Page 82

Thorne

N ox saw her before I did. In his dragon form, he nose-dived from the north tower to the western grounds where a crowd had formed at the gallows. His feet had barely touched down before I slid from his back and took off at a sprint, my heart flying into my throat.

I’m too late , was all I could think as I shoved through the throng of people. I love her, and I’m too late .

I reached the front and watched her body hang from the rope, her neck bent and her legs flailing. I pushed off the ground with every ounce of strength I possessed, leaping for the raised platform.

She saw me. For a single moment, time halted, and her eyes met mine.

And then she was gone. Replaced by a familiar lithe, furry form as her fox half slipped out of the noose, landed gracefully on the platform, and bounded off to the right with her powerful hind legs.

“Stop her!” my mother screeched. Guards charged after her.

I followed, yanking one of them back by their uniform and punching them in the face.

Ahead of me, Rose lifted her hand and blew some sort of powder into one of their faces right as Leo dodged two of them and knocked out a third.

Together, he and I reached for the nearest weapons and chased after Clarissa’s pursuers.

She didn’t even make it to the palace walls before she shifted back into her human form. Whatever had allowed her to shift at the gallows must not have had much power.

But it was enough. She was alive .

One of the guards closed in on her, but Leo was faster. His tail emerged from beneath his cloak and wrapped around the assailant’s wrist, jerking him backward.

I smirked, but Clarissa screamed. My lips fell in confusion until I looked behind Leo and saw a second guard’s sword raised at his back.

“No!” I cried.

The blade pierced Leo’s shoulder.

I slammed into the guard, and we both fell to the ground as Leo’s knees hit the floor.

“Leo!” Clarissa shrieked.

“Take them to the dungeons,” a cold voice instructed behind me. Mother approached with more men at her side. I grabbed my sword and stood between them and Clarissa, my nostrils flaring.

“No,” another voice said. “You will not lay a finger on them, Azura Reaux.”

Mother’s forehead creased. We both turned to the side to find Isabella Grimaldi striding toward us.

“Bella?” my mother said in surprise.

My mouth fell open. I hadn’t seen Galen’s mother so much as stand on her own in months, yet here she was, charging at us like a bull.

Evadine and Rose appeared behind Isabella. Rose let out a whimper as she rushed to Leo’s side, that pouch of herbs I was so used to seeing on her already open in her hands.

“We need to get him to a healer,” Rose said, ripping part of Leo’s shirt off and pressing it into his shoulder to stem the flow of blood.

“Bella, this fraud killed your son.” My mother ignored Rose and gestured to Clarissa. “His death deserves justice.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Devora sneak across the side of the palace wall. Her eyes stopped on my mother, then trailed over to Clarissa.

“Devora!” Clarissa said. “We need bandages and—and something to clean his wound.” She gripped Leo’s hand. “Please hurry!”

My attention was caught between both Isabella’s confrontation and wanting to be at Clarissa’s side. I started to make my way to Clarissa when Isabella’s next words stopped me in my tracks.

“Don’t you dare speak to me of justice, Azura,” she hissed. Her dark eyes flashed at my mother. “Not when you’re the one who murdered my husband.”

I sucked in a breath, all else forgotten. “ What ?” I tightened my grip on the sword. “Mother, tell me that isn’t true.”

Orion Grimaldi had been sick for quite a while before he died. The palace healers said it was a lung disease, one they suspected Isabella contracted soon after his death. It was unfortunate, but it was an accident. A natural course of illness. That was what we all believed.

“You were clever, Azura, I must admit,” Isabella said. “And nobody would have known if it weren’t for Rose. One of the Veridians you seem to despise so very much.”

My mind spun. What did Rose have to do with this?

Rose hunched over Leo, pouring some yellow oil from her pouch onto her hands. Leo was still conscious and propped up on his good arm, with Clarissa’s hand resting protectively on his shoulder. His face was sweat-slicked and pale, wincing with pain at Rose’s every motion.

“I thought it was a lung disease,” I said slowly, still taking in Isabella’s accusation.

“He was truly sick,” Isabella admitted. “But he was recovering. And then Azura began visiting and suggested we try an herbal tea, brewed by her own healers.” She took another step toward my mother.

“You sat there, week after week, watching him lose his life. Watching me lose my senses. Until I was nothing more than a ghost of myself confined to that chair, coughing up blood and waiting to follow him to the grave.” Her voice wavered with both anger and despair, those eyes that reminded me of Galen piercing my mother to the floor.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bella,” my mother said, her lips barely moving as she gripped her cane tighter.

“Foxglove and hellebore,” Rose gritted out. Her eyes were still locked on Leo’s injury. “I found traces of it in Isabella’s tea. That’s what you’ve been slipping them.” She finally removed her gaze from Leo and stared up at my mother. “Poison.”

Leo’s pale lips pulled into a tired smile from his slumped position on the ground. “That’s my girl,” he wheezed out.

The few members of the King’s Guard around us shifted on their feet, some weapons aimed at Clarissa while others now strayed to my mother.

Mother’s nose twitched. Her eyes narrowed on Rose. “You cannot honestly believe her. We’ve already seen how adept their kind is at lying. Look at everything that has happened in our territories since their arrival. Why would any of you listen to this?”

“Open your eyes, Azura!” Isabella barked.

“She sensed it the moment she met me before the wedding. All it took was one of her herbal tonics to counteract the poison and prove her theory correct.” Her arm shook as she pointed to Azura.

“I didn’t want to believe it, but the instant the haze cleared and I could think again, could breathe again…

I knew.” Isabella dropped her arm and whispered, “How could you, Azura?”

I stared at my mother, waiting for a response. Perhaps part of me was hoping for some kind of explanation, some scrap of truth that would make all of this disappear. That would bring back the mother I knew before she let her grand ideas of power get in the way of her ability to show compassion.

But she simply stood there, unmoving. Frozen. Except for those eyes, which darted between those staring at her, the gears in her mind turning to think of a way out of this. To lie and manipulate. Deceive, as she always did.

“It’s true, isn’t it,” I murmured, the last shred of confidence I had in her hardening and shattering.

Mother rolled her lips together, then flattened them into a grim line. For a split second, her eyes found mine and softened, that same look of tenderness she reserved for Marigold shining through.

She blinked, and it was gone.

“It was supposed to be me,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“What was supposed to be you?” I asked.

“The throne. The kingdom. All of it.” Her gaze swept over to Isabella. “Orion Grimaldi was supposed to marry me .”