Page 85 of The Blood Crown

She squeezed them shut, willing the emotion back into place, but before she had the chance, a callused thumb brushed away the errant tear.

Her breath hitched as the coin heated in her palm, more than body warmth.

Panic swelled as the iron scorched her, feeling as though it had been embedded in coals before being dropped into her palm.

It fell to the floor with an echoing clank, spinning, spinning, spinning until it flattened on the black stone.

Ven searched her face. “What is it?”

“It—” she looked down at her palm, rubbing the red, blistered skin, already healing over, “burned me.”

Nira’s ruby eyes studied Aurelia. “You said the First Brother trapped you—How?”

Aurelia ran her thumb over her freshly healed skin, recalling the detail she’d nearly forgotten since she’d recounted her escape to all of them. “A ring of black powder . . .”

Ven stilled at the words, his gaze sliding to her.

“Black powder?” Nira asked, her bronze skin paling slightly as she looked to her twin.

Aurelia nodded. “I couldn’t cross the circle until Cog broke it.”

“A containment spell,” Nira murmured, her words laced with disbelief. “Black basalt?” She asked Seth.

Karro stopped his pacing, shaking his head. “But that only works on—”

Seth's eyes raised to where she stood. “The demon princes.”

Chapter 41

No. No. No.

But that meantshe. . .

“It would explain how you were able to withstand his control and wield the relic,” Seth offered, voice low, as if he knew that a single wrong word would make her crumble.

“And it would explain how you passed through the wards of the human realm," Ven murmured softly. "You are something our world has never seen.”

Seth crossed his lean arms over his chest. “And magick always seeks to find a balance.”

Four pairs of red eyes fell on her.

She shook her head slowly, shock seeping into her bones, her joints—making her feel as if she were moving through mud. If they thought her some savior of their world—some answer to the plight of the Dark King’s power and his demons—they were tragically mistaken.

“If I’m a threat to his power—why not just kill me?” she asked, “Why send the Fengul and his princes to track me down when he had multiple chances to end this?”

Nira finally spoke, saying aloud what each of them had been thinking.

“He has other plans for you.”

“We don’t know why he wants you, but we know that he will come for you." Ven placed his palms flat against the map. "And he knows that you’re with us.”

Guilt clenched her stomach like a vice. The King of the Void was amassing an army—and he’d send them straight to Ravenstone’s gates.

“We possess another relic,” Nira uttered, eyes flicking to Aurelia.

The sword. The monstrous blade that the King of the Void had wielded when his power had nearly swept over everything in their world.

“No—” Ven said.

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