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CHAPTER 52

Imotion for Talan to hold his attack.

“Nia.” Raphael takes a step closer, his sword drawn. He looks confused, his dark eyebrows drawn together. A faint look of hurt shines in his silver eyes.

I swallow. “Raphael.”

Talan unsheathes his own sword, the scrape of metal piercing the tense silence.

I hold up my hand again. “Don’t, Talan.”

“It’s true,” Raphael says in a voice rough as broken glass. “You’re working for this living nightmare.”

“Not workingforme.” Talan’s smooth, silky voice echoes off the high-vaulted ceiling. “I’m a terrible boss, ask anyone. She’s my wife. But I do recognize you. The Pendragon agent who broke out of our dungeons. With Nia’s help, of course. Solucky, having her watching over you.”

“This bejeweled psychopath is your rebound, Nia? Really?” Venom drips from Raphael’s voice. “How unfortunate for you.”

“You told me about him, didn’t you, Nia?” Talan says quietly, his eyes aglow with mockery. “The ex-lover who has a bad habit of running away from things. The one who chose his work over you. I believe I said he soundedfucking boring.And I mustadmit he has pretty eyes, but he isverytightly wound. Must be exhausting.”

Raphael’s jaw tightens. “I’m not aPendragonagent. I’m the boy your army left for dead, the one whose mother your army killed in her kitchen while she begged for our lives. That’s who I am.”

“I know.” My voice wavers. “But that wasn’t Talan’s order. He tried to save the demi-Fey, you know that. Ask Ysolde about the Blue Dragon Project later, if we make it out of here. We don’t have time for this argument right now.”

He doesn’t lower his sword.

I take a step closer to him. “Listen, the Pendragons have created a plague to annihilate all Fey and demi-Fey. I have it here in my bag, and I want to destroy it. Talan is here to help us save the Fey. That includes you, Raphael.”

“I know about the plague,” Raphael says darkly. “That’s why I’m here. To finish the job. And I had to kill four Iron Legion bastards just to get into Merlin’s Tower, but of course, it’s been a bloodbath here for days.”

Neither man lowers his sword. I suppress an urge to scream. I’m going to lose my mind if the Fey die of a plague because these two are locking antlers.

“We’re all here for the same reason,” I say, “to destroy the plague. Nothing else. So, we’re all on the same side. Okay?”

Raphael’s eyes cut to Talan. “Same side as the man who ordered me tortured in prison? And you—the heir of Morgan—show up just like the prophecy said, ready to burn Avalon Tower to the ground. With him, the man who’s been trying to kill us all along. Seems like the prophecy was right.”

“IwishI’d ordered your torture,” says Talan, sounding utterly bored with this now, “just for the crime of being tedious, but that was my father. Stopped clock and all that.”

At this moment, part of me almost wants to smash the vials and end it all, but I restrain myself.

“Oh, my gods,” I say. “First of all, Raphael, I would never betray Avalon Tower. I’m not here to destroy it. I mean thePendragons, yes, I’d betray them ten times before breakfast. They can die in a fire for all I care, but you, Tana, Serana, Darius? I’d cut my own heart out before I turned on my friends. So, either kill me now or get on our side.”

Footfalls sound in the hall, and I grip the hilt of my dagger again, but Tana rushes in, out of breath.

“See? I was right,” she says. “Itoldyou she’d be here.”

Serana, Darius, and Nivene spill into the hall after her. Blood spatters their clothes. Nivene’s hair is a mess, and blood streaks her cheek from an ugly gash. All of them except Tana grip weapons smeared with crimson.

Rough day at Avalon Tower.

Talan’s body radiates tension. From the corner of my eye, I see his hand tighten on the hilt of his sword.

I hold up my hands. “We’re all on the same side. Okay? We’re all here to stop the plague.”

Talan narrows his eyes. “Hello, Nivene. Hard day at the onion farm, was it? I can see you’ve been grieving your father’s death.”

“Prince Talan, a delight as always,” she says coldly. “Pardon me if I don’t curtsy.”

“Why are you all pointing your weapons at each other?” Tana says, frowning in irritation. “We have no time for this. We’re here to destroy the plague.”