Page 21 of A Petal in the Crown

A few rebels glanced around nervously, while others gasped. An older woman near the front looked as if she might vomit. Gray couldn’t blamethem. They were looking at a ghost. A queen risen from the dead with vengeance etched into every line of her body.

"I was shocked, too. As shocked as all of you," Lea continued. "But it does not change the facts. The only way Alaric could have found us is through one of you." She punctuated the final word with a snap of her fingers, her shadows thickening around them. "Because of one of you, we lost good men and women. We lost a battle that could have ended the war. And we lost this place." Lea gestured to the stone above them. "Alaric knows where we hide. It’s not safe to remain here." Her calculating tone made Gray shiver. She was right, though. Itwasn’tsafe to stay in the cavern. The thought made his stomach drop, but he forced the feeling away.

"This cavern has remained undetected for a hundred years. And yet, somehow, Alaric found us before Tanad and his army could arrive. Before we were fully prepared. It's too…" She tapped her chin, pretending to think, but Gray could tell she was buying time as her shadows continued to slide and slither throughout the men and women filling the chamber.

"You." Her head suddenly snapped to the right, her dark eyes locking on a young soldier, probably only nineteen or twenty years old. Alex.

The shadows still threaded throughout the crowd receded, wrapping firmly around Alex’s body. "Come here," she ordered. His eyes widened and his face paled, but the boy had no choice but to obey as the shadows pulled him closer to their master, forcing him to his knees in front of her.

With the agility of a barn cat but the intensity of a lioness, Lea stood, stalking around him in a slow circle. Her shadows pulsed and puddled around her feet, so black they obscured the bottom of her dress, making it appear as if she was floating. And mixed within them was black fire. Crackling with an intensity that made Gray’s shadows long to join it in a wave of destruction.

Lea drew the sword from her waist, its razor-sharp edge glinting in the torch flames. Gray’s heart beat faster, his nerves squeezing his lungs as he watched Lea transform before his eyes. Her flames grew darker, her posture impossibly straighter and her demeanor more harsh. The call to destroy inside her was winning.

The darkness he’d sensed from her earlier grew, and Gray’s muscles tensed as he prayed she wasn't planning on killing this young man in front of their entire army, traitor or not.

In private, it would be a different matter. But this was someone’s son. Someone’s brother. Without a trial or evidence, condemning him here and now was a risk.

The boy was sweating, his face completely drained of color and his hands shaking, making him appear even younger.

Lea stopped her prowling as she lifted the sword, examining it. As quick as lightning, she flipped it, the tip hitting the floor only inches from the boy’s knees, with a clang that made those closest to them flinch."I suggest you answer honestly," Lea said, wrapping her fingers firmly around the hilt and squeezing. "Did you betray us? Was it you who tipped off Alaric of our location?"

"No! I swear!" the boy cried.

Lea's head snapped to where her skin touched the sword. She stared at it for several long, seemingly endless seconds, then clicked her tongue. "Thetruth. That was all I asked of you."

She lifted the sword, her shadows yanking the boy down so that his hands were pressed against the cold floor. Gray took a subtle step forward, sending his shadows to mix with Lea’s. He didn’t want to intervene, and knew deep down that no matter what Lea thought, she was capable of controlling the darkness inside her. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t stop her if he had to. To kill one of their own, in front of everyone and without concrete proof, could cause a rift within theirarmy. One they couldn’t afford if they wanted to find Alaric and end this war before the final petal fell from her crown.

"It was an accident! Please!" Alex cried as Lea raised the sword higher, the back of his neck exposed as her shadows pulled his head even with the floor. "I swear. I'd never betray you." Lea paused, her eyes clearing of the darkness just a bit, and Gray ordered his shadows to pause.

"You already lied once." Lea lowered the sword a fraction. "You expect me to believe you now?"

"It's the truth. It was an accident. Just an accident," the boy sobbed.

Lea squeezed the hilt again, closing her eyes for a moment before the shadows holding Alex down loosened.

"Explain."

Alex looked up at her, taking a shuddering breath. "I was scouting a few weeks ago, about a day's ride from here. And I think…" Alex swallowed. "I think I was followed. When I was coming back, something felt wrong. But I was scared. And I wasn't positive. I thought I was being paranoid."

The sword remained poised several feet over the boy's neck, Lea's hands tight around the metal. She squeezed harder, and Gray wondered what her plan was. If she was fighting the darkness, or simply trying to make Alex sweat as a lesson to all the rebels that mistakes like this couldn’t be made.

Put down the sword,he begged silently. It had been a fatal mistake, one that had cost them everything. But killing him now would do nothing but allow that immense, dark power inside her to grow even stronger. Gray sent his shadows closer, preparing to intervene should that sword start to arc downward, but praying that he wouldn't have to.

Lea met his eyes, turning her head so only he could see her face, and Gray sucked in a sharp breath. His fingers itched to reach toward her, his feet begging him to go to her.

This was not a lesson she was teaching their army. This was the very thing she feared most. Her jaw was clenched so tight he worried her teeth might crack, and her eyes were black, but tears threatened to spill over her eyelashes. Her forehead was scrunched as if she was in pain, her hands shaking with restraint.

"Gray," she whispered. A plea for help.

Without hesitation, he set his shadows free, slipping into the skin of Evander he had worn for so many years.

"Your decisions cost us greatly," Gray said. "Nearly cost meeverything." Long tendrils of darkness lifted the sword from Lea's hand. Gray placed his palm against her lower back, pushing as much calming energy as he could beneath her skin. Lea sighed in relief as the sword left her fingers, floating through the air until it was firmly within his palm.

Gray brought the tip of the weapon beneath Alex's chin, forcing him to look up.

"He's telling the truth?" Gray asked, and Lea nodded, but the question was more for their audience than him. He already knew from the look in Lea’s eye and the rage emanating off of her that if the sword had warmed in her hand to indicate that he was lying, he’d be dead right now.

"He told the truth. Thesecondtime I asked him." Lea’s voice was dripping with venom, but she released her shadows, and Alex fell to the floor, shaking.

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