Page 43 of A Petal in the Crown

"Your own magic. What you were born with. What is it like?" Lea asked, and Evangeline went back to digging in the dirt, pressing another seed into the soft ground.

"Not nearly so powerful as yours. I don't have both day and night magic, but my gift was unique. I was a seer, even before Seraphine. And I can—"

"Hold death at bay," Lea said, remembering Eudora describing her powers.

"Yes. I think it was my relationship with death that allowed me to assist the Black King with his spell. I tried to stop him. To only give him enough help to placate him, keep him from looking for you until I could escape the cage and kill him myself." Evangeline pressed her lips together. "I know I've caused a lot of harm. Truly, I was trying to protect you, but maybe I can help somehow."

Lea's mind flicked to Emma. How she’d connected the worlds to allow the dead to fight. But with Eudora gone, there was no way to get more of the potion that had allowed it. But maybe it wouldn’t be needed. Maybe Evangeline could keep death from coming for their army at all.

"I'm sure Gray and I can find a place for you." Lea rose to her feet, suddenly exhausted. "It's late. We can discuss it more tomorrow."

Evangeline nodded, twistingher hands in her lap. "I'd like to speak more, another time. If that's okay with you, I mean. About your life. What I missed."

Lea stiffened at the reminder of what she’d lost by not having Evangeline present the last twenty-three years. Grief worked its way up her throat, but she held it down, nodding.

"I love you, Azalea," Evangeline said.

Lea’s soul felt as if it was going to shatter. "Please, stop." Her voice broke. "I can't. Not right now. I know you were tortured. I know you thought you had no choice, and that you lived through things so horrible I will never understand. But please. If I have to forgive one more person, listen to one more excuse for why I didn’t get a mother, why I lost my mother—" She stopped to take a deep breath. "I'm barely holding it together."

Evangeline’s answering smile was sad. "Of course. When you're ready, then," she said. Lea nodded. And once again, she could tell that even without her sight, Evangeline had sensed her agreement, but whether it was from mother’s intuition or from her powers as a seer, Lea was too broken to ask.

Lea turned on her heel, but stopped when Evangeline fell to her knees, her head thrown back and her hands gripping the dirt. Her face scrunched as if in pain, and Lea wondered if behind Evangeline’s scarred skin, her eyes were turning the same milky white Eudora’s did when she had a vision. Lea rushed to her, desperate to help even though there was nothing to do but wait for the vision to pass.

Her stomach dropped as she took in the pain etched into every line on Evangeline’s face. Her lips twisted in a grimace, and a choked moan burst from her throat as if the vision was ripping her apart from the inside.

With a trembling hand, Lea reached out to comfort her, placing her palm on Evangeline’s shoulder. For what felt like minutes, Lea simplyknelt there, hoping Evangeline knew she wasn’t alone, until she let out a deep breath and sank back onto her heels.

"Does it hurt? When you have visions, I mean? You looked as if you were in pain."

Evangeline’s fingers drifted absently to the scars on her face. "I'm used to it." She cleared her throat, tucking her hair back behind her ears. "It's nothing I can’t handle."

Lea heard what she didn't say—it's nothing compared to what the Black King did to me.The pain that she’d allowed him to inflict upon her to keep her only daughter safe.

"What did you see?" Lea asked, pushing down the surge of emotion rising up her throat. Evangeline scrunched her eyebrows, her mouth pinching in.

"I'm not sure. A large body of water with a rocky edge. There’s a forest around it with odd trees. Bare except for the very tops, and full of bird nests. I heard…" Evangeline tilted her head as if trying to summon the sound. "I heard breathing, I think. Wet breathing, like someone was injured, maybe? There’s a village on the other edge of the water. A small one. Maybe twelve houses? Do you know where it is?"

Lea racked her brain, but it didn't sound familiar, though she'd never been north of Auropera. "Gray will know. Did you see anything else?"

"A single phrase before I was pulled back.Quisque occidere…"

"What does it mean?" Lea asked, breathless, her heart pounding and her palms sweating.

"A spell…" Evangeline looked away, her hands shaking and her lips trembling. "It’s the beginning of the spell for the Lonely Death."

Lea’s shadows exploded, fear churning in her gut and spreading like wildfire through her veins. "It’s Alaric. It has to be. I injured him during the battle. It makes sense—the breathing, the darkness I forced inside him. He's trying to gain more power to heal. We have to tell Gray." Shescrambled to her feet, taking Evangeline’s hand to quickly lead her back to the castle.

But it seemed they couldn’t move fast enough. As they climbed the stairs to the front hall, a single petal fell from Lea's crown, turning into black ash that danced away in the wind behind her, reminding her that even if this was a clue, time was not on her side.

Chapter 27

Emma

Emma slept deeply, her dagger clenched in her hand beneath her pillow. She never slept without it now—how could she? It was her only defense, her only weapon against the horrors that relentlessly haunted her dreams. Every night, the dead came. Faces twisted with pain, begging for her help. Their voices were relentless and their hands cold as they reached for her, their pleas ringing in her ears and breaking her heart.

She’d become used to seeing them while awake. Or as used to it as she could be. But when she was asleep? She was defenseless. Trapped, and unable to escape.

A sharp pounding at the door jolted Emma awake, her dagger clattering to the ground. Even half-awake, she was instantly grateful Thomas had fashioned a hard case to clip around the blade at night to protect her from sudden movements like this.

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