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I stare up at him. “Fine, I’ll go back there, but I’m not taking your fucking moth,” I say through gritted teeth. “You’ll get any information you need from me.”

“There it is.” He steps closer, his shadow stretching long over the broken earth. “There’s your strength. You had me worried.”

To my shock, he clumsily hugs me. He smells of moss and sweet violets.

I let myself relax into this hug for just a second. Then I pull away. “I’m still not taking your moth. But I will come to your party when we’re done.”

His eyes shine. “Fine. Just find out what’s in that room. And if you change your mind about the moth?—”

“I won’t.”

“Ifyou change your mind, return. I’ll give you my moth, and once you hide it within your room in the castle, I’ll be able to look out for you as I did before. It is, after all, my job to protect the Fey, and that includes you.”

My stomach rumbles, and I realize exactly how starving I am.

“You need to eat, daughter. I have dried figs and leeks.”

Dried figs and leeks.I’ve never spent much time worrying about how Mordred fed himself, but of course he wouldn’t have many options here on an isolated island.

I shake my head. “I’ll eat back in Camelot.” I turn away, heart pounding. “Goodbye, Mordred.”

“Goodbye, Nia. And good luck.”

CHAPTER 44

Near Camelot’s shore, the lake laps heavily against the stone base of Nimuë’s Tower. I climb the stairs into her sanctuary, the dull, rib-deep throb of heartbreak in my chest. I can’t stop thinking about Talan’s agonized look when he realized the truth.

When he learned that I was there to kill him all along.

I want to wrap him in my arms, but that will never happen.

And what did I expect? Ididcome there to kill him, not something you can fix with a smile and a glass of mead.

I cross the bridge. Fatigue eats at my muscles, and a sharp hunger gnaws through my stomach. Fog billows over the lake, and unease prickles over my skin.

The golden-stone spires of Avalon Tower are dark. Usually at this time of day, warm light slants through the diamond panes, but as I make my way under the arch, I’m greeted by an eerie silence, no music floating from the common rooms or conversations drifting through open windows.

Everything feels deserted.

I’m walking through the skeleton of my former home, and I feel like a skeleton, too, hungry, drained, and clad in a filthy, blood-spattered dress.

A figure shifts out from the shadows, and my heart jolts at the glint of metal. I freeze, wishing I had a weapon.

“Nia?”

I exhale, and relief washes over me as I recognize the voice. “Serana.”

“She was right.” Serena smiles at me in the moonlight. “Looks like Venus in Aquarius took precedence over the sparrows.”

I stare at her. “Venus what?”

“What?” She frowns. “Sorry. Tana’s omens indicated you would return tonight, but Tana wasn’t certain which way you’d come. The birds said one thing, the stars another. According to the flight pattern of the birds, it seemed you might be coming from the docks and Magpie Lane. The stars indicated you’d show up at Nimuë’s Tower, as usual. That’s the Venus thing. There was also some kind of quintush. Or is it quintile? That was a good omen, but the cards were arealmess. One reading foretold you got killed by a large salmon.”

“This is a lot of information.”

“I know, I’m just…I’m really glad to see you.” Her voice cracks. “You look like shit, though.” She flings herself at me and wraps me in a tight hug.

Second hug this evening. The solidity of it is the only thing that feels real and normal.