Page 188 of Of Nine So Bold

Gwyneira was silent.

“You have more than the look or power of Queen Eira. You are her daughter.”

I braced myself to lunge if hedaredlook like he wanted to hurt her.

Ignatius nodded to himself. “That makes a great deal of sense.” Without another word, he turned back to the magic mirror. “We have need of your assistance, Dathan. Tell me, are you still among the witches of the Jeweled Coven?”

I stared at Ignatius as he continued explaining the situation to Dathan. That was it? It made sense and… nothing else?

I didn’t trust it.

Gwyneira’s hand slipped along my back, calming reassurance coming through our bond. For some reason, she seemed as if—beyond her initial alarm—his reaction hadn’t surprised her.

I eased out of my tense posture ever so slightly, but I still watched the scholar. I trusted my mate, but where her safety was concerned, I could never be too careful.

“—really are the Nine, then why has their magic not joined as the oldest interpretations say?”

My jaw clenched at Dathan’s words. And then there wasthatrisk to her…

“Syloria may be able to help with that,” Ignatius said.

“Setting that aside,” Dex cut in before Dathan could speak. “The priority right now is the attack the queen is sending toward the Wall of Erenelle. It may be some distance away still, but that only means we need to use that time to prepare. Because if that destroys our defenses, we’ll have too much on our hands to worry about any prophecy or whether our enemy plans world domination.”

“Yeah, mostly because we’ll be dead,” Clay chimed in. “So how does this help us with that?”

Ignatius gave the blond giant a wry look. “The wall is only half the issue. Tell me”—he turned to Niko—“when we first met, you thought you were in the mines outside Lumilia. Why is that?”

My friend faltered at suddenly being the center of attention. “The, um… the soldiers brought me to see the queen first.”

“What?” Gwyneira exclaimed. “You never mentioned that.”

He shrugged. “It didn’t really matter. I mean, she wanted to…” Hesitation flashed over his face as if he was reconsidering his words. “Okay, well, she tried to have one of the Voidborn take me over, but it?—”

“Niko!” The princess reached out, gripping his arm in her shock.

“I’m fine. It didn’t work.”

I definitely wasn’t the only one staring at him in confusion.

“Didn’twork?” Byron repeated carefully.

Niko’s eyes went to Ignatius and Dathan, questions starting to rise in his gaze. “There was a, um… like a weird crystalline feeling and then the Voidborn just kind of… you know, died.”

“Holy shit, friend.” Clay gaped at him. “You think you could’ve mentioned you’re Voidborn-proof.”

“I have no idea why it happened,” Niko protested. “Maybe there was something wrong with the Voidborn she ordered to attack me.” He hesitated. “The queen seemed pretty shocked, though. And angry.”

Clay scoffed. “I bet.”

Niko frowned.

“Shield of Erenelle,” Byron murmured.

Roan turned to him. “What?”

Blinking like he didn’t realize he’d spoken out loud, Byron glanced around. “Um, what the king said. Or, rather, the magical representation of the king.”

“Precisely.” Ignatius nodded.

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