Page 142 of Of Blood and Banes
“You’ll make it up to me,”she purrs.“I expect a full day’s feast of elk alone.”
I smile.“You deserve more than that.”
“In that case, hurry back to me. I grow quite tired of your brown-haired friend here. I might bite him, even though he’s been on his best behavior yet.”
“He isn’t a friend,”I grumble, not willing to recall the heat he spoked in my desire.
“Oh? I don’t recall all your friends causing such a stir in your blood when you think of them. Nor you zoning out when someone asks you questions as you think about whatever you two do at night?—”
“Get. Out. Of. My. Head.”
“When I’m dead,”she snickers.
I flinch at Daeja’s choice of words.Dead…I swing my attention back to where we came from, in the direction of the crypt we walked through. Vue’s voice, combined with mymother’s, rings like a bell inside of my head, clearing out the cobwebs covering my comprehension.
Secrets never die, they’re just buried in a grave.
When I turn to Sethan, my voice is clear with certainty. “I think I know where Queen Elara’s journal is.”
We return to the crypt, all of us still dripping from the second trip through the water. I see it now, clear as day. As I make my way down the steps into the room, my eyes are glued to the two stone rectangles in the center of the room.
Stone coffins.
We spill into the crypt, fanning out around the two coffins. I can make out two overlapping rings on both lids. Just like in the throne room.
Two rings to hold the power.
Archie clears his throat. “So…we just lift the lid and hope it’s Queen Elara’s?”
“No,” Sethan says, arm outstretched. “Don’t touch anything. Not yet.”
Cole motions over to a wall dim with shadows. “What about that? Sethan, do you know what it says?”
Five panels span the wall, with the center having two circles joined, and the other four panels depicting carvings of the different elements: fire, earth, water, and air. Each panel has a small inscription, lined up horizontally with the other panels.
Sethan shakes his head. “No…no idea. But we’ve been gone hours at this point, and I’m not entirely trusting of Darian being in such little company for so long?—”
“He’s surrounded by three dragons, is restrained, and has three other men watching him. Do not worry yourself,” Marge says.
Sethan snaps his attention to her. “I know him better than you do.”
She snorts, the motion throwing her head back a few inches. “You know him as his father’s weapon. I know him as a boy and a man.”
I flick my attention down to one of the stone lids closest to me, reaching out a hand and hovering inches above it. “Shh, not the time right now…” I wave my hand over the lid and follow a tugging urge until I walk over to the other coffin. “Here. I think this one is hers.”
I take the Blood Ring off my finger, then look each person in the eye. “Are we…sure we want to do this?”
“You have the gift and the curse of making the choice,” Marge responds.
I’m caught in her gaze like a fly stuck in a spider web. “I don’t want to make the decision. It’s not up to me…”
I glance over to Sethan, and he shakes his head, clearly agreeing with Marge. Then to Melaina, Archie, and Cole, who all dip their heads.
I blink, returning my attention to Marge. “But I don’t want to choose wrong.”
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to choose wrong. You only choose wrong by not making a decision,” she hisses.
“I—”
