Keir eases out a slow breath, lacing his fingers through mine. “I need to find the cauldron.” His voice is rough gravel, thick with emotion. “Before Calliope does. I need to take both it and the horn and hide them away from this world. Calliope…. If she’s still out there…. If she—or her mother—manages to get her hands on that cauldron…. Or if a fae king somehow discovers how to use its powers….” His face hardens. “This is my burden because I failed the first time. I am the guardian of the cauldron. I have to be. I have to end this.”
The power of the cauldron is the only thing remaining in play with the strength to break the curse laid upon my people.
Without it, we’ll wither and die.
And if I don’t bring it home to my father, then he will….
Let’s just say drowning will be the least of my worries.
I clasp a hand to my throat. All that power. My father will never stop with a broken curse. It will be war and no matter what I think of the fae I’ve never truly wished for war. “What if we could destroy the horn?”
Keir looks at me sharply. “What?”
“We find the horn, and we destroy it.” I push to my knees as the idea starts to gain hold within me. “No one can use it to find the cauldron.”
Keir shakes his head. “The horn cannot be destroyed. It’s protected by the goddess.”
“Then maybe we can sink it in the deepest part of the ocean so no one ever finds it,” I growl.
Keir brushes his knuckles against my lips, his eyes sleepy-lidded and satisfied.
“Why are you smiling?” He’s just told me a story of horrific consequences.
“You said ‘we,’” Keir says as he kisses me.
19
I Sift inside Belladonna’s rooms the next morning and reform, stalking toward her bed with the intent of whipping the blankets off her. “Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. You want me to kill your groom? Then you have to—”
The blankets burst upwards, and two startled heads appeared.
My hand jerks back.
“What in the Cauldron’s name are you doing in here?” Belladonna hisses, as Anissa ducks back beneath the covers with a yelp.
I slam to a halt. A great many things suddenly make sense in hindsight. Letters. Oh. Those kinds of letters. “Well. Aren’t I a fool?” Mistmark’s imminent execution suddenly makes a great deal of sense. I circle the bed. “This is why you want your groom dead, isn’t it?”
Belladonna slips from the bed, icily cool even as she draws a silk robe on. The expression on her face would be a threat if her hair didn’t look like she’d spent hours with her face between her lover’s thighs last night. “What in the Shadow Lands are you doing in here? How dare you? If you think this gives you any leverage, think again. My cousin is well aware of my proclivities.”
She curls her fingers into claws, gathering her magic, and I Sift out of reach, wagging a finger at her. “Relax, my lady. I have no intention of telling anyone what I saw here.” I glance toward the bed. Anissa still hasn’t made a reappearance. “None of this is my business. I was merely hoping to gain your assistance with a small task.”
Her eyes narrow.
We stare at each other like two cats entering each other’s territories.
Finally, Belladonna turns toward a bowl of water set out for her morning ablutions. She cups her hands within it and wipes them down her face. “You think I’m fool enough to fall in with your little scheme and name myself conspirator? Think again. I told you what you need to do—”
I pluck an apple from her breakfast tray and toss it in the air. “Killing Mistmark’s a little more difficult than originally intended. He’s protected far too well. Besides”—the bed appears to be moving; Anissa is clearly curious about this turn of events—“it’s not Mistmark you have a problem with. Don’t you want to throw this mistake in your cousin’s face? Don’t you want to see Malechus humbled before his entire court? He’s forcing you to marry, isn’t he? He took your letters, made some sort of threat against you…. Or no, Anissa, wasn’t it? He threatened Anissa.”
Belladonna stills. I have to admire both her restraint and her posture. Her shoulders are so square she makes even the effort of drying her face with a linen look arrogant. Tricking her is going to require the kind of play that makes my fingers itch.
But everyone has their weakness.
And Malechus is hers.
“What did you have in mind?” she finally asks.
Perfect. She’s on the hook. I snap my fingers, and as if she was waiting for this moment, Soraya shoves both panels of the bedchamber doors open and stalks inside with her shoulders squared. An enormous train of dark green velvet rasps over the floor behind her, and her sleek brown hair has been swept back with waxed hands, so that it falls in a straight line down her back. Her sharpened nails are painted scarlet, and the gown brings out the malicious emerald glint in her eyes.
Belladonna gasps, which draws Anissa out from beneath the blankets.
“What do you think?” I ask Anissa, because she would know best, after all.
Her jaw drops open, and her head jerks between Belladonna and Soraya as if even she can’t tell the difference.
“Who. Is. This?” Belladonna demands, facing her exact replica.
I sink into a chair and kick my heels up on the small table in front of me, taking a bite out of the apple. “I think we’re going to have to work on your delivery,” I tell Soraya.
“Get your filthy boots off my table,”
