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"Nimue cooperates as much as she wants. She shieldsyou, her victor, her sword wielder," Magdalena said, eyeing Excalibur in its sheath with a flash of jealous green in her eyes.
"Then that means it should be me," Esther said, lifting her chin, meeting my eyes as I spun to face her. "And I think I have a plan for us."
CHAPTER45
THE VICTOR
By evening, Birsha's forces were winning the battle. Marius had surrendered when caught up between too many allies and foes in close quarters, unable to use his stare against the trolls he fought without risking the safety of friends. Conall and Hunter had retreated to a tent, blood coating their white linen shirts. Laszlo and Mr. Tanner were missing entirely, presumed captured.
Hywel had dropped from the sky, nearly crushing a troop of orcs and falling into an eerie sleep.
And I stood a mile from the mountain and the turning tide of violence, with his slumbering body at my back. I was shrouded in Magdalena Mortimer's black velvet cape, with Hazel Nix at my side. Our hands were linked, and we stood in the orange glow of a sunset between two trees, the edge of a small circling family of yews that seemed to bow toward a bare field at their heart.
"Are you ready?" Magdalena asked Esther, who stood before her.
Esther licked her lips, her gaze only lifted as high as Magdalena's beautiful rosy purple lips. "It's time."
Magdalena's long fingers reached out to Esther. The young woman lifted her own hands, wincing as those gleaming bone-white hands grasped onto her, twining around her wrists. Hazel stepped closer to me, shoulder to shoulder, her steady strength absorbing the tremble that ran through me.
Magdalena nodded once, and Esther drew a breath.
"I bet you think you're winning," she called out, bright and loud and steady. I envied her voice, her surety. "I bet you think that I'll give up. That you'll have conquered me, just because you've taken one of my lovers."
There was a pause and Esther's face turned, eyes wide, an answer in her ear only she could hear.
"Hardly!" she snapped back, her cheeks flushing. "Take what you can today, but…Amon is no match for a dragon." Another pause, and she laughed. "You underestimate me. That's your weakness, I think. You don't really understandlove. I'll make a whole flock of dragons fall in love with me if it means I can kill you in another year or two!"
Hazel's eyes widened, and mine narrowed. Was Esther threatening to…steal Hywel away from me? I didn't like that one bit, even if it was for the sake of foiling Birsha.
"I can hear the doubt in your voice," Esther said, bucking her chin up. "And so I have a bargain for you. My witch put the dragon to sleep. Bring me Amon, and you may have the King of Dreams instead."
I wanted to run forward, press my ear to Esther's to hear what she could, and Hazel's hands tightened around mine, her head shaking subtly as I took an instinctive step.
"If you want to risk it," Esther murmured after the answer in her head, and then a moment later she sagged, pulling her hands free of Magdalena's.
A bird cried out from one of the tree tops—the only sound that reigned in the quiet place we stood.
"Did it work?" Hazel whispered.
Esther and Magdalena glanced at one another. "He says he won't come," Esther said.
"But he's leaving the cavern," Magdalena answered, her gaze distant. "He won't bring Amon."
"He'll want to see that you have Hywel," I said, nodding and glancing back at the dragon. "He…hewillwake, yes?"
"I'll release him from the fog," Magdalena said. Which was not quite ayesbut would have to do. Hywel had promised me weeks ago that he had many years before another sleep. "I'll leave you three now. I have work on the field."
"I should wait in the trees," Hazel said as Magdalena strode out of the circle of yew, her steps carrying her faster than they ought to. Hazel turned to me, pausing and studying my face. "Will you be all right?"
A laugh cracked out of my chest, and my head shook. "No. But I'm ready for this to be over."
"We'll be with you," Esther said, joining us. "He's afraid of Hazel and me because we defeated him once already. After today, he'll realize he should've feared you too."
"After today, he'll be gone," Hazel said firmly. She kissed my cheek and then slipped away, leaning back against a yew, which welcomed her until she'd vanished completely.
"Do you trust the fae?" I whispered to Esther, as if Magdalena might hear us.
"I do," she said, staring out at the woods, her lips twisting. "Maybe I shouldn't, but in spite of the things I wish she had changed, I can't say the path she set me on hasn't been wonderful. Well, most of it."
