Page 49 of The Crown’s Temptation

Then she says, "Eravic is here."

I go still.

"He is waiting for you to be well enough to see him. He cannot enter Morrath fully. It is true that there is nowhere a Vaelor cannot sail but Morrath limits even them. He can reach the shoreline. That is where he is. And he is certain there is a treatment to whatever was used on you. He has healers from all over the Thronelands on his ship, and one of the very best just arrived yesterday.”

I laugh. It comes out wrong. "I was just told I cannot leave this place. That no one I care about may enter."

She raises an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth moving. "You care about my brother?"

Teorin looks annoyed. He does not speak.

"He has never lied to me," I say. I look at Teorin when I say it.

"He is a Vaelor," Maridale says. "The shoreline is as far as he can reach. But he can reach it. And he will help you."

"Why do I need treatment,” I say. "If I am already dead?"

"You will be more yourself. More⁠—"

"I don't want to be more myself." My voice breaks on it. "I want my husband. I want my children. I want to go home and if I cannot have that then I would rather be dead in peace than alive in this shithole of lies and creatures."

My eyes fill before I can stop them.

Maridale moves to me without asking and puts her arms around me and I do not want to cry in front of Teorin and I cannot help it. I press my face into her shoulder and sob in a way I have not let myself sob since I woke up in this room, since I understood what Teorin was telling me, since I realized the ward between here and everyone I love is made of something I cannot push through with light or will or wanting.

I hear Teorin get up. I hear him leave.

The door closes.

Maridale holds me until it passes. When I pull back she looks at me carefully and says nothing for a moment.

Then she says, "You are right about one thing. This place is dangerous."

Her voice drops. "But there may be a way to get you out. Do not lose hope."

She looks at me. "You can trust me."

And the way she says it, the way her eyes hold mine for just a second longer than necessary, tells me exactly what she is also saying underneath it.

You can trust me. You cannot trust Dali.

I nod. I wipe my face.

"Rest," she says. "Calm yourself these next few days." She squeezes my hand once. "And then we will find my brother. And we will learn Morrath together."

CHAPTER 7

Get Out

Iwake in the middle of the night to find Teorin in the corner of the room, awake, staring at me.

Sitting up is still too much effort. I turn my head toward him instead.

"Get the fuck out, Teorin."

He laughs. "No."

"Please."