Page 77 of Ascendant King

Cade’s lips twisted as though he tasted something foul. His magic swirled between us and Petrona, taking on sharper designs, the lines razor-edged.

When he didn’t open his mouth, I let myself speak for him. “Leon hasn’t been found. House Bartlett has a king.”

“House Bartlett has been betrayed. The house knows it—you canfeelit when you’re here.” Petrona didn’t seem like the type to be feeling the vibes, but then again, the last time I’d seen her, she’d created a house with infinite rooms just to get away from the horror of what she’d let Leon do.

“Petrona, they want to abandon the ley lines,” Sonja said. “If you make him king, Cade will break the covenant that links our house and the lines of power.”

For a moment, Petrona stared at her, blinking, her surprise clear on her face. Then, she lowered her head. “Is that worse than what Leon has done? He’s destroyed our house. Mages with consorts are dying. Some of our strongest families have fled to the other principal houses.”

Sonja shook her head but looked down, catching sight of Tyson. “No. Nothing could be as bad as what Leon has done.”

“Then we will reinstate him. I assume you have a plan for how to provide your house with power once you are king?” Petrona’s words contained some of her old sharpness, the incisiveness that cut through all of the flowery language people put up when they weren’t saying what they meant.

Cade looked at her, his expression neutral, bordering on annoyed. But underneath, I read the anxiety in his face. He wasn’t bored or disrespectful.

He was terrified.

“Cade.” I barely breathed the word, so quiet that it was less than an inhale of breath.

He stilled, not even moving. I swallowed, watching the line of his throat, the fall of his hair, the way he held himself tensely. We had always framed this as finding Leon and stopping the production of Thorn.

Even Cade had always said he wanted Leon to pay for what he’d done to Cade. How he’d connived himself into the throne at the expense of the child Cade had been. But now, faced with the opportunity to wear the crown he didn’t want Leon to have, Cade was frozen.

Maybe he was right… Cade’s words from when we were on the run stuck with me, the self-doubt baked into them.

Cade didn’t want Leon to be king, but he wasn’t sure he deserved to be either.

“Cade.” I waited until he met my eyes. “Youareking.”

His gaze still fixed on me, he nodded slowly. Breaking eye contact left me stuck in the cold, freezing without him. Then I realized that he’d listened to me. He’d accepted my belief without protest. No matter what was between us, he still trusted me.

“I accept your nomination, Petrona,” Cade said. “But you cannot make me king on your own.”

“No, we need a council for that.” Petrona lifted her hand, clearly about to take us somewhere.

“Not the council room!” I shouted just as Cade wrapped his black lines of tattoos around her wrists, preventing her from moving.

“There’s poison throughout the entire room,” Sonja said. “It’s everywhere.”

“If we go there, it will infect everyone,” I said, remembering how it had caught Cade.

“All right. Then downstairs.” Petrona jerked her hands, and Cade’s magic fell off her. She tilted her head, her smile amused as Cade gaped at her casual display of power. With a toss of her head, she began walking, her cane appearing in her hand as she took her first step.

I raised my eyebrows at Cade and said, “Downstairs?”

Sonja reached for Tyson and managed to get him upright again. They started after Petrona, Cade and me bringing up the rear. I didn’t ask him anything, not with so many ears listening, but he let his hand brush mine, his fingers sliding over the back of my palm.

I inhaled, the sensation of his skin on mine sending sparks of pleasure up my arm.

“What are you, some Mormon girl who hasn’t even let the boys see her ankles yet?” Declan sneered. He was ahead of us, and we needed to pass him to get to the stairs.

Branches grew into the walls, binding him to the house, leaves exploding out of his mouth as he spoke. I walked past him, refusing to even glance at him.

“Whatever happens next, Miles, don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Declan’s voice echoed off the walls, a scent of rot permeating the air.

We followed Petrona downstairs to a library off the main hall. Nia caught my arm before I went inside.

“Anything?” I asked.