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My heart stopped. The same rage I’d felt from the emotions of the creator of the darkening bled in Larsson’s eyes now.
“Although, I should give Bloodsinger some credit. He’s damn hard to kill.” Larsson’s mouth tightened. “And you, what a vicious little thing you are. Slaughtering a trained killer with roots. I thought I’d seen it all until that day.”
The assassins. It was a cruel strike to my chest as the realization that Larsson had sent the assassins to take me.
He was a trickster. A liar, and we’d all been duped.
“You did all this,” I said, voice low. “You started the darkening.”
“An unfortunate experiment that got a bit out of hand. But now we have you, not worthless scum like Lucien Skurk to help us find a way to control the blight.”
Damn bastard. I narrowed my gaze. “I’ll never help you.”
“We’ll see,Queen.” Larsson glowered and snapped his fingers. “Take her.”
His two grunts dragged me back to my feet, leading me toward a narrow nook near the stern of the ship with iron chains and manacles awaiting my limbs.
Before they released me, another person stepped into view.
My eyes went wide for half a breath, stunned as theories and questions and rage reeled in my skull.
In the end, my lip curled, and all I could get out before another dirty cloth was stuffed in my mouth was, “He’s going to slaughter all of you.”
CHAPTER49
The Serpent
The bow of the ship carved through the surface. Water slapped against the hull and spilled over the deck. My first glance at the palace, and I turned the helm to Skulleater and ran for the rail. An isle over, one bleeding isle away, when Celine called to me.
There was no report of darkening on the Black Isles. Narza would’ve sounded an alarm. There was no need for Livia to be sailing anywhere.
I’d never experienced such fierce panic. My chest felt as though it had caved in. I couldn’t catch a deep enough breath, and instantly abandoned the iron filled isles in Gavyn’s province. The royal smith resided there and had prepared blades for the Chasm journey, but also gifts of the Ever for the earth fae.
None of it mattered now. I’d left it all in a frenzied rush to return home.
“Erik. Straight ahead.” Gavyn pointed for the cove. He’d not hesitated before following me onto the Ever Ship. “On the docks.”
A man was sprawled over the stairs, making a pathetic attempt to pull himself up the long journey back to the palace.
“Shit!” I went over the rail before the ship docked. The tides drew me in, then in a rough wave of my hand, tossed me back onto the shore. I sprinted to the staircase until fire spread through my leg. “Tait, you bastard.”
Tait coughed, blood on his chin. He clutched his middle and had the nerve to grin. “Took you long enough . . . I came straight . . . straightaway when you . . . got stabbed.”
I leveraged his head into my lap, pulse racing. Tait was bleeding out. I dragged the meat of my palm over my teeth until blood bubbled out and pressed it against Tait’s open wound.
He closed his eyes. With his head against my chest, I sang. A low melody the same as I did when Alek arrived broken. Tait’s insides were pooling with blood. I called it back. The wound sliced through his innards; I demanded it to close. He hissed against the discomfort when his outer flesh threaded at the sinews and started to pull back into place.
“Enough.” He elbowed my ribs. “I can walk now.”
“It’s not sealed.”
“Then I’ll get a damn bandage. He took her, Erik.”
Panic danced through my chest, pulling my thoughts down a narrow ledge between madness and destruction. Tait staggered to his feet and gripped my arm.
“Erik.” With a smack to my face, he drew me to look at him. “Keep your head.”
“Too late, cousin,” I said, a chill to my voice. “He took it when he took her. Thoughts of his head in my hands are all I have now.”
