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“Oh, oh.” Calista bounced on her toes. “We could blind him.” She whipped out a small knife from her boot. “I’ll make it quick.”
“Stop.” Rune said. “Anyone touches him, they lose a hand.”
“His life for all of ours?” Niklas chuckled. “Not a fair trade.”
Rune narrowed his eyes and bounded to the Elixist until their chests touched. “Would you say the same if it was your wife who’d lost control over her own heart?”
Niklas’s eyes bounced between a sleeping Bo and Rune’s glare. He dipped his chin. “Understood.” Crouching at the bars once more, the Falkyn studied Bo for a few breaths. He clicked his tongue. “I have an idea. Perhaps a way to protect us all from being invaded by that bastard. It might take some time. Until then, his eyes are covered, hands bound, and no one speaks about any bleeding plans in front of him.”
Niklas gave Rune another glance, as if the permission rested with his word.
I smiled. This was a reason I enjoyed the interactions of the other kingdoms. To folk like Gorm, final words fell to me. A queen, a royal. To the Falkyns, or the folk of Ari’s kingdom, the heart won out over titles.
If a risk was taken with someone’s lover, battles were waged to protect them. Rules were bent. Morality buried. Permission was granted by the one who had the most to lose.
It took a few moments, but finally Rune nodded. “He’ll be under constant watch. I’ll spoon feed him myself if I have to, just bring him back.”
Without a word, he turned out of the prison and left us in the dark.
“Saga,” Niklas whispered. “We must warn the other kingdoms.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not yet. They cannot come here. Davorin has the upper hand right now. Give us a little time. You heal Ari, then you will know how to heal others.”
Niklas’s mouth tightened, but after a pause, he nodded. “All right. A little time, but I warn you, the Nightrender—my damn king—is not a patient or benevolent man. Once he learns of us leaving, he’ll demand answers through pain.”
I steadied my voice. “Then we don’t have time to waste.”
Niklas arched a brow, a sly sort of grin in the corner of his mouth. He tossed the blood-filled vial in the air and caught it, winking. “As you say, Raven Queen.”
Together we turned to the door, but stopped when Rune burst back inside.
He drew in a sharp breath, face flushed. “Saga, come quickly.”
“What’s happened?”
“The Court of Serpents. They’ve come for you.”
Chapter19
The Golden King
The room was smallerthis time. Tables lined with maps of the old isles and newly forming kingdoms were strewn about. I glanced over one opened map. A strange layout was inked on the surface. The lengths between the North and the isles was changed, closer than was true. I dragged a finger along a river line and shook my head.
“This doesn’t exist,” I muttered. “None of these borders are right. This is nearly one land mass.”
“Perhaps the distance between realms was not so great once.”
A pitchy squeal came from beneath a table covered in furs. A boy groaned and handed a small child with wild hair a stuffed rabbit.
“Stop making a mess, little rose.” The same boy who appeared in every scene rolled his eyes. He was made of lanky limbs now, maybe a boy around ten. “I told your maj I’d watch ya so she could finally see your shifter auntie. You a raven too?” He paused, then shook his head. “Nah, you’re too normal. Except for our little trick, I suppose. But that’s normal to us, isn’t it?”
The child beside him kept their back to me as they gripped his cheeks, giggling when he pretended to cry out in pain. The child wore small leather shoes and had a tunic meant for play. Old enough to run and cause havoc by now.
The boy reached into a leather pouch on his hip and removed a plucked wild rose. The child squealed in delight when he started pulling the petals and sprinkling them like raindrops overhead.
I opened my mouth to ask why I was brought to such a scene; I wanted to see Saga, not children of the past, but the door crashed open.
The boy gasped, clapped a hand over the young one’s mouth, and tugged the fur cover lower on the table, so they couldn’t be seen.
