Page 39 of A Petal in the Crown

“She’s a seer?” Gray asked, his fingers trailing up and down Lea's back. She was stiff beneath his hand, but the way she leaned into his touch told him she needed his support more than she wanted anyone to know.

“She is. One almost as powerful as I. She started seeing glimpses of the future as a child. She rarely spoke of it, though. Not until she began having visions of the king finding Lea. Of her death. First, she tried fleeing, hiding. But every time she moved, he found her in her dreams. Hervisions changed, sure, but her death still occurred one way or another. So she came to me, and we made a plan.”

“You should've told me,” Tanad hissed, but Eudora turned her head away, ignoring him.

“The Lonely Death may be the only way to steal magic for a Fae, but it isn’t so with witches.”

“What do you mean?” Gray asked, a dull throb forming at the base of his skull. He wanted to shake her. To throttle her and force her to just get to the damn point, but he knew there was no use. If anything, it’d make her less likely to give them information, purely out of spite.

“Witches are the guardians of magic here on Earth. It is our sacred duty to maintain balance. A witch may give her magic away, so long as it's done so freely and willingly. We also have the ability to take magic, but to do so is the gravest offense to nature.”

Eudora looked around, meeting each of their eyes. “Evangeline wasn’t a witch, and no matter how powerful she was in her own right, she would never have been able to defeat the Black King, alone. So I gave her some of my magic. She would take you to Bearswillow, where the old palace healer lived. You would be safe there. I knew the rumors of the stream from the mountains that protected those with magic from detection were true. You would be hidden, and your mother could return for you once the king was dead. As soon as the decision was made, I saw you growing up, a beautiful young girl at the fire night celebration, dancing in the flames as a certain commander watched. It allowed you two to meet, you know—”

“You’re saying witches can be created,” Gray interrupted her, ignoring her insinuation she’d known of their future together before he’d even met Lea. He hated to think of her having a hand in their love story in any way. Refused to feel gratitude to the vile woman who had deceived them so thoroughly. Gray clenched his jaw, forcing thethought away.

“In a sense. They can wield the power of the witch who gifted them their magic. But they cannot create another, and they can’t grow in their power. A technicality, I suppose. A witch in ability, but not in name or nature.”

“You expect us to believe you gifted Evangeline some of your precious magic out of the goodness of your heart? What was in it for you?” Lea asked, her hands fisted as if physically restraining herself from launching at Eudora.

“You don't think I simply wanted to help her? Helpyou?” Eudora held her hands out as if offering an apology, and Gray had the sudden urge to cut them off.

Lea’s skin warmed against his arm, and Gray could sense her trying to keep her black flames at bay.

“No. I don’t,” Lea said, the words sharp as a dagger’s edge.

Eudora sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes. “I did want to help Evangeline. As Tanad said, I loved her dearly. But yes, I did require something in return.” She crossed one leg over the other. “It’s all about balance, is it not? The king stole something of mine. My niece, Seraphine. Kidnapped her from her own bed in the dead of night. I am duty and honor bound to protect my blood. So I agreed to help her, with one single condition. Our deal was simple. She wouldn’t be able to kill him with the magic she was born with. As you remember, she could hold death at bay—but she couldn’t command it. She had no special abilities to heal or create weapons. But I could give Evangeline some of my magic, strengthening her own seeing abilities, and I could give her the ability to create a potion strong enough to kill the king. A single drop. That's all it would take, undetectable by even the strongest of magic. She was to kill the king, and bring my family home to me.”

“Which isn’t what happened. So what went wrong?” Tanad asked.

Eudora shrugged. “That, I do not know. Evangeline never returned. And when I tried to see her, to find her, all I saw was that damn cage. Just the sight of it in my visions made me physically ill, spelled somehow against my family's magic. The king must have known I would come for her and made it so I'd be unable to retrieve her.”

“So you just left her there, rotting away?” Tanad’s voice cracked, and his eyes suddenly appeared so very tired.

“What was I to do?” Eudora asked him, the first bit of humanity entering her voice as she stared at Tanad, silently begging for his forgiveness.

“You should have told him what you saw,” Gray snapped. Eudora swallowed, then shrugged, the movement so flippant Gray considered decapitating her right then and there. After he cut off her hands, of course. The thought made him smile.

“Leave,” Lea said, her voice so low and full of fury, it made Gray’s hair stand on end.

“Not until—”

Lea stood in one swift motion, drawing her sword. “Another word, a single syllable, and I will run my blade through your heart until the life fades from your old, decrepit body.”

Eudora's eyes flew open in shock, her smug smile disappearing as she turned to Tanad.

“Are you going to—”

Tanad held up his hand, stopping her. “Speak again, and I will allow it. Go.”

Eudora tilted her head as if weighing her options. A slow, knowing smile spread across her lips as her eyes went white, her head falling back. A vision. Nobody moved until the witch's eyes cleared.

She looked around, meeting Tanad’s eyes for a long moment before nodding slowly. Sadly. She stood, the chair scraping on the floorthe only sound. Eudora looked to Tanad one more time, and he held her gaze, anger hardening his features.

“So it will be,” Eudora said, the whisper of a smile crossing her lips. Lea surged forward, but in the blink of an eye, Eudora shifted into a great blue heron and disappeared through the open window and into the black of night.

Tanad hung his head. “I'm sorry—”

Lea held up a hand. “I can no more blame you for Eudora’s deceitful actions than I can blame Gray for being related to Alaric.” She cleared her throat, clenching her fists as her shadows fought to follow Eudora. “If you’ll excuse me,” she said, not bothering to look behind at either of them before striding from the room, ripping her shadows out with her.

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