Page 33 of Heart of the Summer Queen

His temple twitches.

“If you won’t take me to see her, I’ll find her myself.”

“I won’t allow it.”

“You can’t stop me.”

“I will forbid you from leaving the palace.”

“And keep me as your prisoner again?”

“Adara,” he says, voice strained.

I don’t relent. “Do you still have the sword Belinda gave you?”

“No, she came to collect it shortly after I defeated Seraphina,” Elaric says. “But even if it remained in my possession, I would not give it to you.”

“Why must you be so unreasonable?”

“Is it so unreasonable to insist you keep your life?”

I hold his stare for a while and then huff. “Fine. You can take me to Belinda instead.”

“No.”

It takes all of my restraint to keep from grabbing his father’s journal and chucking it at him. “You are the most infuriating man I have ever met.”

The corners of his mouth twitch up into a half smile. It just annoys me even more. “And you are the most infuriating woman I have ever met.”

The way he says it causes me to flush. “Stop trying to distract me,” I grumble.

His smile grows.

“If you won’t take me to Isidore, my only alternative is to speak to Belinda and see if she can offer any more information.”

“While Belinda may be less... volatile than other witches,” Elaric says, smile vanishing, “it does not change the fact that she is still incredibly dangerous and is as likely to kill you as she is to help you.”

“She helped you once,” I point out. “Perhaps she will help you again.”

“I struck a bargain with her and that was the only reason she granted me the sword to kill Seraphina.”

“What bargain?”

He doesn’t reply.

“I thought we were done withholding the truth? I want to break your curse and so do you, though anyone would think otherwise with how you’re currently acting. How will we succeed, unless you tell me everything you can?”

He shakes his head, but he doesn’t look as angry as I expect. Just frustrated. Which is fine. He can be as frustrated as he wants to be. This is for his own good.

“She asked me to retrieve poison from a wyvern,” he says.

“That sounds dangerous.”

“It was,” he admits. “If even one drop of their poison comes into contact with your skin, it will kill you. Fortunately, Belinda provided me with an antidote, but it offered no protection against the creature’s talons. I barely made it to the town nearby to find a healer.”

“That’s why it took you so long to return home?”

Elaric sighs. “It was.”

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