Page 25 of A Petal in the Crown

“Yes, yes.” Eudora waved a hand flippantly. “Get it all out, I suppose.”

“Youknewwhat you were sending us into,” Lea seethed, “and you gaveus no warning. No clues as to what we would face. Youknewwhat Gray’s sacrifice would be. What it would do to him. To us.” Lea stabbed a finger at Eudora as her fire grew taller, black smoke rising and intertwining with her shadows.

“I did.” Eudora nodded, not a single hint of regret or sorrow in her features. “And I would do it again. Without hesitation. Without regret.”

Lea stalked toward Eudora with a feline stealth and grace that took Gray’s breath away. Shadows shot from Lea’s fingers, wrapping around the witch’s neck. Tanad started forward, but Eudora waved a hand, the shadows dispersing into wisps.

“Leave,” Lea ordered, baring her teeth.

“We made a deal,” Eudora smiled, sickly and unnaturally sweet. “Oneyouhave not yet fulfilled.”

Lea’s shadows reached out again, hovering inches from Eudora’s throat. “I remember our deal,” Lea spat.

“Then you know you must keep your word, or there will be consequences far worse than a lack of sun,” Eudora said, waving a hand over the ground. Cracks appeared beneath her feet, reaching toward Lea like long, spidery fingers. “The universe does not take kindly to broken bargains.”

“Oh, I'll keep my word. I always do,” Lea said, yanking Eudora closer with her shadows. “Here is my next promise for you, witch.”

“I think you meant bitch,” Janelle said from somewhere behind her, and Lea smiled, a cruel, amused smirk.

“She really is, isn’t she?” Lea said over her shoulder to Janelle. “I'll get your precious object from Auropera. It's no bother to me. I'll even bring it to you. Deliver it right into your hands.” Lea shoved Eudora backward, throwing her into the rocky ground.

Gray froze, his eyes bouncing between Tanad and Lea. The foreign king did not move, but his shoulders were tense and his gaze wary.

Without another look at Eudora, Lea turned, walking back toward the entrance to the cavern. “And then I will make you beg for death,” she said, disappearing into the murky darkness.

Chapter 15

Gray

Lea seemed to feel a little more like herself as she sat in Gray's office with the rest of their friends. It had taken Janelle some convincing to allow Eudora entrance to the cavern, and only after she’d exhausted an impressive list of unique and shockingly vulgar language. But she’d relented once Erik had convinced her that no one would allow the witch to come near them.

Janelle had no authority, really. No power to decide who entered the cavern, but Gray didn’t have it in him to try to stop her. Really, he couldn’t have warned the witch of the dangers of trying to harm them again better himself. If Eudora came within a hundred feet of Lea, Gray, too, would shove the sharpest rock he could find through her spine and out her asshole.

As Erik recounted the story, Lea had smiled for the first time. Not a timid smile or a smirk, but a genuine smile with crinkled, humor-filled eyes, and that brief glimpse of Lea’s light had been enough to reassure Gray that she was still fighting.

Her reunion with her friends had seemed to pull another small piece of who Lea used to be back to the surface, the darkness inside her feeling a bit more tame, though he longed for the mate bond so he could know for sure.

Thomas had cried when he saw her—pulled her into a hug he imagined would feel like childhood and sunny days and skipping rocks, and Gray hoped it chased away a bit more of the fury churning in her gut.

Emma had simply told her she missed her and whispered in her ear that she was sorry she was struggling and that she would help her with the darkness in any way she could. But it was Janelle who had been the one to break through Lea's armor fully.

“You take this fucking potion back,” she’d said, shoving the vial into Lea's hands. “If you ever pull anything like that again—” Janelle shoved her. Actually pushed her—someone with enough magic inside her to kill them all without even trying.

“I will fucking find a way to kill you even more permanently,” Janelle continued, ignoring everyone’s stares. “Like, kill you kill you. Here and wherever the hell you went after. Or I'll demand the goddess send you somewhere awful, like a place where you have to eat my mother's cooking every night for the rest of eternity. Or listen to Thomas’s jokes. Do you understand me? I'llneverforgive you. Not if you try to leave me behind again.” Janelle's voice cracked, but no tears were shed.

Lea had studied her for a long moment before simply nodding and wrapping her in a hug.

“I'm sorry,” she said, and Gray knew it was true. He also knew she would make the same decision again, even if it had almost doomed them all.

Gray stood, walking to where Lea stood next to Janelle and placing a hand on her lower back. He couldn't stand to not be touching her in some way. Even the time it had taken for her reunions with her friends had felt like far too long, and had made his heart race and nausea fill his stomach.

“Vincent, what have we learned?” Gray asked, his body relaxing now that he was close to Lea again.

“Actually,” Erik said sheepishly. “I think I know where he went.”

Gray's eyebrows shot up. “How? And why didn't you tell me this sooner?”

“I only learned of it just before Lea woke up. A lot’s happened since then. You know, coming back from the dead, finding the traitor. Janelle’s verbal sparring match with Eudora. The eternal night.”

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