Page 111 of Shadow's Heart

Mina jerked her head up with a gasp. “You would kill my fated one, Uncle? As I told everyone, a siren sang for him, and she had no effect on him. He and Iaremated.”

“Did you see the siren do it?” Caspion asked. “Or did he tell you that happened?”

“I . . . didn’t actually see it.”

Groans.

Lothaire said, “Did I ever tell you about playing poker against the King of Lies? You can’t trust Sorceri.”

Bettina put a hand on her hip. “I’m standing right here.” Trehan’s gaze darkened.

As if she hadn’t spoken, Lothaire continued, “One thing I know for certain: a sorcerer assassination is a splendid spectacle. You never know what you’re going to get with those fonts of magic. Kind of like different fireworks. Most go boom.”

Bettina rolled her eyes behind her Sorceri mask. “Still right here.”

Trehan cast Lothaire a warning look and protectively drew his Bride against his side. “Watch yourself, Enemy of Old.”

“Often. My reflection entrances even me.”

Dizziness swept over Mina, and she pitched on her feet. Exhaustion and grief had undermined her logic almost as much as the plague had promised to. Maybe she should sleep so she could regain it. “Adham made the vow to me. Why can’t I release him from it? That can happen under certain conditions, right?”

Lothaire, an expert with these vows, said, “If he vowed to doyourwishes by killing Mirceo, then you could.”

“What about searching the worlds for a way to break such an oath?”

Lothaire’s low-level amusement faded. “You think I didn’t try that, girl? You believe I simply failed to come up with that idea when my Bride’s soul was on the line? I had no option other than facing dawn and incinerating myself—which I tried to do. To answer your next question, no, not even Dorada’s ring could relieve me of that vow.”

Ellie reached over to pet his arm until the tense line of his jaw eased.

Caspion said, “Mina and Mirceo won’t be safe from a sorcerer with that much power. He must be taken out. I volunteer to do it.” Caspion was a death demon and a hunter; Mina took his words very seriously.

“Then it’s settled,” Lothaire said as she gaped. “Caspion will kill the Sandman. Let me know when you close in.” He rubbed his hands with relish. “I do love a good sorcerer decapitation.”

Bettina bit out, “Must you?”

Mirceo frowned at Caspion. “Wait a second—Iwant to take his head. None of this would have happened if not for my initial recklessness with Harea’s bounty.”

The demon answered, “Not a chance, leechling.”

Viktor’s hand already hovered over the hilt of his sword. “I’ll do it.”

Trehan said, “I am the leader of the House of Shadow. It’s my job to assassinate threats to the royal family.”

“Correction: itwasyour job, Trey,” said Viktor, the head of the equally powerful House of War. “Now that you’re busy running the kingdom you share with Betinna, I’ve been stepping into your position.”

“Minashould do it,” Stelian interjected. “She’ll never get over him otherwise.”

Warming to that idea, Viktor said, “Yes. She could strike from her mist, and that cretin would never see it coming. Not as valorous as battle, but it would get the job done.”

As they blithely discussed Mina assassinating Adham, she felt as if she’d been caught in quicksand again, screaming into the void. . . .

“This is my little sister we’re talking about. It’s not happening, not on my life,” Mirceo said with all the arrogance of a Dacian prince. “The sorcerer is mine to kill. I started all this madness with Silt’s capture.”

Ellie snapped her fingers. “Capture—now, that right there’s a good idea. Let’s nab him instead of droppin’ him. We canalwayskill him.”

Lothaire scratched his chin thoughtfully. “As good a point as ever.”

But having lit on the idea of a murder, the majority in this court had no interest in anything less. They all argued their positions—at the same time.

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