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I stared between the two of them. Honor had taken Zehr’s place leading the Scourge? “What the hell is that going to do to her?”
A muscle in Lynx’s jaw ticked. He was silent, and my brother usually had a long, academic answer to any question.
“I was going to tell you,” Honor flashed Damyn an annoyed look. “Before Damyn decided to be a beast.”
He scoffed, looking distinctly unimpressed, and Talisyn pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers as if he’d wearied of peacemaking.
“Zehr hasn’t become completely taken by the Scourge,” Honor pointed out.
“He’s dying,” Damyn said tersely.
She shook her head. “He’s not dying anymore. He’s getting stronger every day again.”
More fantastic news. The zombie king would be with us always.
“You’re controlling them,” I said calmly.
She nodded. “And I’ll assemble the Scourge stones and break the Scourge curse. Zehr was dying, I needed to buy us some time. But now I can end the Scourge curse.”
“What does it look like?” Lynx asked.
Honor drew her sword. It was different than the simple academy sword she had carried since we met. This one had an elaborate hilt, the blade gleaming and sharp. It was a queen’s weapon.
She held it lightly in two hands so Lynx and I could examine it. A stone glowed in the hilt, and a sense of power drifted around it, filling the air with its magic.
Lynx examined Amily’s sword… then drew another fragment of stone out of his pocket. He admitted, “I used it to do magic…”
“There’s no one else I trust more with one of those stones,” Honor assured him, looking up at him with love. It would’ve made me jealous another time, but today—for once—I was able to appreciate how Honor loved my brother, and how he loved her.
“Honor,” Hanna’s voice was very small, and Honor’s face was suddenly stricken. She put her arm around her sister and drew her away, talking to her quietly.
I glared at Damyn, who looked back at me with irritation and confusion. He’d struck out at Honor, but he’d hit Hanna. Hanna should’ve had the news broken to her more gently.
“What other stones do we need to gather?” Talisyn asked, keeping us all on task.
We moved into the castle, to the makeshift command center they’d put together with maps and books.
Damyn pulled out a list. “We have Amily’s stone, which is still mounted in her sword. Gorion’s stone, which Honor and Zehr retrieved from Kallus. Lysander had lost his stone to Kallus as well, but Honor retrieved it recently. And Pend’s stone, which Honor… also retrieved.”
“That’s what we say now instead ofstolen,”I observed to no one in particular. “Because we’re the good guys.”
Honor and Hanna came in, both looking quiet and subdued, which wasn’t their natural state. But they took seats at the table.
“Let’s make a plan to get these stones,” Honor said.
Damyn nodded. “We think Joachim has Teris’s stone. That’s the last one we’re missing.”
“And then we can change everything,” Honor said. “Undo the evils our father began.”
I nodded. “And the good our fathers began?”
The curse wasn’t just a curse. The magic had two halves: the shifter blessing and the Scourge curse.
Though sometimes I wasn’t sure if the prey shifters believed any part of it was a blessing.
Honor’s startled eyes flew to mine. She swallowed. “Yes. I… don’t know what will happen to our shifter powers when we undo the Scourge curse. If we’ll… remain shifters. If our children will ever be shifters.”
“If we ever have them,” Damyn muttered.
