Page 98 of The Light Falls
I lean close. “We don’t have time for you to die. Do you hear me? They took Solandis. Fight this so we can save her.”
Nothing. I drop my head into my hands with a weary sigh. The door opens, and I jump up with a fireball in my hand.
“It’s just me,” Ansel says, holding up a paper bag. “The gardener told me to grind this leaf up and put it under his tongue. He should wake a few minutes later.”
“Thank you, Ansel,” I say, taking it from him. A thought occurs to me. “Where does your oath fall?”
He looks me directly in the eye. “With the crown. Always. The sacred one you’re wearing.” Looking around, he comes back to me. “Why?”
“No reason,” I say nonchalantly, unsure of whether Tiernan said anything about Kian. “I might need to leave in a bit. Who’s on duty?”
“Tiernan and myself,” he informs me. “Kian switched with him.”
“I see. Thank you,” I reply with a smile. Tiernan must have felt it was better he didn’t know about Kian. “I’ll stick my head out when I’m ready to go. Thank you for getting this back to me so quickly.”
He straightens and dips his chin. “Queen Merindah.” Striding to the door, he steps outside.
I contemplate the bag in my hand. Do I trust Ansel?
Callyx and Cormal return. “The entire home is in shambles, and there’s nobody there. We did find the plant on the roof,” Callyx says with a growl. He plops the plant down on the table. “Any changes?”
I tell them about Kian, then hold up the bag. “What do you think? Should we take a chance?”
“The worst-case scenario is he dies and comes back later, right?” Callyx says, his voice filled with uncertainty. “Best case, it works, and we save Solandis. Do it.”
Crushing it with the bottom of the glass in my hand, I keep twisting it until it’s completely pulverized, then pick up the mushy mass and put it under his tongue.
A few minutes later, he shoots up into a sitting position and grabs me by the throat. Cormal immediately grabs his wrist and hits a pressure point in his shoulder. He releases me with a look of confusion.
Kaius puts a hand on his head. “What the hell?”
Callyx steps up beside him and gets him standing. “Someone took Solandis.”
Anger builds in Kaius’ face until suddenly, it’s not Kaius anymore. Vargas stares back at us, but with eerie and very familiar looking light blue eyes instead of his dark ones.
Cormal pulls me up and pushes me behind him. “Easy. We’re not the enemy.” Smoke curls out of his fingers as he stares at this version of Vargas.
Lines appear between Vargas’ brows. “I know who the hell you are. What’s wrong with you?” He tries to peer behind Cormal to me. “Sorry, Meri. I didn’t mean to grab you.”
“Look in the mirror,” I urge him, gripping the back of Cormal’s shirt.
When he does, he reaches out a hand to touch the glass. “I guess the old man was right. There is some of his DNA in me.” His face whitens. “Which means it’s also in our child.”
Callyx stares at him. “What child?”
“You’re having a brother or sister,” Vargas replies harshly, his smile deadly. “Once I get my mate back.” He whips around to look at me. “It was Lorn.”
Sensing he’s back to a somewhat normal state, I step out from behind Cormal and explain everything that’s happened since we found him.
“You don’t think he took her back to the Autumn Court house, do you?” I ask, remembering he lived there after the Fire Fae destroyed everything.
They all three shake their heads.
“Too far,” Cormal states confidently. “Sunrise is only two hours from now. With the portals down, we don’t even have enough time to get the cadre in here. Not all of them.”
Something crashes onto the balcony. Cormal immediately moves in front of me. Callyx and Vargas head outside to look. They hurry back in a minute later with Rivan held up between them. They lay him on the couch.
Rushing over, I sweep the hair back from his bloody face and wave a hand to clean him up. “Thank the goddess. What happened? Do we need to get a healer?”
