Page 40

T he carriage was small and tight, jostling Theodore and me into each other’s sides as it raced down the North Road, back toward Genevreer Palace.

Across from us, livid on the narrow bench, sat Lachlan. His dark brows were lowered, menacing eyes on Theodore. “What happened to you, Theo?” The question was withering, accusatory.

Theodore stiffened. “What does that mean?”

“It means that you have been so tightly fucking wound for years. You’ve been perfect.

Always in line—to the point that I started to wonder if there was something wrong with you.

” Lachlan raked his fingers through his short hair.

“And now—since her —you can’t make a sound choice to save your life.

What complication could possibly have prevented you from unbinding the second you got that draught? ”

Defensiveness, shockingly, rose up in me like hackles.

I spoke before Theodore could. “King Nemea is my father,” I said, crossing my arms tightly over my chest. “I share a blood bond with Eusia—with all the nekgya. If I want true safety for myself and Sirenkind, I need to find and kill Eusia. Theodore wanted to remain bound because doing so would offer me additional safety from the danger I’ll face. ”

Lachlan’s face creased with confusion. He looked between us. “That’s not a Godsdamned complication. That’s Imogen’s responsibility. And it should have no bearing on your own, Theo.”

Theodore bristled. “The Sirens are my citizens. They have been my people since Queen Ligea disappeared. Imogen’s success in this falls under my responsibility as king.”

Lachlan’s gaze cut between the two of us once more and a slow realization slackened his face. “Oh shit. Shit. ” He squeezed his eyes shut. “You’re kidding me.”

“What is it?” I glanced to Theodore, then back to Lachlan.

“Of all the beautiful women I’ve thrown at you over the years.” Lachlan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of all the very eligible, very safe, very unproblematic women you’ve had your hands on, this is the one you fall in love with!”

Theodore went so still beside me that time seemed to halt.

The silence that followed let me hear how my heart raged. It stretched out, so long that it was an answer in itself. A mingling of dread and elation filled me.

“Are you going to deny it?” Lachlan asked, shaking his head. “Shouldn’t be surprised. This is what happens when you try to be impossibly good. You fall apart for the first naked woman who forces her way into your bed.”

Theodore launched himself across the small distance between them. One hand gripped Lachlan’s throat, and the other hauled back, ready to land a blow.

I screamed, pulling at Theodore’s shoulder.

The carriage was too small. It filled with groans and flailing arms. Theodore managed to reach around me, clipping Lachlan’s nose with his fist. I wedged myself between the two men, pushing my back into Theodore’s chest and my palms into Lachlan’s breastplate.

“ Stop it. What the hell is wrong with you?” I bellowed at Lachlan. A clot of red dribbled from his nostril. Both men gasped for control on opposite benches, but I still knelt on the carriage floor between them, not trusting them in the least.

“I need him with his head on straight.” Lachlan swiped at his nose with the back of his hand, then sneered at the smear of blood.

“I know,” I snapped. “I know you do.” I shoved harder against Lachlan’s breastplate. His lips flattened into a severe line. “But that’s not how you get it, you idiot. He should have hit you harder.”

The carriage suddenly lurched, throwing me forward, then backward. As I fell back, my head rammed into Theodore’s chin. He gave a pained hiss as he wrapped an arm around my waist to steady me. There was a loud clatter outside. Horses whickered; soldiers shouted to one another.

Both Lachlan and Theodore tensed. Lachlan went for his sword that lay on the bench beside him. Theodore pulled the spare from the wall above his seat.

“What is it?” I whispered.

The carriage had slowed and now it sat at a complete stop.

“Stay in the carriage,” Lachlan said as he slipped his gilded helmet back on.

He peeked around the window curtain, but all I could see from my vantage was darkness.

He threw the door open and slipped out. Theodore closed it and turned the puny lock.

He lowered the flame in the small lantern that swayed from the ceiling until we sat, breathing tightly, in the dark.

Our sides were pressed against each other’s. “Should I go out there?” I whispered. “If there’s a threat I could help. My lure is better than shooting an arrow into the dark.”

“No.” Theodore sounded immovable. “They’re more skilled than you are, and you’re safest in here.”

I bit into my lip. “I used both your power and mine well enough when you were unconscious after the prophecy.” He shook his head, but I scolded him before he could tell me no again.

