Lachlan was readying the launch, checking his weapons, doing all he could to keep himself busy. “Let’s go.”
A flash of pale, shiny flesh broke through the water below us as the monster writhed. “I need to get us past that first. Then we’ll start our search in the keep.” I remembered the stones and torches surrounding Eusia’s pool from my vision. “Eusia’s inside somewhere.”
Halla’s head snapped toward me. “How do you know that?” It was remarkable how still she went. She all but trembled with interest.
“Halla,” I said, in a tone that forced her to meet my eye. “The spell I need you to perform will kill Eusia, do you understand? I cannot do it. Only you. And I will only take you with me onto that island if you agree to perform it.”
Her gaze was unwavering, but I noticed how her breaths went thin, how her fingers twisted into her wrinkled skirt. She nodded her agreement. I had no choice but to believe that she meant it, for my alternative was one that I’d not yet let myself fully accept:
That in order to kill Eusia, I would have to kill myself.
Halla looked longingly toward the island. “What I said to you was true,” she said. “I do not wish to see any others harmed by my mother’s schemes.” She straightened on the bench with an ethereal sort of grace. “My husband will join us. In case I’m injured in some way.”
There was no stifling my jolt. “Absolutely not.”
Halla tipped up her chin. “Then I’m not going.”
Before I’d even realized he was there, Theodore gripped the side of the launch, preparing to climb in.
I pushed hard against his shoulder, swaying the launch on its lines. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Those on the deck watched us. Marshal Baros and Steward Gabros. Courtiers, soldiers, crew.
“Your Majesty,” Theodore said with skilled composure. In his hand he held a small, leather-bound tome. Its gilded title readA New Age of Terrible Magic.He lifted the book slightly and gave me a meaningful look. “As Halla said, I am coming to see thateveryoneremains safe.”
The hot air between us charged. My stomach sank with certainty. Theodore knew, or at least suspected, what I would do if the spell failed. And he was going to try to stop me.
Lachlan was starting on the pulleys. “Quickly.”
My mind was already decided. Eusia was desperate for Theodore’s blood. There was no way in all the kingdoms that I’d deliver him up to her so easily.
Dark locks of hair stuck to the sweat on his brow. He’d removed his black coat, and his white shirt was undone at the neck, the sleeves rolled high.
“You cannot come,” I insisted.
He narrowed those green eyes in a stony challenge. “What if Agatha needs healing?”
I scowled, and spoke under my breath. “Don’t do that.”
Theodore’s resolve hardened. He glanced at all the faces watching us, then in one strong movement climbed into the launch. He sat right next to me and spoke quietly. “Are you upset at me for applying some reason to these circumstances?” He crossed his arms over his broad chest, book still in his fist. “Gods forbid.”
“I don’t want you using my worry for Agatha against me like that,” I hissed. “I am trying to keepyousafe too, you brute.”
Despite his frustration, his gaze clung to my lips. “Why is it that your worry for me gets to be wildly reckless, but not mine for you?”
“Because you have more to lose than I do.” I spoke in a rush of emotion. “You have an entire kingdom to keep safe, a council to keep placated and convinced that you are a sound ruler. Leucosia cannot spare you, but it would carry on just fine without me.”
Lachlan made a frantic groan and yelled for the sailors to start lowering us down. Halla jumped at all the racket, her hand clinging to the side of the boat. I nearly protested Lachlan’s order, but we were wasting too much time as it was.
Theodore’s ardent gaze held mine for drawn-out seconds. “I wouldn’t,” he said. “Nor would your own kingdom and people. You’re needed just as much as I am.”
The boat jerked and swung as I stared at him, trying to keep thepressure of my crown and duties and his safety from choking me. “You’ll stay in the boat.”
He shook his head. “I’ll go where the danger is,” he said, soft but unyielding. “Because that’s where I’ll find you.”
No doubt he saw the rush of warm emotions on my face. There was no earthly way I could hide them, so I looked away, focusing on the ominous horizon instead. Then we were untying the ropes and bobbing freely over the thick water, beside theEleuthios’s hull.
We employed the oars to tug us through the sludgy waves. The boat was supplied with some spare daggers and swords for us to carry, and I lifted the largest dagger into my fist. The monster hadn’t shown itself yet, but I could feel its mirrored movements in my stomach. It writhed and bent, and I prayed to the bloody Gods that it wasn’t what I suspected.
