AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Raz held out the bands to me then froze. “What’s this?” Along with the iron rings was the smooth white stone, which I’d completely forgotten about in today’s debacle.
“Where did you get this, Anaria?”
“At the Wynter Palace.” I let him steer me to the other cot and sank down, becoming acutely aware of all the places I ached. My arse from sitting on that galloping horse, my feet from all the walking, my shoulders…
Probably from having the weight of the fucking world resting on them all the godsdamned time.
I reached for the bands, but Raz shook his head and squatted in front of me. “Here, let me take care of you, princess.” He grasped my wrist with impossible gentleness and slipped on the first band, clutching the gleaming white stone in his palm. A strange desperation tightened my chest, seeing the stone in his possession.
My fingers curled, as if remembering what it felt like when I touched the smooth surface. I blew out a shaky breath, then another, trying to figure out why this bothered me so.
“Now the other,” Raz urged, and I offered him my left arm, fingers only an inch away from what I desired. When the second band was in place, he climbed to his feet, knees cracking, armor creaking, my panic rising when I realized he was not going to give the stone back.
He tipped his head to the healer, an apologetic smile on his face. “Would you excuse us for a moment, my lady? We have some private matters to discuss.”
“Of course, my lord.” She dipped her head and vanished through the tent flaps as if she couldn’t wait to get away from this shite show. I hardly blamed her. If I could have walked away from this, I would be long gone, too.
“Where did you find this, Anaria?” Raz balanced the stone in his hand, so white against the dirt-encrusted cracks of his palm. “In the Wynter Palace…but where?”
That was a trick question.
Answered honestly, Raziel would be pissed.
But I couldn’t lie to him…I blew out a breath.
“Hidden in the headboard of what used to be Lord and Lady Wynter’s bed. Behind the ruby eye of the largest dragon carved into the wood.” I swallowed. “I’ve been carrying that with me ever since.”
Raziel’s eyes were burning. Fear, rage, love—all of those emotions were written so clearly my heart hurt. I swallowed. Between us, the stone gleamed in his trembling hand, as if it were the most dangerous thing on this entire battlefield.
I finally couldn’t take the silence anymore.
“Raz. Do you know what that is?”
33
RAZIEL
Holy gods, Anaria had been carrying a keystone around in her fucking pocket like some kind of good luck charm.
Clearly, she had no idea what this was.
I could hardly think past the roaring in my head, the stone cupped in my palm, emitting a faint thrum of power like an explosion waiting to happen. There was more power contained in this innocent looking pebble than in a hundred mages.
Keystones were rare and coveted and dangerous, used for many things, some good, but mostly bad. They might lock a portal closed…or open one to another dimension.
They might amplify power…or take every drop of magic away.
One of these stones could rip the world to shreds in the wrong hands.
So who the fuck had put this into Anaria’s hands? And why?
I dragged my hand down my face, wiping away the sweat. “Tell me how you knew where this was hidden.” I let out a ragged exhale, the hair standing up on the back of my neck. “Because you didn’t find it by chance.”
“No.” Anaria’s face turned white as she tried in vain to hide her fidgeting. “Someone left it for me.”Oh, fucking gods, that could have gone wrong in so many ways.She sucked in a shaky inhale. “If I tell you…you’ll be pissed at me, Raz.”
“I’m not…mad. Not in the least,” I told her, though I could hardly think past my fear. She scrubbed her hands up and down her arms, but her shoulders sagged.
“I’m not mad, princess. I’m going crazy right now, thinking of everything that could have gone wrong. This stone could have been a trap of some kind, something that could have hurt you.” Although, gods…a keystone was just about the most dangerous thing that existed in all three realms.
