Page 17 of Enchanted Crown
I cocked my head. “Doesn’t excuse all the horrible things you’ve said in the process.”
Nyx huffed his agreement.
They aren’t going to accept you as king here, you know that, don’t you?
Malachi provided smoothly, “You might not want to anger the one person in the entire realm who can turn you back, Enoch.”
Ignoring the personal statements entirely, I asked, “You don’t know who the puppet master is? The name? Your former fiancé’s husband never said?” Enoch was nothing but a bitter man. I wasn’t going to let him get to me. Or not yet anyway.
No. I only ever worked with the father of the child. As painful as that was, it provided me with all the rage I needed to provoke the queen.
“Give us the name,” I demanded. “Give us the name and I will heal you while we check your story. You will finally get what you want, your human skin back.”
It is, at least, one of the queen’s advisors.Enoch paused for a moment before he looked directly into my eyes.Mikael.
CHAPTER 8
Without delay, I sent thick strands of blue to wrap around Enoch. Though Mikael wasn’t the person pulling the strings, he was at least another lead. Someone we needed to remove from the group of advisors as quickly as possible, even if he was blackmailed into doing this. I almost regretted getting Esta out of here, if only so that she could have immediately flown to the castle for Mikael.
“Didn’t you need Emric for this part?” Malachi asked.
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “Maybe not. When I finally have it all, I’m going to need your help to push me back when pulling out the poison. I am sure that’s easier in your other form, but still.”
We will both help,Nyx promised.
I felt frustration in my very soul. We finally had a lead. We finally had a name, yet it seemed that someone bribed Mikael and Enoch to save Mikael’s child. Could I really even blame them for that? Still, Kian almost died, and no amount of time would make me forget how close he had been to death. I was angry. And I was tired of the never-ending to-do lists wrapped up with these damn crowns.
It was way more fun leading a rebellion than trying to find the root of one.
I let all that anger and frustration multiply as I sent my Enchantment to hunt out the poison. Enoch was big, but he wasn’t as big as Esta, and I had changed her back by myself.
Within a few minutes, I felt I finally had it all. I grabbed ahold of my own magic. “Now.”
Malachi was there, but it was Nyx’s head who was pushing against me, moving me backward as I yanked. I didn’t even yell out or groan under the weight of it all, I just pulled as fast as possible.
Bright blue wrapped around that inky black mass now tainting the purple lake and shattered it.
Back in the cell, there was a man clinging to the cell bars instead of a land dragon. A blond man who had to be in his early 40s. Enoch sunk to his knees, the water of The Drak rising to his chest, and began sobbing.
I gave Nyx a pat of thanks. The cell was entirely too large now that Enoch was back to his human form, but the bars were at least spaced narrowly enough so he couldn’t escape us. I noted that there was also iron wrapped around the bars.
Enoch was doing nothing other than wailing away in the middle of the cell. He was looking at his hands, moving them back and forth.
Without prompting, Nyx moved the cell over to shallower water.
“Hey Nyx,” I called to him. “You brought the key, right?”
He gave me a nod and handed it over in a talon.You let him go free, and I will just hunt him down and kill him. He deceived us once, he will do so again.
“I will not,” I promised.
I used the key to open the door to the cell, letting myself in with him and closing it behind us, handing Malachi the key just to be safe. Water a few inches deep sloshed over my boots.
Keir,Amory snapped at me, still in her tigress form on the shore.
“A little trust, Amory,” I called over to her.
I allowed my power to burn, rising to the surface of my skin. The water was shallow enough here, but since the sun wasn’t up yet, I couldn’t entirely see the bars or the bottom of the cell, yet I knew they were wrapped in iron to strengthen them. To make sure the shifters couldn’t chew or claw their way out. I knew from experience that as long as iron wasn’t wrapped around my hands directly, it was just a metal. A metal I loathed, one that could repel the effects of my magic, but nothing more than a metal. I couldn’t do anything other than move it, but I should be able to still use my Enchantment while in this cage.
