Page 143 of With Wing And Claw

‘Regrettable,’ Nicanor admitted with the absent air of a man who’s just squashed a fly. ‘Necessary, though. You’d have gotten suspicious without anyone to blame.’

It wasn’t even rage anymore, the white mist clouding her mind. It was a feeling so far beyond anger that all she could do was stare at him andbreathe, draw the air deeper and deeper and deeper into her lungs and try not to physically explode with the raw force of her fury – Gadyon, who had been kind and loyal and now—

Dead.

How dare he?

How fuckingdarehe?

‘And this morning—’

‘I’ve learned not to underestimate you,’ Nicanor said, tilting his head at her with a faint, almostfondsmile. ‘Figured you’d try something, so I had one of my people posted in the stairwell of your tower. They heard you discuss the plan with Thorgedson.’

Because she hadn’t wanted to let Tared into her rooms.

They’d discussed it standing on the landing, like idiots, and when Nicanor had heard—

He’d attacked.

Worse than that … he’d put up a fucking show for her. Bereas’s host first, then his own army to play the part of her saviours. He wouldn’t have done that if he’d only wanted to get the Alliance off the island. He could just have rushed in himself and finished the job, if he already knew he was about to make his final move.

But she’d have known it was him.

She’d still have had Naxi by her side.

Instead, he’d set her up to believeexactlywhat she’d ended up believing; instead, she had played right into his hands with her own unending paranoia. No wonder he’d been so tense about Bereas’s last words. A single snag in an otherwise perfect plan, yet even that hadn’t spoiled his schemes.

You’re fucking the wrong person, love.

‘You bastard,’ she whispered, somehow, even though there seemed to be no air left in her lungs. ‘You … you …’

‘I swear I wasn’t trying to hurt you, Thys.’ He spread his hands, as if to say,what choice did I have?‘You kept digging yourself deeper and deeper into that hole. I figured if I could give you enough of a fright, you might finally agree to call off the whole thing with the Alliance and pick the sensible strategy instead. It seemed the kinder option.’

Kinder than killing her.

Which he could so,soeasily have done.

‘All of that work,’ she choked out, ‘all of those deaths, and all because you needed to have your fucking war? Really?’

‘Youknowme, Thys.’ A wry nod at the castle around them, the red walls gleaming like blood in the light of the morning sun. ‘Did you truly think I would just accept it? Let the Crimson Court be degraded into some run-of-the-mill backwater castle?’

Nicanor of Myron’s house, ambitious to a fault.

How,howhad she ever thought he’d settle for Lord Protector of a single court alone?Hungry, Naxi had said – and she had stupidly, blindly thought it was her body he was hankering for.

Instead – her power.

‘You’re too intelligent for this madness,’ she stammered, hand clenching around the wooden balustrade. Her stomach was churning; if she wasn’t careful, she might end up spewing its contents over the unwitting soldiers celebrating below. ‘You know damn well that we’d suffer nothing but blistering defeat if we went to battle now – that we wouldn’t stand a gods-damned chance against an unbound Alliance with a godsworn mage on their side. Safe bets may not lead to victory, but asinine bets—’

‘Who said I was planning to play fair?’ he interrupted, looking wryly amused again.

She snapped her mouth shut.

‘You gave me the perfect strategy, actually. Those prisoners they asked for.’ He nodded at the fae on the fields below. ‘Remember that nifty little poison of mine? All I need to do is sendthem to the magical islands as you planned and instruct them to get their hands on as many of the Alliance’s rulers as they can reach. Don’t think they’ll be nearly as ready for war with half of their leaders dead within a day.’

Hell have mercy.

Would itwork?