Page 102 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

"There’s nothing I want to do more than bury myself inside you and forget the last week and a half. But there are too many things we all need to discuss. King Tanad is waiting." Gray leaned his forehead against the wall above Lea’s head.

"We should go, then," Lea said breathlessly.

"We should," Gray parroted, but remained still as stone. After several long moments, he moved back, sliding Lea down his front and grabbing her hand. Without releasing one another, they walked to the war room, and Lea was unsurprised to see the king already waiting for them. Once Erik and the others joined, Gray wasted no time reporting on their journey.

"We learned how my father was able to get the Lonely Death into the kingdom. He created a portal." Lea’s eyebrows raised as a wave of dizziness washed over her. She’d never heard of such a thing outside of fairy tales and bedtime stories.

"It’s true," King Tanad said softly, a slightly dazed look on his face as if he couldn’t believe it himself. "Gray destroyed it."

"I think our efforts reinforcing the border bought us some time, but our wards won’t hold forever." Gray’s shadows danced along the floor as if reliving the memory.

"This moves up our timeline," Erik piped in.

"It does," Gray pressed his lips together grimly. "My father could create another portal at any moment, and even if we sent soldiers to patrol the border constantly, I doubt any of them would be powerful enough to overtake his magic."

Lea opened her mouth to ask a question, but no words came out.What was I going to say?Lea was lightheaded, her vision going fuzzy at the edges and her head swimming. She closed her eyes and pressed her hand to her forehead, willing the sensation to pass, but when she opened her eyes again, she was no longer in the war room. Instead, she stood back in Auropera, her vision partially blocked by the corner of a rough stone wall. The sense of being out of control of her body was startling, but unlike her vision in the garden, this time it didn’t feel real.

Lea couldn’t feel the cold stone or smell the damp air of the castle. Instead, it felt as if she was in a dream.Did I pass out?she thought as she tried to focus on the sliver of room she could see around the wall. The scene unfolding before her was odd. The Black King laid in a large four-poster bed, his skin sallow and his chest rhythmically moving up and down. Most startling of all was that standing above the king, leaning over the bed and staring at him so intensely he wasn’t even blinking, was Alaric.

The prince was so still that were Alaric’s nostrils not flaring with every inhale, Lea would have thought she was looking at a painting. His lips began to move, but within seconds, his face turned a deep shade of red. Veins bulged in his forehead as he coughed, and a trickle of blood ran from the side of his mouth. Wiping it on his sleeve, the fabric staining a deep red, Alaric stopped, sucking in several deep breaths before his face returned to its normal, pale pallor.

Alaric glared at the king for what felt like an eternity before leaning down and speaking in his ear. "You’ll be at rest soon, I’m sure of it," he finally said, and while the words were caring, his tone of voice was not. He sounded angry, each syllable dripping with bitterness. Alaric tilted his head to the side as if considering something before abruptly swinging his head toward the door.

The image in her mind shifted, and all at once it was as if she was running, paintings and curtains rushing past in her periphery as she sprinted toward a wooden door. Her vision faded into wisps of black before returning to the now silent war room. Gray was kneeling before her, his hands squeezing her thighs and the muscles of his jaw bulging.

"What just happened?" Lea asked, shaking away the foggy feeling in her head and her still blurred vision. Gray and Tanad shared a look.

"What did you see?" King Tanad asked, his voice gentle but his eyes piercing.

"I saw the king. The Black King, I mean," Lea rubbed the back of her neck where a cold sweat had broken out. "He was laying in bed, and he looked sick."

"Sick how?" Gray questioned, he and Erik looking at each other as if a silent conversation was passing between them.

"He was pale, and had lost weight, like he hadn’t eaten in weeks. Um…" Lea blinked several times, trying to make the room stop moving. "He was asleep, and Alaric was standing over him, justwatching." The picture in her head made her shiver. "Wait, how did you know I saw something?"

"Eudora gets the same look in her eyes when she has a vision," Tanad explained, speaking slowly and softly as if he thought his words might frighten her.

Lea shook her head. "It didn’t feel like the vision I had of Queen Emmaline. It was different. Like I was watching it through someone else’s eyes. I wasn’tthere. I couldn’t look around or move… only see what I was shown."

"I don’t like this." Gray stood, the candles in the room dimming as his shadows smothered their light. "If someone found a way to access Lea’s mind, who’s to say my father isn’t planting visions, using that damned witch of his to feed us false information?"

"The vision tells us little, anyway. But you’re right, the thought is alarming," Erik agreed.

"We need to know what that was before we return to Auropera." Gray turned to face Tanad, placing his palms flat on the table. "Summon her." He ordered, his eyes flashing with shadows. "Now."

"Eudora will call on you when she feels the time is right. You know this, Commander," King Tanad chewed on the side of his lip, and Lea thought he looked anxious for the first time since she'd met him.

"We don’t have time for this!" Gray threw up his hands, sending shadows crashing into the ceiling. "While she sits in her tower, taking pleasure in making us wait, treating us like little pawns in her game, people aredying. Innocent people."

"She’ll do it for you, King Tanad." Lea stepped in front of Gray, placing a calming hand on his forearm. "If you ask her to, she’ll help us. She cares for you."

"She cares for me because I do not demand things of her before she is ready." Tanad raised his voice, and Lea paused. He was always so controlled.

"She doesn’t want your people to suffer," Lea said more gently. "Tell her that King Nestruir has found a way into the kingdom, and we need to know how to allow Gray to kill his father. She’ll do it for you."

"No one calls on Eudora. Not even me." Tanad clasped his hands in front of him as if closing the matter.

"I know where she lives." Lea turned back to Gray. He was right. They needed answers, and after speaking with Eudora last night, Lea had no doubt that it was nothing more than a sadistic need for control that caused Eudora to decide whom she spoke to and when. "I’ll take you." Lea lifted her chin and looked Tanad directly in the eye, refusing to back down.

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