“I’ll be in danger, Theodore. Over and over again, death and danger will cross my path, and you cannot be the one to beat them back every time. ”

I couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but I could hear the long breath he pushed through his nose. The soldiers’ voices were muffled through the carriage walls, the clinking of their armor dampened, but I could still make out their every sound.

One of them called into the vineyard. “Come out. Weapons down.”

There came a ping and a whistle of air followed by a dull thunk. A groan rang out, followed by the heavy, metallic crunch of an armored body falling to the ground.

Then all hell broke loose.

Shouts rang through my ears. Clanging metal and whinnying.

Theodore swore as I dove past him. I twisted the little lock and threw the carriage door open.

My boots slipped over the mud. Theodore gripped my elbow to steady me.

His soldiers looked like beacons, gold glowing in the moonlight, and in their midst moved a handful of wraith-dark figures.

They were merely men, but they moved with treacherous grace, quick and nimble amid the metal-clad soldiers.

Theodore stood at my side, sword at the ready. I kept my back to the carriage, inching around it until I was close enough to one of the men clad in black.

I sent all my focus to the center of my body.

To the place where my power sat, where my sick bond with Eusia stuck to me like a parasite.

I latched onto it, felt the place heat and open like a ravenous, unhinging mouth.

A frisson of power crept up my chest, into my throat, and in a blink an invisible lure flew forth, hooking right into the man’s spine.

He froze. His back arched. He took an unsteady step backward, boot splashing through a puddle.

As if he were puppeted by strings at the tip of my fingers, he turned with jerking movements to face me.

A shock ran through me. It was one of the men Theodore and I had met at the caretaker’s cottage.

I recognized him—the handsome one. Blond, waving hair, and eyes so light I could see them in the moonlight.

“Im, get back.” Theodore’s grip was protective and strong on my arm. He tried to jerk me away, but I resisted him.

The man’s jaw fell open as he tried in vain to suck in a breath. My panicked gaze tripped down his body, over his black, worn clothes, to the bandolier slung over his chest, then to the red band that was wrapped around his biceps.

A twisting eel, fangs bared, wove around the edge of the band. “You’re a mercenary?” I asked. “King Nemea hired you?”

He was shaking, his face reddening with strain. I eased my lure, allowing him one quick breath.

“Answer me.” I pulled a dagger from his bandolier and held it to his throat.

Metal clanged around us, shouts rang out, and fists landed blows on flesh behind him.

Theodore set his sword arching toward a mercenary to his right with a grunt.

I tightened my lure on the man before me once more. His eyes bulged. He gave no answer.

But the band on his arm was answer enough.

My rage rose in a wave, and I slashed the dagger across his throat. Blood spewed from the cut in a curtain of red, spraying over the front of my shirt. Theodore winced at my side. I released my lure the moment the man fell to his knees.

Seeing that eel, knowing how close Nemea had come to me—I’d not known this sort of consuming terror.

Spurred by it, the power in my middle became hotter, thicker, prompting a slew of lures to fly from me.

They sank deep into the mercenary men scattered through the road, making them spasm and collapse to the mud.

Theodore’s soldiers stepped back, watching in astonishment as the men they’d just been in combat with writhed on the ground, choking and grabbing at their throats.

My vision had blurred with fury. I tightened my hold on the lures, eyes stinging, breath fast, when Theodore’s fingers gripped hard into my arm once more.

“Imogen, stop.” He shook me, urgent. “Damn it. Stop. ” He ran through the handful of convulsing men. He lifted one of them into his arms, screamed my name again.

It wasn’t until Theodore heaved the man further into his embrace that my vision seemed to clear. It was Lachlan.

Horror struck me in a searing bolt. I pulled in a hiccuping gasp and cut every lure I’d sent out.

Sucking sounds scraped at my ears as the mercenaries all took in a frantic breath at once.

Theodore’s soldiers moved toward them so quickly that I stumbled back a step.

The tips of their swords pierced through skin and rib, conjuring a gruesome chorus of death cries.

Dark, thick blood spread over the mud, seeping through the puddles like the earth itself was bleeding out.

Slowly, Theodore helped a shaken Lachlan to stand. He looped his arm over his shoulder and together they moved over the bodies of the dead and dying. “On your horses,” Theodore ordered in a weary voice. “Onward.”