Page 62 of Court of Bone and Amethyst

“Hewasdead. He just didn’tstaydead.”

“But how…”

“Necromancy,” Owyn says, his voice cutting in for the first time. “One of the rarest forms of magic. But she’s leaving out an important detail.”

Avonia’s glittering gaze cuts over to Owyn. “Do enlighten the queen, sorcerer.”

“When necromantic magic is used, the person brought back from the dead is beholden to the person who wrought the spell,” Owyn says, his words simmering with anger.

My heart goes still. “So, the king is your slave.”

Avonia shrugs. “It makes things more convenient, don’t you think? You already saw how quickly the Court of Memory turned against you. I’ll likely kill him later. I haven’t decided yet. It was more a fun experiment than anything else.”

“What’s your next move, then? Name yourself queen and rule with Jonavus for as long as it suits you?”

“You’re forgetting a vital point, Sarielle.” Avonia takes a couple of steps forward until she’s standing over me. “I don’t just want to rule over Valaron. I want to rule all of Aureon.”

She squats down so her face is close to mine, her gaze locked onto me.

“And that’s where you come in, Sarielle.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Zyren

Istare across thetent into the eyes of my brother, eyes which had been dead and staring sightlessly at the sky the last time I’d seen them.

I’d known from the moment I saw him astride the nightmare with Avonia that it had truly been him. Some brotherly bond, some sense of the energy within him. His magic. Our shared blood.

From the chair I’m sitting in, bound tightly around the waist, wrists, and ankles, I try to gain control of the wild storm of emotions moving through me. Relief that he’s alive. Fury at the way he’d become my enemy, the things he’d threatened to do to Sarielle before he’d died. Guilt, that I had driven him to that dark place within his soul. Horror, because I know what Avonia must have done to him.

“You know that Avonia controls you now, since she used necromancy to bring you back?”

Jonavus looks unperturbed, sitting in the chair across from me as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “You don’t get to lead this conversation, brother. Last I saw you, you had slept with mybride-to-be, defiled her and defiled your honor as a guardian. Not to mention betraying your own blood. Youdisgustme.”

“I’m in love with her, Jonavus.” I don’t take my eyes off him, even as his words cut into the deepest, shameful wound I have in my heart. “I know I betrayed my oath, and you. I didn’t intend to, I fought against my feelings as hard as I could. And I failed.”

“You did fail,” Jonavus snarls. “In every conceivable way.”

“And I will work the rest of my life to atone for my sins. Saving Valaron is the first part of that. I will not allow Avonia to take the throne and destroy this realm and its people.”

Jonavus laughs. “You say that as if you’re in any position to stop us.”

Shadow fills my voice, and my magic pulses around me. “I will fight until there is no longer breath in my body.”

His gaze sparkles with malice. “Maybe I just kill you now and let Avonia raise you from the dead, so you’re controllable, too.”

Horror spikes through my veins, threatens to crush my chest. But I keep my voice steady. “If she’d commanded you to kill me, I’d already be dead.”

Jonavus shakes his head. “True. But outside of a direct command, I’m exactly the same person I was before. And while she hasn’t told me to kill you, I can still make my own choice to end you. For taking my wife from me.”

But he remains rooted in his chair, a sick smile on his face. “No, the better revenge is for you to watch me enjoy my wife.”

“She’snotyour wife,” I growl, surging forward against my bonds.

“Xinius made the cuts, and we joined hands, joined blood, before I was killed.”

“But the ceremony wasn’t complete. Not to mention—” I cut off, not wanting to utter the words that damn me even more. But I’m not going to let my shame control me anymore. I’m done hiding from my truth. “Sarielle is my—”

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