Page 166 of The Queen’s Shadow

She gave him a shy smile and reached forward to shake the hand he had offered her.

“Hi. I’m Kasha.” She replied, and he nodded.

“I’ve heard so many great things about you, Kasha. Nice to finally meet you.” He said kindly, and she damn near blushed.

“Okay, okay, great. Everybody knows everybody now.” I pushed him out of the way and gestured for Kasha to make her way into the pit. It wasn’t like I thought he was coming onto her. He obviously wasn’t. I just didn’t want her blushing at anyone who wasn’t me. That was reasonable, right?

Gods… somebody needed to fucking sedate me.

I flopped down next to Kasha and looked at Raven, who was definitely having a shit day.

“So… who was it?” I asked, and she blinked at me, as if my question had pulled her from some sort of reverie.

“Sorry, what?”

“Who was it? Who died?” I pressed, and her face darkened.

“Sabel. Ash Nevra forced Amon to publicly whip her to death.” She said it with a flat tone, as if she had needed to strip all the emotion out of the words to keep herself from flying off the handle. I let out a low whistle.

“Shit. That’s fucked.” I said softly. I hadn’t known Sabel well, but she had designed my restructium suit, which was probably one of my favorite things in the world. She didn’t deserve to go out like that.

“We will hold a memorial for her, and she will be honored for her services to this court when we return.” Dossidian said. He looked angry, which was rare for him. When the big guy got mad, even I liked to stay out of his way. Something about the smell of brimstone that lurked beneath his skin told me he wasn’t someone you wanted to screw around with.

The green witch laid a gentle hand on his arm and the room exploded with the scent of male pheromones. Dossidian looked down at her, and swallowed so loudly I could hear the muscles in his throat work. I rolled my eyes.

Gods, I hoped they got over themselves and fucked soon. They were driving me nuts.

“She’s pushed me too far.” Raven said, her voice deadly. “I want her head. We’re leaving shortly. I will be going with Dossidian, Conrad, Meredith and Jeremy to Wrath, where we will free Prince Sirocco. If he permits, Dossidian will stay to use the library while Conrad, Meredith, Jeremy and I head to Envy. If we can secure Wrath’s army and Envy’s navy then we can invade Gluttony.”

“Is that where Amon is?” I asked. “Gluttony?”

Raven shrugged. “I don’t know for sure, but it would make sense for her to hide out there. Dossidian says it’s massive and almost impossible to penetrate. It would probably be the safest place for her to hide him.”

I nodded. “Cool, I’ll grab my shit.”

Kasha had been following our conversation quietly. Finally, she spoke up.

“What about me? You said Dossidian, Meredith, Conrad and Jeremy. I’m not coming?” She sounded hurt and I frowned at her.

“No, you’re coming with me.” I told her unable to keep the excitement out of my voice. “We’re going to Olkuyrbe to recruit some shifter muscle.”

She scowled, and my eye twitched. I don’t know why I expected her to be excited, or at least okay with the plan to go with me to the rainforest. Maybe it had to do with the little jar filled with soil I had found in her room. I had kept it with me the whole time I was trying to find her. The little black heart she had sketched on the label was smudged now; from how many times I had rubbed my finger over it.

“This feels like I’m being pushed to the sidelines.” She said, clearly upset.

Raven frowned. “That’s not it, Kasha. You’ve just been through a lot recently and this is going to be dangerous. Meredith said the power lines that connect to your offensive magick are still broken. We thought it would be better if you took some time to heal.”

“So you just made that decision for me?” Kasha snapped at Raven, whose eyes widened slightly in surprise. I let out a low growl, but Kasha ignored me.

“I want to go with you to Wrath.” She said firmly, and my growl turned into a full-blown snarl.

“No.” I snapped. She rounded on me.

“I don’t take orders from you.” She hissed and I suddenly had her by the shoulders and out of the pit. She let out a small gasp of surprise when she realized I had her across the room and pressed against the wall before she could even process that I had grabbed her.

Her anger turned to fear and I watched the fight leave her body. She cowered beneath my hands and I knew she was having a flashback, but I was too angry to care. My lip curled as I looked down at her.

“Last time we had this argument you got fucken kidnapped.” I growled, pressing her back into the wall. She didn’t respond. I could feel her quivering beneath me, and her eyes grew glassy with tears.