Page 164 of Enchanted Heir
The magic vanished as soon as it got to Keir.
The king startled for a moment, and then narrowed his eyes in on me. “It isn’t enough to have your claws in only one of my sons?” He immediately spun and turned to leave. “You all disgust me.”
It wasn’t until he was down the hall, his boots clacking on the marbled floors, that any of us moved or it seemed even breathed.
But then Krew was moving toward Keir. Krew put up a sound barrier at the door just before he grabbed Keir by the shoulders and hauled him up and against the wall. “You idiot!”
“What?” Keir asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Krew shoved at his chest. “Never say something like that to him again. Now we have his wrath on us to worry about in addition to his wrath on Nerede. You never should have put that idea in his mind.” Krew took a step back and gestured toward the door with a hand. “Now he will see us coming.”
“Let him,” Keir snapped. “All we need is to figure out what the damn object is. And we have Jorah. Have you not noticed how he will not go near her?” He paused. “And besides, he’s used to my compliance and your resistance. Switching that up is messing with him. He has no idea what to do with it.”
Krew grabbed at his temples, his magic getting brighter with each word Keir spoke. “You are being careless with the plan!”
Keir held up both hands. “What plan, Krew? The plan was shot to hell the moment we found out about the objects.”
Krew clenched his jaw. “Fine. But until we have a new one, will you stop and think things through before threatening him again?”
Now Keir’s magic was getting brighter. “You know what I cannot understand for the life of me?”
Krew’s glare was his only response.
Keir’s chest heaved. “Why you are so hellbent on the damn plan anyway when you have everything you could ever want.”
Krew took a step forward. “Becausesheis not safe, none of us are safe until he is gone. Have you forgotten that?”
Unable to take their bickering any longer, I stepped between them, putting my hands on Krew’s chest. “Stop. Please.”
His eyes drilled into mine.
“We are all on the same team, Krew. Keir probably shouldn’t have said that, but your father was being a real prick so I can understand why he did.”
Krew took several deep breaths. “You’re right, love. I’m sorry.”
Keir said from behind me, “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have carelessly thrown those words out like that.”
I stepped aside, glad things were not going to escalate further. “Now hug it out.”
“What?” Krew asked, surprised, while at the same time Keir snorted.
“You heard me. I read it in your mother’s journals. She always made you hug it out.”
Krew looked at me, annoyance written all over his handsome face, but did as I asked and took two steps forward and slapped his brother on the back as a hug.
“Speaking of that, let’s get out of here and go work on that,” Keir offered. “We can’t make a plan at all until we are sure that’s the last clue she gave us.”
Krew nodded. “All right, let’s go.”
I held up a finger. “Wait.” I walked over to the table and picked up my uneaten dessert and fork. “Okay, now I’m ready.”
The crown princes looked at one another for a brief moment. With a shrug, Keir grabbed his dessert, and then Krew went back around the table to grab his too.
Desserts in tow, we headed to Krew’s wing to get back to work. We had a plan to make, and a king to kill.
* * *
Goingpage by page in the journals was a slow process, but with three of us doing it, it went much faster. We were down to five journals left to check. Chances were good we’d never know anything else than what the queen had already left us.
