Page 113 of Knight's End
Lizza rolled her black, undead eyes. One of them got stuck as she rolled, and she had to use her finger to shove it back into place. A horrid squelching sound accompanied that task. “Never expect a man to save you.”
Avia squeezed my hand as we watched Lizza right her eye. I knew exactly what she meant. She was gagging inside—just like me.
It only got worse when Lizza dug into her pouch for another lizard. This time she handed it to me. “It’ll strengthen you. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”
My body instantly recoiled. I pressed my lips together. “I think I’ll—”
Lizza waggled her fingers and made me freeze. Then she stuffed the lizard into my mouth. “Chew,” she commanded.
My teeth moved on her command. I tried to make my mind fly to another place as I chewed and swallowed the disgusting, crunchy, textured thing.
Avia merely giggled at my discomfort. But when the tables turned and she had to eat her own headless reptile, I stuck my tongue out at her.
When we’d all been thoroughly traumatized, I searched the room only to find there wasn’t a water jug so we could wash away the taste of lizard guts. Perhaps the mer creatures didn’t drink water since they breathed it all day. I sat back down on the bed and said to Lizza, “You sent my knights away because you said we needed to discuss feminine issues.”
“Well, now here’s the issue,” the undead hedgewitch plopped herself down on the mattress and looked at Avia. “You’ve damaged all the bits around your heart, Princess. They aren’t going to hold up very long.”
My hand reached for Avia’s and tightened around her fingers.
No. No. We hadn’t come this far and done this much for me to lose her. My breath grew shallow. “Isn’t there anything we can do?”
“Of course, there is. It’s why I sent those fools of yours away. The good news, Princess, is you can live without a heart in your body. The bad news is, you need to find a host trustworthy enough to keep it.”
I stood immediately. “I’ll do it.”
But silence met my declaration. Both Avia and Lizza just stared at me. I glanced back and forth between them. “What? I’m perfect.”
Lizza said, “You have a kingdom to run—”
Avia pulled her hand from mine and said,
“I don’twantto become a heartless monster—”
I sank back onto the bed. I felt like smacking something, or someone. I wrang my hands instead. “There has to be a solution.”
Lizza cleared her throat. “I can help with the monster bit. I’ve got some experimental spells I always wanted to try on Posey, but the stubborn old bloom has never given in—”
Avia looked up at her, bright lavender eyes unblinking as she studied the undead healer. “If I leave my heart in my chest …”
“You’ll end up in the ground or like me,” Lizza shot back instantly.
I tried to keep a neutral face, not to let my horror at that possible outcome flood my features. But everything inside me cringed. The thought of Avia becoming undead pinched some nerve inside me. It felt wrong.
I glanced over at my sister, who was handling the news with more grace than I would have.
“Then I don’t have much choice,” Avia responded. “I’ll have to find someone to …” her hand went to her chest.
I nodded. “Well, let’s get back to Evaness and we’ll figure it out.”
Lizza laughed, the scratchy sound echoing in the green glass room. “She can’t leave the sea!”
I looked around. The castle … it was a castle. But it was a stranger’s castle. That witch’s castle. The woman who’d kidnapped her. It wasn’t home.
“She can’t leave the sea, ever?”
Lizza shook her head. “Unless she has a powerful enchantment.”
“Disguise spell won’t work?”
