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“It was a bad idea for me to become the Scourge queen, although it seems they still listen to you…”
“They came foryou,”he said. “All I did was rally them.”
“I haven’t been much of a Scourge queen, anyway.” Thanks to Kallus, I’d lost my grip on them almost immediately.
“You freed them,” Zehr said. “You’ve been the best queen they could have had.”
“They aren’t all… better. They’re not crazed by the Scourge anymore, but they’re still…”
“Damaged? Yes. Aren’t we all?” He shrugged. “We just have to go on.”
“Then go on with me,” I said, taking his hand.
Zehr hesitated, then those long, lithe fingers squeezed mine. I half expected him to sink into shadows, to somehow have found his magic again and to slip away from me.
But he walked with me toward my men, who were waiting impatiently in the bright morning sunlight.
They confronted Zehr silently, and he stared back at them with that arrogant expression on his face; it was exasperating to see them look at each other that way.
But we had to work through things if I was going to have Zehr and my men too. Zehr had come to try to help me… to helpus.
In the midst of that tension, I thought might finally get an answer on how they felt about Zehr, and if they could accept him.. .and vice versa…and I could barely breathe, hoping for an answer.
“There’s a moth in your hair,” Zehr said, reaching for it.
“Careful,” Caldren called as he leapt toward me. “Moths aren’t always what they seem–”
The moth transformed in a second, a sudden weight crushing against my shoulders as he shifted back into a man.
Zehr yanked me back as if he would pull me into the safety of the shadows. But the weight of the man fell against my shoulders. The sense of power I’d once felt when I was in danger rushed for a split-second like fire crackling against my skin.
But none of us had our magic anymore. That sense of fire, of power, faded as quickly as it had come.
Damyn grabbed me as the moth did, the split second before the moth shifted back and the world went black.
CHAPTER57
Honor
At first,as I woke, I didn’t know where I was. I thought Kallus must have taken me. Then I realized we were in Pend’s castle, in the small blue dining room near the throne room.
Damyn was laid out on the floor beside me. A fire crackled in the fireplace, and it seemed unduly merry. Strains of music floated through the air, muted by the doors.
Camet.
But beyond him… always… I assume Kallus was at work.
I scrambled to check on Damyn and make sure he was breathing. Since the moth shifter was gone, I worried he might have hurt Damyn before he left. My heart pounded furiously as I pressed my fingers to his throat, making it impossible to find his pulse. When his chest rose and fell, I let out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t yet surfaced from being knocked unconscious.
Camet hadn’t expected Damyn to manage to come with me when they tried to kidnap me. There had been that one split second when he’d managed to come with me while the others fought to keep me. I assumed he’d find me valuable to keep alive, but here was no way to know what they’d do with Damyn.
I needed to get up and find a way out, but for a split second I was overcome just knowing he was there with me. I lay my head on his chest, listening to that strong, steady heartbeat that I’d feared was lost forever.
I felt the moment he woke, the way his hand skimmed my lower back. He turned his face toward mine, his lips nuzzling my forehead. “Honor,” he murmured in a voice that was not quite awake yet. “My…”
He froze. My own heart pounded, thinking he was unhappy waking up to find me draped over him. His hand left my skin as if it had been singed.
I scrambled to sit. Heat seemed to linger where he had touched me. “We must have been taken on Camet’s orders.”
