Page 126 of The Crown of a Fallen Queen
Willow gestures toward a table laid with a steaming pot of coffee and a plate of biscuits. “Coffee? I remember you don’t like honey. Would you prefer sugar instead?”
They act like it’s perfectly normal for me to stroll around the castle, inspect the wheels, and make small talk while Luther tinkers with arcane machinery. It’s too easy. Too trusting.
I observe Luther again. “Where’s Seth? I thought he was with you.”
“He wanted to see his father’s grave,” he answers, not looking up. “Down in the catacombs. I can take you there, if you want.”
“Not quite yet.” I fold my arms. “I’ve spoken with Seth. We agree—Ethan needs to die. I propose we join forces for that. Afterward, I’ll consider your offer to join the Tides.”
Willow straddles an empty chair, coffee in hand. “Fair enough. Is he vulnerable somewhere? Grooming a son—some bastard he decided to legitimize after Ezra’s disappearance? Is he searching for a new wife?”
“He wants Lori. I saw it in his eyes back in Wintermere—he was looking at her the same way he used to look at you…” my voice cracks at the end.
Her eyes shine with tears and something else, something hungry and dark, like a beast she caged inside. “Then we don’t have to get to Ethan. We only have to wait. If he wants Lori, we’ll give him an opportunity to get close to her—and strike when he least expects it.”
“Elio will never go for that,” I say quickly. “Couldn’t you just take her place and deal with him yourself, like you did in Eterna?”
“Even if I could emulate her stance perfectly, Ethan won’t be fooled by that scheme a second time. Now that he knows I canchange appearances, he’ll be more careful.” She shakes her head. “No, it should be Lori. As a Shadow huntress, she’s the most likely to hit her mark.”
“If she manages to kill Ethan, I’ll free her of Iris’s soul. I saw them in Eterna, before the attack, and that dark soul is ingrained pretty deep inside her. I’d rather not be the one to destroy Iris for good, but if Lori gets me Ethan, I’ll do it. I promise.”
What Willow is offering is massive. I suspect Elio wants Ethan dead so he can bargain with his successor to save his wife. But Willow is not just admitting she has more power than the King of Light, she’s offering to save Lori. The promise soothes the raw ache in my chest. Maybe I’ve had it all wrong. Maybe she veered off the path of self-destruction she was on the last time we were together. Maybe I’ve been on the wrong side of this fight.
Doubts worm into my brain, but I can’t deal with a crisis of faith at present. A temporary alliance will give me time to test if Willow’s ambitions have cooled enough to convince me she’s not about to set the world on fire…again.
“You might be her best chance, so I’ll take your offer back to her. But I can’t agree to join you yet. Not before I bury Percy and think it over,” I say with a sad but hopeful smile.
“Killing Ethan is the goal for now,” she takes my hands in hers, “but think about the world we could build together. No elitist rules at the academy. No more keeping women from their rightful thrones. Picture Mabel’s witches back in power. The Red Forest restored to its former glory. The Mist Fae no longer in hiding but home again. We could right a thousand wrongs in our lifetime.”
Her enthusiasm is infectious, but I can let my guard down.
“Very well. Seth and I will return to Wintermere and speak with Lori. Since I killed the Storm King, as the crowns asked, they might allow Seth and me to wed. That would give us theperfect opportunity to strike. But first—I have to bury Percy in Spring, under the Hawthorn, as is custom. He would have wanted that.”
“I’ve thought of a way to honor Percy here,” Willow says softly, “but I figured you might say that.” She squeezes my lower arm. “You have our blessing to cross into Spring, but be careful. Freya may be weakened, but she still rules.”
“My wolves will not hunt you in the sceawere. You have my word.” Luther rises and sets his mask on the table. “I’ll take you to Seth now.”
“When you’re ready to leave,” Willow adds, “come find me in my room, and I’ll take you to the mirror.”
Luther grabs a cloak from the hook outside the bibliotheca. The dark fabric billows behind him as he leads me down the main staircase, across the hall, and through a hidden door that opens onto yet another set of stairs. The spiral staircase curves downward, taking us deep into the heart of the rock beneath the fortress.
The catacombs beneath Zepharion’s stronghold are cool and still, the silence broken only by the steady drip of water from the stalactites above. A dark underground lake shapes the cavern, its waters lapping gently at the black sand. Torches cast a soft golden light across the nature-made mausoleum, where rows of metal coffins rest in alcoves along the far wall. The air smells of salt and mineral stone, and the slightest hint of decay.
Luther pauses on the last step and spins on his heels. “I’ll give you some privacy.”
Thorald Storm’s coffin lies atop a glimmering slab of lyranthium in a prominent spot by the lake, and the lid depicts the likeness of the dead sovereign. A narrow well of light above allows the moon to shine directly onto the king’s effigy, the pale gleam reflecting off his sculpted face.
Seth stands quietly in front of the grave. “It’s stupid. He’s not even in there, his body burned in Eterna,” he murmurs.
He glances toward the far end of the chamber, to the nearest row of tombs. “Luther used to sneak down here all the time to visit his mother. I never thought I’d get sentimental about Thorald fucking Storm. I never thought that fucker would die—honestly. I thought I’d spend my entire life disappointing him—never meeting his standards, always speaking out of turn. We didn’t have much of a relationship, but I could count on that, at least.”
He huffs a shaky breath, and a single tear slips down his cheek.
“I never thought I’d cry for him. Must be the sleep deprivation or something?—”
“Shh. It’s okay.” I pat his shoulder blade.
“Death really does meet us all… despite what Luther thinks.”
