Page 6 of MidKnight
“He signed that engagement document with the name Abbas,” Cerena said. “The document binds the names of those who sign. The loophole? It assumes you sign your own name.” She smacked her book open to a marked page and pointed at the spell. “There! See?”
Declan stepped closer and bent to examine the spell.
Cerena continued speaking to the rest of us. “That clever shite. He bound Abbas to you. But not himself. It’s the only way he could have gotten around my spell work. Abbas couldn’t betray you. Can’t betray you, wherever the hell he is. Whoever this interloper is … could.”
I turned in Ryan’s arms to stare at Abbas as Quinn set him back on the floor and strode over to the rest of us. I stared at the prince’s body and literally repeated Cerena’s words in my head. The sneaking parasite passed out on my floor wasn’t Abbas. I pulled away from Ryan and walked toward the body on the floor. I crouched down next to him. I grabbed a hank of his jet-black hair and pulled, lifting his head off the ground. I studied his full lips. His thick brows. His beard, which stuck out at all angles.
My mind whirled: If he’s not Abbas, who the sarding hell is he?
What she says … it’s impossible,Quinnthought-projected to the group, to those of us who wore his magic beads and could hear his voice inside our heads.
We all cringed, except for Cerena. When Quinn projected his thoughts to multiple people, it was horribly loud. And it echoed.
I saw his thoughts. His people’s thoughts. No one thought about deception. No one pictured him as anything other than Abbas. I saw him talking to the rebels as Abbas, arranging for the dragon—
“Okay,” Connor held up his hand to stop Quinn. He waited a moment, so our ears could recover before he spoke. “I agree that it seems odd. But you have to admit, the way he was able to shuffle his thoughts and emotions, that’s not natural. I’ve never seen anyone pull off something like that.”
Quinn gave a brisk nod.
“He wouldn’t be able to wear a disguise potion and come through the front gate,” Ryan pondered. “So, if it’s not Abbas, how’d he get through the gate?”
I turned where I crouched and met Cerena’s eyes. She held my gaze, unfazed even as every single one of my knights turned his attention on her.
She lifted her head as she spoke, “The gate accounts for human magic. But no hedge witch and no mage has enough magic to fully counter … non-human magics.”
My heart dropped. My hands flew back from Abbas, as if he’d burnt me.
“Meaning?” Connor asked Cerena, not quite sure of her implications.
“Whatever he is … whoever he is … he’s not human.”
I stared down at the body below me. Whatever hid under the shell that was Abbas, it was cruel; it was evil. It had schemed and taken my sister.
A knife flayed me at that thought.
The words slipped out of my lips soft and breathy, “So … we don’t even know who has Avia.”
“No. And we don’t know who it is that’s working against Evaness,” Cerena said.
My stomach crumpled.
Declan cut off my panic attack with logic. “All those servants were from Cheryn. How could that have worked? It has to be them.”
Cerena shook her head. “Elven chains could do the trick, too. I haven’t looked into all the fae weapons, but djinn wishes are also pretty expansive. Mermaids can manipulate memory. There are a lot of magical possibilities. Just non-human ones.”
“Sard!” I slammed my fist into the table, scaring Cerena’s bluebird, which fluttered over to a nearby curtain rod, to peer at me from a safer distance.
Screw queenly. I was furious. I wanted answers.
I walked over to Abbas. I bent and smacked him hard across the face. “Wake up!”
He merely groaned. I’d hit him with too much peace earlier. His eyelids only fluttered when I punched him.
Whoa, Dove! Slow down. You don’t want it to be too hard for him to talk when he wakes.Quinn grabbed my hand as I reared back for another blow.Body shots, darling. Stick to body shots.
I love you,I thought as I started pummeling.
Jorad walked in as I smashed Abbas in the ribs.
