Page 67 of Fae Reckoning

“Yeah,” Ryder affirmed with ashhhingof unsheathing metal.

Ivar’s chest heaved as he bit out, “I don’t want to kill Lisbeth, you morons. I’m going to kill Talisa.”

“Uh, Talisa … the queen? That Talisa?” Elowyn asked.

“Who else?” Ivar snarled.

When Elowyn rounded his chair so she couldbetter look at him, Xeno and I followed. “You do realize since you piggy-backed on my map and came here with us that all you’ve been doing is singing the queen’s praises, right? You all but told us she shits roses in full, fragrant bloom. You are aware of that? You didn’t just lose your mind or anything?”

When Ivar glowered at her like a beast about to charge, I flinched even if she didn’t.

“If you threaten Elowyn, I’ll killyou,” I told Ivar.

He scowled and waved a hand in dismissal before bending his fingers to hurry along what had to be brutal tingles as his normal blood flow resumed. “I’m not going to kill Elowyn. And I’m most definitely not going to kill Lisbeth. I am, however, going to kill the queen no matter what any of you do or say to try to stop me.”

“Bro,” Xeno said. “Have you not been paying attention? Why the fuck would we stop you from taking her out?”

Hiro joined Pru and knelt beside the female Ivar had barely stopped studying. That drew his attention. He narrowed his eyes at Hiro in implicit threat and slid to the edge of his seat.

My friend calmly asked, “Who is she, Ivar? How has she provoked such a drastic change in you?”

Ivar swallowed with as much difficulty as Lisbeth had earlier. “She’s … my sister.”

I gave a littlehuh, how about that?grunt. I’d been right.

“My older sister,” he added.

“You always did…” Lisbeth wheezed and continued ina rough croak: “…like to rub that … in.” She collapsed against Pru. Hiro lowered himself to the ground beside them to help.

Ivar rose to his feet with a wince before shaking out his legs. When he began to pace, I guided Elowyn away from his path. The male bristled with raw fury.

“It was always just Lisbeth and me,” he said. “Our parents died when we were small. We led a simple enough life, but it was good. We didn’t even remember a time when we had our parents.” He reached the cabin, spun, and stalked in the opposite direction. “About twenty years ago, Lisbeth fell ill. So, so very ill. I brought in every healer I could find, used up most of our inheritance, but it soon became evident she was going to die. There was nothing any of them could do. Some of them, the better ones, could put off her suffering for a while. But it always returned.” He turned again, and this time, he met my eyes as he passed. “Talisa had only recently become queen and she somehow heard of our plight.”

Unease warred with disgust as they burned like acid in my stomach. Realization began to dawn.

“She summoned Lisbeth and me to the palace, and there she made me an offer.” His eyes were back on mine. “One I couldn’t refuse.”

I discovered Elowyn’s hand in mine, squeezing, but that was all I could feel. My body had gone numb.

“Talisa’s newly discovered alchemist, a male of incredible reputation, whose skill at the healing and alchemical arts was unsurpassed, would help Lisbeth.”

“Braque,” I breathed.

He nodded. “Braque. He would help my sister. In exchange, I was to serve Talisa.”

“By sunshine,” Elowyn gasped.

I felt Larissa’s stare on me as she rose to stand among the recovering fae.

“Of course I agreed,” Ivar continued. “Anything for Lisbeth. And as long as she received her monthly treatments from Braque, she wasn’t exactly well, but she did do well enough.”

“Then what happened?” I heard myself asking.

Ivar sighed. “Many years passed like that. Talisa grew to rely on me more and more.” His eyes glazed over, a distinction I noticed since they held mine. “When Braque’s treatments no longer worked on Lisbeth and not even he could diagnose what ailed her, I already owed Talisa for all the additional years she’d given my sister. When Lisbeth”—he swallowed—“when she died, my loyalty and gratitude for the easing of my sister’s pain kept me at court.”

“That doesn’t explain why you became nearly as cruel as she is,” I said as blood pounded in my ears.

His mouth tightened. “No, it doesn’t.” He offered no additional explanation. “The queen tricked me. She has to have. If not, how could Lisbeth be alive? I saw her dead body.” He turned back toward his sister. “I saw your body. It was cold. You were lifeless. I’ve mourned you ever since.”

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