Mort chuckled when she staggered through the tomb door. “Witch Slayer, are you? Another lovely title to add to your repertoire.”“How do you know about that?” she asked, setting down her candle. She’d already burned her bloodied clothes. They had reeked as they burned—reeked like rotting flesh, just as Yellowlegs had. Fleetfoot had growled at the fireplace and tried to herd Matilda away by pressing her body against her legs.“Oh, I can smell her on you,” Mort said. “Smell her fury and wickedness.” Matilda peeled back the collar of her tunic to show the little cuts whereYellowlegs’s nails had pierced the skin right above her collarbone. She’d cleaned them out, but had a feeling they would leave marks, a necklace of scars. “What do you make of those?”Mort winced. “Those make me grateful I’m made of bronze.” “Will they harm me?”“You killed a witch—and you’re now marked by a witch. It will not be the usual sort of wound.” Mort’s eyes narrowed. “You understand that you may have just l
When the council meeting was over, Bolton did his best not to look at his father, who had been watching him so carefully while he’d announced his plans to the king, or at Leonard , whose sense of betrayal rippled off of him as the meeting went on. He tried to hurry back to the barracks, but he wasn’t all that surprised when a hand clapped on his shoulder and turned him around.“Wyne ?” Leonard snarled.Bolton kept his face blank. “If she’s capable of opening a portal like she did last night, then I think she needs to get out of the castle for a while. For all of our sakes.” Leonard couldn’t know the truth.“She’ll never forgive you for having her shipped off like that, to take down a whole country. And in such a public way—making a spectacle out of it. Are you mad?”“I don’t need her forgiveness. And I don’t want to worry about her letting in a horde of otherwordly creatures just because she’s missing her friend.”He hated each lie that came out of his mouth, but Leonard drank th
They were friends now, and he knew that the physical boundaries between them had been altered, but … He turned away rather than let her see the disappointment he knew was all too clear on his face.He took all of two steps toward the door before she spoke, the words soft and strained. “Thank you for all that you have done for me, Leonard . Thank you for being my friend. For not being like the others.”He paused, turning to face her. She kept her chin high, but her eyes were gleaming.“I’ll come back,” she said quietly. “I’ll come back for you.” And he knew that there was more that she wasn’t saying, some bigger meaning behind those words.But Leonard still believed her.The docks were crowded with sailors and slaves and workers loading and unloading cargo. The day was warm and breezy, the first hint of spring in the air, and the sky was cloudless. A good day for sailing.Matilda stood before the ship that would carry her through the first leg of the journey. It would sail to a prearr
She knew the shift had happened, because it hurt like hell. A flash of blinding pain as her features ripped free of the hold that hid them. The man lunged, and she plummeted into the well of power that was suddenly overflowing inside of her.Magic, savage and unforgiving, erupted out of her, punching into the creature and sending it flying. Flame—years ago, her power had always manifested as some form of fire.She could smell everything, see everything. Her heightened senses pulled her attention every which way, telling her that this world was wrong, and she needed to get out now.But she wouldn’t get out, not until Benjamin and Fleetfoot made it to safety.The creature stopped rolling, on its feet in an instant, and Matilda put herself between it and Chaol. The man sniffed at her, sinking onto its haunches.She lifted Damaris and bellowed her challenge.From far off in the mist, roars answered. One of them came from the thing in front of her.She looked at Chaol, still crouched ov
When Matilda finished telling Leonard the story she’d told Chaol—albeit a much more limited version—he let out a long sigh and fell back onto his bed. “It sounds like something out of a book,” he said, staring at the ceiling. She sat down on the other side of the bed.“Believe me, I thought I was going mad for a while.”“So you actually opened a portal to another world? Using these Morse code s?” She nodded. “You also knocked that creature aside like it was a leaf caught in a wind.” Oh, she hadn’t forgotten about that. Not for one moment had sheforgotten what it meant for him to have such raw power.“That was dumb luck.” She watched him, this kind, clever prince of hers. “I still can’t control it.”“In the tomb,” she said, “there is someone who might … offer you some advice on how to control it. Who might have some information about the kind of power you’ve inherited.” Right then, though, she didn’t exactly know how to explain Mort to him, so she just said, “Someday soon, you and I
For a heartbeat, there was only the warmth of Leonard ’s mouth, the press of his body, the stiffness in his every trembling muscle as Nesta slanted her lips over his, rising onto her toes.She’d kissed him with her eyes open, so she could see precisely how his own widened.Nesta pulled away a moment later and found his eyes still wide, his breathing harsh.She laughed softly, making to unhook her fingers from his jacket and strut down the hall.She only got as far as lowering her right hand before he surged forward to kiss her back.The force of that kiss knocked them toward the wall, the stone slamming into her shoulders as all of him lined up against all of her, a hand sliding into her hair while the other gripped her hip.The moment Nesta hit that wall, the moment Leonard enveloped her, it destroyed any illusion of restraint. She opened her mouth, and his tongue swept in, the kiss punishing and savage.And the taste of him, like snow-kissed wind and crackling embers— She moaned, u
Leonard couldn’t look Matilda in the face at breakfast the next morning.His brother had returned late last night, refused to say anything about what he’d found regarding Briallyn, and only insisted that today they’d all meet at the river house and learn of it together. Leonard hadn’t cared. He’d barely listened to Matilda asking about training.He’d come in his pants after a few touches from Nesta, soaking himself like he was no better than he’d been in his youth.But the moment she had kissed him in the hall, he’d lost all semblance of sanity. He’d turned into something just short of an animal, licking and biting at her neck, unable to think clearly beyond the base instinct to claim.The taste of her had been like fire and steel and a winter sunrise. That had just been her mouth, her neck. If he got his tongue between her legs … He shifted in his seat.“Did something happen that I, as your chaperone, should know about?” Matilda ’s dry question dragged Leonard from his rising ar
“Do you think Matilda can find the Trove?” Azriel asked Leonard as they relaxed in the sitting room that separated their bedchambers, flames crackling in the hearth before them. The night had turned chill enough that they needed the fire, and Leonard , who’d always loved fall despite the pricks in the Autumn Court, savored the warmth.“I hope so,” Leonard hedged. He couldn’t stomach the thought of Matilda putting herself in danger, but he understood her motivations entirely. If he’d had to pick between sending one of his brothers into danger or doing it himself, he would always—always—choose himself. Though he’d winced at every harsh word that had come out of Matilda ’s mouth to Elain, he couldn’t fault the fear and love behind her decision. Could only admire that she had stepped up—if not for the good of the world, then to keep her sister safe.Azriel said, “Matilda really should do a scrying.”Leonard gazed across the space between their two armchairs. They’d sat in them, befo