Page 85 of Degradation

“Snow?” Garron asked, touching my arm.

“Hush.”

Edmund’s frustration grew.

“Something is happening to them,” I said. “They’re tired. Edmund is frustrated.”

I touched him with my love, and his answered. Just as his desire started to surge, a spark of energy burst into existence around him.

The queen. She was trying to do something to him.

“He is mine!” My hands slammed down on the table.

The woman across from me grabbed at her neck in shock, but I ignored her and focused on Edmund’s energy as Garron’s hand encircled my upper arm.

“Do not reveal where we are,” he said urgently.

In my mind, I also heard Edmund’s voice clearly.

Your love protects us. Go.

I felt it then. The spell I’d cast in the glade to bind me to them was protecting him. Barely.

Touching my well through its lid, I sent my energy surging toward Edmund. It easily slipped under the queen’s power and joined the thin barrier already surrounding him.

My love and intent merged with what was already there. The barrier grew thicker and more impenetrable.

Withdrawing from him, I stood. “Edmund’s with the queen. He’s safe. For now.”

“Where are you going?”

“To take a bath. I can still feel her touching him, trying to arouse him. She knows who he is and is trying to secure her right to the throne.” I looked at the nobles. “Your delays may have already cost you the freedom to choose.”

I started from the room.

“Eadric, you may attend me,” I called over my shoulder.

His chair scraped against the floor in his rush to follow me.

I waited outside the dining room for him.

“Did I go too far?” I asked.

He grinned widely and swept me up into his arms. “You were perfect, Sparrow. The way you stood up to the nobles and put them in their place was very…regal.”

“Do you think the casters will arrive soon?”

“Yes. And I don’t think our guests will leave until that happens. Were you serious about turning yourself into a handsome man and entering the castle?”

“I was. I’ve seen the illusions that Pogwid and Getaina used. Complex spells that required a great deal of power to cast but very little to maintain. There are already potions to change a person’s appearance. Simple things like adding moles or removing them. And I also know that I can cast to make something become something against its nature.”

“Peas with thorns,” he said in understanding.

“Precisely. In theory, if I can do all of that, I should be able to temporarily turn myself into a man.”

“I would very much like to see you as a man,” he said. “One that Edmund doesn’t recognize. Then you can kiss him.”

I laughed at Eadric’s imagination and hugged him in gratitude for helping me see some light in an otherwise dark time.

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