Page 102 of Tale of the Heart Queen

“So you and Nadir will bond,” Mael declares. “Why do both of you look like you’re going to your funerals? Don’t tell me we’re still playing this ‘Ooh, we don’t want each other’ game. You’re fucking mates.”

“Give us a little credit,” Lor snaps, and the irritation in her voice makes me smile. “Of course we’re not doing that anymore.”

Lor turns to look at me. Are you ready for this? she asks in my thoughts.

I give her a half smile. I’ve never been more ready for anything, Lor.

We have to tell them.

We both turn to look at the others, and I guess it’s time for us to come clean about this other hitch in our plans. Lor explains the complications with a mate bond between two Primaries and what happened with her grandparents.

“So if you two bond, you’ll blow up half of Ouranos?” Willow asks, crestfallen at the prospect. “But you love each other.”

“It’s not all bad news,” Lor says. “Apparently, it can be done with the right precautions.”

“What precautions?” Amya asks.

“That is the bad news,” I say. “We’ll need to ask Cloris Payne.”

“Well, fuck all of us,” Mael says, echoing what we’re all thinking.

“That crazy witch is still there,” Amya says. When I raise an eyebrow, she adds, “I thought it would be a good idea to keep an eye on her, so I’ve had someone watching her.”

“Good,” I say. “That was good thinking. Thank you.”

“You’re planning to see her again?” Willow asks. “What if she’s dangerous?”

“I don’t think so,” Lor says, chewing on her bottom lip. “I almost killed her once, and something tells me that if she were capable of overpowering us, she would have done so last time.”

“I don’t know,” Tristan says. “That seems risky.”

She holds up her hands. “What other choice do we have?”

Tristan’s jaw hardens. We don’t see eye to eye on much, but his sister’s safety is one area we agree on.

“So we’ll go see her,” Lor says to me, “and then figure out what we need to do before we go after your father.” She waits for my confirmation, and I reluctantly nod.

“And we also need to reach out to the other realms and convince them to destroy their arks,” I say, amplifying the tension in the room. I’m not sure if they’ll listen to us, but we have to make them see this is important for all of them. Maybe the only positive working for us is that there isn’t an Aurora ark to destroy and we won’t have to rely on Father for that.

Lor blows out a breath and runs a hand down her face.

“Alluvion will not help me after what I did.”

I tip my head and consider. “Cyan isn’t a fool. It’s possible he can be reasoned with. And we aren’t asking any of this for us. Not really.”

Lor snorts out a dry laugh. “Not if you saw what I did to his palace.” She drops her face into her hands and groans.

“I think we have to try,” I say. “And while we’re at it, perhaps one or two can be swayed into helping us beyond destroying the arks. We don’t know what my father is planning, but I’m worried that it will be more than we can handle if we try to go in alone.”

“Cedar promised us his allegiance,” Tristan says, and I dip my chin because he’s right about that. Tristan. Another Primary. I can see the longing in his expression. The desire to get to know the king he’s intended to replace someday. I hope we can give him that chance.

“What about the queens of Tor and Celestria?” Amya asks.

Lor shakes her head. “I don’t know. They knew I was lying too . . .”

“What about Aphelion?” Amya adds. “Do you think Tyr can . . .”

She trails off, and I fill in the words she doesn’t voice.