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Ah, yes. Because she’d made such a habit of respecting all the other bold, hungry people who had challenged her in the past, rather than killing them outright …

Oh.

It dawned on me, then – she wasn’t sure if shecouldkill me.

So that was the game she was playing? Too dangerous to risk a fight, if I was powerful enough to make it into the city alive … so this had been her solution, a far cleaner way to render me harmless. Offer me a truce too good to reject. Nudge me toaccept it, using hostages I cared about. Damn the people fighting outside, the friends and family risking their lives for me as we were standing here …

Had it even occurred to her that they might mean something to me? That even a godsworn mage might see her allies as more than a means to an end?

‘Here’s the thing, Emelin,’ she continued, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper – seeing the frozen bewilderment on my face and interpreting it as everything it wasn’t: hope, temptation. ‘This world was never built for people like you, people like us. To many others out there, you will never be more than an idol. An ideal.’

That hit home.

Her curving lips told me her borrowed eyes were all too well-aware of it.

‘So we must support each other when we find each other, little dove.’ Spoken with such sweet sincerity – such tempting lies. ‘We must carve out a place for ourselves. Look at what we did, our court, our safety … Don’t you want to follow our example? Learn from the two of us?’

The two of us.

I gaped at her, frozen, as out of nowhere my thoughts collided.

A place for ourselves.

There was nothing new about the sight before me – nothing new about the memories sparking violently in my mind. That monstrous pile of bones. Two-coloured eyes, sapphire and obsidian – Achlys and Melinoë. The beat of that thumping heart,oneheart …

Nothing new – but at once, I understood.

I understoodeverything.

‘I want Creon included in the bargain.’ My voice carried bright and clear, plans rolling out with it. I knew what to do, suddenly – knew it with such baffling clarity, as if my mind had condenseddays of thinking into a single, blinding flash of insight. ‘You will not hurt either meorhim, nor try to contain or capture us. If I live the rest of my life in peace, I will not do so alone.’

I saw Creon’s head jerk around on the edge of my sight. Caught a glimpse of the wide-eyed shock on his face, even if he didn’t speak a word –Em, no!that look said, and gods help me, could I blame him?

Trust me, I spelled, moving nothing but my fingers by my side.

His breath caught. But his wings sagged a fraction, and he didn’t interrupt.

The Mother threw him no more than a single bored glance before returning her gaze to me, a hint of dramatic vexation in her sigh – a female annoyed to be reminded of a small but nagging problem. ‘Oh, as you wish.’

She must have prepared for that demand. There was no way she would have made that decision so easily otherwise.

‘You said I should leave and never return,’ I added, and no matter how feverish my thoughts, my words remained flat and perfectly controlled. Was there anything I was overlooking? Anything else our bargain needed to contain? ‘I would like a ten-minute grace period before I go. I have some last things to do here – say goodbye, for one.’

The Mother curled her upper lip at the shivering humans around her throne. ‘Five minutes and not a second more.’

‘That will do.’ I prayed with all my might it was true – but bartering would only make her wonder what I was planning to do in all that time, and I had better favours to ask for. ‘And then there’s one more thing …’

She canted her head, waiting.

I drew in a deep breath, focusing my gaze on the blue gem in her right eye socket. Here was the gamble, then, the breaking point, the victory hinging on what I thought I understood. Blue. I was speaking to nothing but that deep, ocean blue – never mindher other eye sparkling at me, never mind the rows of fae and humans by the walls …Blue.‘As my last adjustment, I would like to specify that I will not hurt youphysically. If I want to call you a vicious bitch, just to name an example, I’d like to retain the right to do so. But I will aim no magic or blades at you, and I’m willing to make a bargain on that.’

Creon’s breath was quickening by my side, a testament to the effort it took him to stay silent. The Mother considered me for a motionless moment –thump thump, her heart kept pounding – then smiled, nodded.

‘Good,’ I said grimly, stepping forward. ‘Then we—’

Creon grabbed my shoulder before I could finish that sentence, yanking me back a quarter turn with lightning speed.

No need for him to sign or speak a single world. The panicked gleam in his dark eyes contained all he wanted to shout at me –What are you doing, for hell’s sake? What do you think will happen once we fly off into the sunset? Other unbound mages won’t get anywhere without godsworn magic to counter hers, and you may not even be able to unbind anyone else …