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I’d wanted Casey so much in that moment. Discovering that he left me behind, that was what killed something inside me. Kelsey was gone and Casey left me. Casey had run with the academics. If I’d known that at the time, I might not have saved the Days. Or maybe I would have because I’d heard something. Something terrible.
She can be my queen one day.
Myrddin had been talking about Mia. Sweet, eleven-year-old Mia. Mia, who loved her friends and family and played video games with me and told me I made the best grilled cheese and don’t ever tell her dad, but he burns them a little. Mia, who held my hand after Wyoming and tried to give me some of her magic.
I’d rolled the portal crystal I’d meant to use on myself and sent it at Myrddin. It was an impulse. One I wished I regretted more.
“Sarah had the grimoire and the sword the queen had stolen. And she fought him,” I explained. “Sarah was never going to do anything but bring trouble to my master. I’m sure he would have offered her exile to one of the outer planes if she’d been reasonable.”
But he might have tried to keep her daughter.
“I doubt that very much. I’ve started to wonder if you’re truly evil or if you got caught up in circumstance. I understand this as well. When you lose a piece of yourself, well, sometimes you will do anything, rationalize anything, in order to get it back.”
“I don’t have to rationalize anything,” I argued.
“You don’t believe Myrddin would ever lie to you.”
“If he did, he would have his reasons.”
“You don’t believe the plans I’ve uncovered are real?” Sasha asked.
I was so sick of that question. It infantilized me. Like I couldn’t think for myself, couldn’t use logic and reason. “The ones where my master gives the Earth plane to Lucifer Morningstar? No.”
“I have no doubt Myrddin thinks he’s going to rule the Earth plane,” Sasha allowed. “Even a madman can be naïve. Do you truly believe my charges would have been safe with your master?”
“Yes.” A weird sense of relief slid over me. Someone was finally asking the right questions. “If you had brought them in, I would have cared for them. It might have cost me my position as a Profane, but I would have given it up to take care of them. It’s what Myrddin promised me. What you don’t understand is that promise holds true to this day. If I’d brought the princess back with me, she would have been given a place.”
“Yes, she would have been used to draw her parents out or potentially taken her mother’s place as a sacrifice to activate the Sword of Light.”
And that hope was doused in an instant. “Well, you know everything so let’s get to the quick death part. I’m sick of this.”
“I came up here because I believe the king is about to announce we’re leaving this place, and you’ll be going with Kelsey. I might not see you again. I think Hell will either break you or force you to see the truth. So I want to leave you with a little of my own. You said Myrddin didn’t want to kill the children. The wanted posters were nothing more than a deterrent to crime despite the reward they offered.”
“Every witch knew what Myrddin truly wanted, but we had to show we take the crimes of treason seriously. As to the night Lee turned, he was breaking into a secure location,” I insisted. “And Myrddin wasn’t there. He was meeting Donovan. He told me that much before I went to the Under. Look, turns out we’re all lucky Lee was a latent.”
I didn’t understand why Sasha would believe Myrddin would kill one of Donovan’s children. There would be no negotiations then. Myrddin needed Donovan to be rational. The loss of Lee would send him into a rage. If we’d killed Rhys or Evan, Faery would have joined the war. Though some wolves would be happy Fenrir was dead, others would use his killing as a reason to rise up.
We had talked a good game, but we weren’t foolish. Myrddin always knew the royals might return one day. It was why he’d made deals where he could. My master’s plans have plans and backups.
“Myrddin knew Lee was a latent.”
I was back to rolling my eyes. “He did not. How could he know Lee would become a vampire?”
“Because Donovan had his suspicions.”
Why would… The truth was right there. “The thrall stone. It would have made Donovan trust him enough to confide his thoughts and worries. Which he should have.”
His eyes lit, and I knew he thought I was caught. “But, my dear girl, if Myrddin knew and didn’t want to kill Lee, why did he send Alexander in with the Dark Dagger?”
The words were like ice in my veins because I knew what the dagger did. “He didn’t.”
“Lee has it with him now. He only survived the transition because he was a king. Myrddin knew a few things. He knew Donovan suspected his son was a latent, and he also had to guess that if Lee went on a mission, he would be on his father’s blood. As a preventative measure. He could have chosen to wound Lee.”
The Dark Dagger would have ensured Lee couldn’t recover. The king’s blood in his human system would turn to poison in his veins. Using the Dark Dagger meant killing Lee, and if he somehow managed to rise, stabbing him with it again would have ensured a final death.
The Dark Dagger was for emergency use only. It was never meant to be given to an assassin.
But Myrddin wouldn’t… “Alexander must have taken it. Yes. He was afraid of the king’s blood in Lee’s system.”
