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Indigo.
My one true love who’d died so I could be alive today.
I tried to say his name again.
Everett leaned down near my ear. “What was that, love?”
I cringed, hating his nearness. I loathed his voice, and his smell, his disturbing laugh, his rough hands, and his dead, dead blue eyes.
I wished he was dead.
But then he gasped and pointed at the map. “Holy shit,” he murmured. “Would you look at that?” Then he shouted. “Afton! Get over here and look at this.”
I blinked through blurry eye
s and squinted until I made out red dots slowly beginning to appear on the map with names sputtering to life above them, and finally, some started to move as if they were walking around.
“It’s working,” Afton murmured in awe. “It’s actually working.”
“Of course it’s working!” Everett shook his shoulders and whooped. “It had to work. Son of a bitch, we should celebrate. We need to—go!” he ordered, shoving the younger man toward the door. “Get a jug of wine. We’re having a drink, and then we’ll send a raven to the king to report our success.”
“Yes, sir. Right away, sir.” Afton hurried out the door, slamming it shut behind him with a whoop.
“Fucking amazing,” Everett whispered, bending close to the names. “And look! Right there. Three Graykeys grouped together in Lowden. What are those names?” Squinting, he bent closer. “River, Reeva, and Rhage, huh? Damn, it looks like the Q generation’s starting to pop out babies already. Or are they yours?” His hand stroked my hip. “Hiding some children from me, are you, love?”
I swallowed, wishing I could shove his touch away.
Voice going hard, he wrapped his hand painfully around the back of my neck and squeezed. “Did you spread your legs for someone else, you fucking whore?” He sounded angry and jealous as if I’d cheated on him. “Are they my nephew’s issues? The betraying little bastard. Did he drop his seed in my Graykey cunt?”
Meaty fingers dug into the side of my throat, strangling me, just as a knock came on the door.
“Dammit,” he muttered before letting me go with a vengeful shove to the back of my head and lifting his voice. “Come in.”
The door opened and footsteps entered. Multiple footsteps. Alarm littered Everett’s voice when he cried an indignant, “Hey! You’re not Afton. Who the fuck are you people?”
“Kneel before the King of Lowden.”
“Lowden?” Sounding confused, Everett complied anyway, falling to one knee, even though he technically only served the High Cliff crown.
Even in my dazed, pain-inflicted state, I squinted, wondering what the heck King Tomrick from House Gill would be doing, coming here.
“Your Majesty,” Everett started. “This is a surprise. I wasn’t expecting a visit from—”
“Yes, I know,” interrupted an urbane voice that sounded somewhat familiar, though mostly not. “But when I heard about the little experiment you were conducting over here, I thought I’d wander over and have myself a peek. After all, I believe my kingdom would benefit most from eradicating all Graykey scum. Don’t you?”
“I’m sure you’re correct, Your Majesty. In fact, I’ve just discovered three living not far from you, just outside the capital of New Gill.”
There was a pause. And then King Tomrick murmured a quiet, almost deadly, “You don’t say.”
“Yes,” Everett reported eagerly. “And they’re R generation Graykeys, too. Looks like the heathens are cooking up a new batch already after we defeated them in the Great Lowden War.”
“Indeed.” The king’s words were clipped. “Show me.”
“It’s over here. On this map.” Footsteps drew closer. I could make out the material of Everett’s trousers, but then another appeared next to his. The king wore shiny black boots and tight yellow pants.
“Magical cuts in the blood are making it possible to locate, name, and track every blood-born Graykey. There. See. River, Rhage, and Reeva. Not too far from your castle. Remarkable, isn’t it?”
“Well…” The king sounded a little breathless. “I believe your contraption may actually be working after all.”
