Page 214 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

“Technically, that wasn’t me.”

“—that he wants to follow her into a cursed. Crypt. In the old country.”

His solemn face twitched into a smirk that threatened to become a smile. “I mean…who wouldn’t want to come along for that ride?”

“I assure you, there will be no riding of any kind.”

“You’re the one that said you’d already punched this ticket.”

“And you conveniently missed the part where it sucked every time!”

“So let me help you,” he said flatly, like the outcome mattered far less than his insistence implied. “If it’s a Bellpost crypt, I’m sure shadows would come in handy at least once.”

“I’ll siphon from Bellaton’s queen before I go. Thanks.”

That brought him up short. His eyes widened slightly. “Reyna…my aunt lets you siphon her power?”

“Thus far, I’ve yet to be told no by any of them. Turns out when you save their heir, they get very accommodating. If you want to help, you can donate that way, poppet. Your power was the sweetest.”

“First—ew. Second—no. I’m going.”

“You know,” I drawled, shooting him a withering glare. “I’ve seen this movie before. Didn’t care for the ending.”

“Huh?”

Rolling my eyes, I snapped, “Keep up, Cyrus. Paladin word doesn’t mean monkey shit after how my last life ended.”

“About that,” he said carefully, tugging his hands from his pockets to hook them into the collar of his leather jacket. “You haven’t exactly been forthcoming about what happened—or why you’ve got it out for Ma.”

“That’s, frankly, none of your business.”

“You’re making it my business.”

“Are you going to stand here and bicker, or hand over my goddamn schematics?”

“Sure. If you’ve agreed that I will act as your second for this mission.”

“Quite the demotion you’re giving yourself.”

“The end justifies the means.”

Resisting the urge to snarl, I said simply, “No.”

“Why?”

“I’ve always worked better alone.”

Cyrus hiked a thumb toward Jax. “He’s going?”

“That’s different.”

“I can’t see how.”

“Have fucking mercy. We doing this all night?” Carrson groaned, lunging forward. “I’m gonna lose my balls to frostbite at this rate, Cyrus.” He snatched the scroll and pointed it at me like a drawn sword. “You want these.” A sharp thwack across Cyrus’s chest. “He wants to honor his dead fucking brother⁠—”

“Such a diplomatic speaker,” Cyrus muttered, eyes flicking skyward.

Carrson was undeterred. “—by completing the mission that killed him. The man ascended hunting this crown. For fuck’s sake, Freya, have a heart. I once watched you climb sixty feet into a half-rotted tree to retrieve a nest of baby birds after my idiot brother killed their mother with a slingshot. You bottle-fed them until the camp counselors promised to bring them to the bird lady—” He threw up angry air quotes. I was too caught up wondering how the fuck he knew about that to care about the attitude. “And you insisted on going with them to make sure they didn’t just dump the nest in a bush. We all fucked around too hard and nearly got you killed, and you still dragged this unconscious dumbass out of the water. So don’t stand there with your ascended bravado and pretend you’re impervious to why he wants this.”