AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There has to be another way. I’m not killing her—and no, I’m not using my boys to kill her, either. They’ve been used enough. Also, she’s my cousin. And I’m not a murderer. And…”
“I won’t kill her,” Ophelia rasps, lifting her gaze. “She won. Her connection to the four conduits is complete. She is the Queen already, don’t you feel it? I don’t know how she did it, but she already controls the elements. I was a fool to think I could get there first.”
“Mia.” My father turns to me, frowning. “Is this true?”
I shrug, aware of everyone staring, listening. Aware of my boys’ magic, of the magical threads of the world, but unwilling to think about all this too hard yet. “Can we put this talk off for later? I think we’re all kind of tired.”
He stares at me for a long moment, then nods. “Fine. You and me, we’ll talk. Later.”
Later sounds good. Much later. Like maybe a year later.
Maybe shock is setting in, maybe it’s this relief, so immense that it’s threatening to send me to my knees. I struggle to keep my face composed. There will be no deadly ritual, and no more fighting to figure out how to stop Ophelia and how to save my boys.
I stroke the velvety fur on the panther’s back, the rough silk on the wolf’s head. Look up to see the head of the dragon and the beak of the griffin. There’s this huge lump in my throat. So hard to believe that it’s over, that we made it.
“Boys,” I whisper, “looks like we get the night off.”
