and worse,” he admits, not one hint of pride in his tone. No shame either. “And I’d do it again. For my mate’s safety, I’d sacrifice my kingdom. For my mate’s freedom, I’d sacrifice myself all over again.”
“No sacrificing.” I stand between them like a buffer absorbing the rising enmity. “It’s not his fault Astorian ended up in captivity.” It’s the only reason I can imagine Clio behaving so openly hostile. She must be blaming him for Tori’s misery. “It’s not anyone’s fault but Ephegos’s and Erina’s.” Those scheming bastards.
“And the Flames,” Kaira adds quietly, all heads turning to her as she saves me from having to physically restrain Clio as she hops to her feet, more graceful than a human should be capable of—because her fairy powers are returning. Slowly. But they are.
“Jeseida is the one who worked with Ephegos and Erina on the drug. She’s the one who used the Crows the Flames captured to draw magic from their blood.”
Her words land like rocks between us, knocking the air from my lungs.
“You knew? You knew what they were giving me all this time?” It’s an accusation as much as it’s a statement of relief. Knowledge is power, and we need every last bit of information we can get in order to defeat Ephegos because I’m certain that, once we enter the palace, he won’t let us go without a fight.
“I’m sorry,” Kaira says into my mind. Aloud she says, “I told you I’d been looking for a way to leave the Flames. When Jeseida started working with Ephegos, I realized that the world is bigger than just the Flame estate and the Seeing Forest and our ancient palace that our Matrone so desperately wanted back. Ephegos came with ideas of grandeur that Jeseida wouldn’t let go of. A new Flame kingdom, a world where Fairies can no longer annihilate our whole species the way the Crows did when they took the Seeing Forest from us.” There is no bitterness in her tone, but it’s clear Jeseida would do anything to achieve that goal.
A goal so similar to Ephegos’s: Reestablish the Crow Realm.
How those two goals work together without another war, I cannot fathom, and I don’t need to. Somehow, Erina got involved, using that substance made of Crow blood to his own advantage—to expand his own realm.
“Exactly,” Kaira responds to what she read from my mind, and I don’t care, as long as we find a way to stop them.
“Jeseida was the one who captured us,” Myron assumes, and Kaira bobs her head.
“If you mean an older Flame with fire-red hair, then yes, that’s her.”
“She trapped us. Poured that damn drug over us to break down our powers.” The horror spreading in my stomach matches the expression on his face.
I sit back on the crate, lacing my fingers with his again to reassure myself he got out, but the thundering of my heart won’t ease.
I say the one thing that keeps pushing to the foreground as we sit together, putting our plan together. “This is bigger than just Ephegos’s revenge on Myron.”
Clio nods then shakes her head. “I don’t care how big this is before I have Tori back.”
And I cannot blame her. I felt the same way less than an hour ago when I didn’t know if Myron was being tortured or already dead. Or if Erina and Ephegos had even worse planned for him.
I reach across the puddle of water at my feet, wondering when my magic will be strong enough again to weave an armor of liquid and slit throats with strings of it again. It simmers beneath my skin now, there enough to give me hope, but not yet strong enough to give me confidence.
“We’ll get him out. All of them.” I turn to Myron, watching the guilt dipping his shoulders at the thought of Royad and Silas, before I turn to Kaira. “And Herinor.”
Her lips tighten. “I wish that was possible. Ephegos will never release him from the bargain he made.”
To my surprise, Kaira’s pain pacifies Clio enough to give her a smile of support. “Then we kill Ephegos.”
Morning light creeps in through the windows as we wait for something to happen. Myron’s magic hasn’t stirred, and Clio still hasn’t summoned more than a snowflake.
My own power is increasing though. By the time we have some of the food Kaira brought, I’ve dried Myron’s leather pants by pulling out the water with my power and sent the puddle into the vomit corner to wash away all traces of our detoxing.
To my surprise, Myron hasn’t hurled up his guts yet, so the dosage they gave him must have been so strong it hasn’t started wearing off. But once it does, he’ll follow in our footsteps.
By the time the sun sets, he’s on his knees, gracing the corner with his retching, and I sit beside him on a crate, brushing my hand over his back in slow, soothing strokes. Clio eyes us from the other side of the room, her impatience written on her features as she tries to make the rain freeze on the windowsill. Tiny streaks of ice are lacing the broken glass as night falls over the city of Meer, tinting the room once more in darkness and starlight.