Page 77 of Degradation

“We need to meet with the remaining casters in this kingdom who have the strongest abilities,” Liam answered. “We need to unite and fight the queen.”

* * *

I collapsedinto the chair and lifted my foot. Darian knelt, plucked off my shoe, and rubbed my pinched toes.

“Two days,” I said angrily. “We’ve met countless nobles, yet not a single caster. What are they waiting for?”

“Perhaps a sign that they can win,” Garron said. “The casters, I mean. Not the noblemen.”

I allowed my head to fall back and closed my eyes. A sign? What sign would inspire them? Another public hanging of one of their own?

“Blighted poxes on humanity,” I mumbled under my breath.

Eadric’s humor flared, but he wisely didn’t comment on my colorful cursing. Darian’s fingers dug deeper into the arch of my foot, and it helped me release some of the tension I held.

“What more of a sign do they need? Three of the queen’s casting stones broke—quite visibly, mind you—in front of all the nobles gathered. Do they doubt their supporters' words?”

“We cannot ignore that Pogwid also lost her life after that bit of defiance,” Eadric said. “The casters are afraid. As they should be.”

His voice of reason didn’t help abate my frustration.

“Two days,” I reiterated. “Two days Edmund and Brandle have been in the queen’s clutches. Do they still have their fingers and tongues? Pogwid lost hers in a matter of hours.”

I felt their turbulent emotions at my words.

“We know,” Daemon said quietly. “If we thought we could save them by storming the castle, we would have done so already. Waiting is anguish for us all. But without the casters, we have no hope and would lose our lives. Who will save Brandle and Edmund then?”

I tugged my foot from Darian’s grasp and leaned forward to kiss him passionately.

Over the course of the last few days, I’d needed these spontaneous kisses with increasing frequency. My already questionable control was frayed to the point of breaking, andthatwe could not allow.

When Darian pulled back to look at me, I was breathing heavily and ready for more than kissing. He palmed my chest through my dress and pinched my nipple. Each morning and evening, one of them brought me to the height of pleasure, giving me the release I needed to reset the frustration. But never more than one of them and never more than once.

The desire I gathered from them never ceased now. They fed my well even when sitting in a room with boorish nobles, using pretty words to promise introductions to their casters but never appearing with them.

“I’m done waiting,” I said. “Done.”

Darian kissed my forehead. “What would you like to do?”

“Hunt them myself,” I said. “Liam, I’ll need your old clothes, please.”

Eadric groaned, and I felt their collective resistance as I stood.

“Fetch them, or I start casting and let the queen come to me.”

I meant every word. I was done—done with everything—the dinners, the fawning over my men…especially that.

One noble had had the audacity to think of pairing his niece with Liam. Of course, he didn’t speak it, but he’d thought itwhile kissing my hand. It wasn’t simply jealousy driving me. I’d had subtle hints of hidden agendas from all of the nobles. Nothing that aligned them with the queen, though. No, far from it. They were very eager to align themselves with the princes to win their favor. They wished for lavish gain.

Liam hurriedly slipped from the room as I fisted my hands in my skirts.

Eadric crossed the room and, without warning, swung me up onto his shoulder. His hand swatted my buttock with stinging strength. The pain was so shocking I couldn’t even draw air.

“Um, Eadric, you might not want to do that,” Daemon said. “She bites, remember?”

“I remember,” he said. “But the kissing isn’t working anymore.”

He swatted my other buttock with the same stinging force.

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