Page 94 of Queen of the Night
“This?”
I turn my wrist and find the mate bond on my wrist glowing brightly in the dark. I frown.It’s glowing. Do mate bonds glow if one person dies?
I look up at Rupi with wide eyes as she dances across my chest happily, flapping her tiny wings with every hop. Does that mean…? Are Rupi and I simply grasping for a sliver of hope? Maybe. I know she loves Ikar as much as I, but that dream felt real, and the mate bondisglowing.
For a moment, I allow myself to ride the wave of hope that, when dashed, could lead to my insanity… What if Ikar is alive? If he is, whatifI tell him the truth? Whatif…we bridge?
I bite my lip as I consider the ramifications. I see it going two ways. Either I find him alive, convince him to forgive me, bridge with him, and restore lucent to our kingdom and the people are grateful, and I can eventually change their deep-rooted beliefs… or, I bridge with whoever I have to bridge with if Ikar is dead, and the people might still hate us and end up killing me and all my Tulip sisters as they did before. I realize that a lot of it has to do with who is now king. If it’s still Ikar, I have to trust him and his ability to sway his people. Anyone else… I’ll have to face the sorrow I’ve shoved into a dark corner of my mind and figure it out, because what’s worse than possibly being hunted down and killed in the future by the very people I’m trying to save? Knowing I could have prevented an entire kingdom from being overtaken and not doing anything about it.
I know Renton is after Ikar’s throne, but if my king is alive… if I survive the thoughts of escape that begin to form in my mind, I’ll tell him somehow. I’ll do whatever it takes to be with him. I’ll apologize; I’ll tell him everything. I will.
My resolve firms as I lie there, his image still fresh in my mind from the dream. I’ve never shared my secret with anyone outside the Tulips. What am I supposed to do, run into his arms and shout that I’m a Black Tulip? Apologize for lying to him for weeks? Beg him to forgive me for the massive amount of trouble I’ve put him through? Where do I add in the part where I realized while I was imprisoned by gloam masters that I love him?
I throw an arm over my eyes and groan. I obviously don’t know how to do this relationship thing in any normal sort of way.
“Vera?” Tatania calls from across the room, her voice concerned. She must have heard my groan.
“I’m leaving, Tatania. I don’t know how I’ll do it yet, but you’re right—I need to escape. You should too.”
She’s quiet for a moment. “I’ll help. I’ve been thinking of a plan.”
I smile in the darkness, and Rupi twitters softly beneath the furs. My worries about Tatania fade. For the first time, I feel like she and I might actually be sisters.
Chapter 51
Ikar
Iwake in my dimly lit room, immediately assaulted by pain. Though it forces a groan from my gravelly throat, for a small moment, I’m grateful for it because it means I’m alive when I doubted that fact while dreaming moments ago. Relief fills me as my heart pounds within my chest.
“Ikar?” Darvy stands and comes toward me from a shadowy corner of my room, relief easing the creases at the corners of his eyes. But I don’t miss the dark bags beneath his eyes and the weariness in every line of his face.
“What happened to me?” I grind out. My mind is muddled, and all I can see behind my lids is Vera’s face from my dream. Where is she?
“You’ve been walking the brink of death for the past three days.” He laughs without humor as he sinks into a chair near my bed and runs a hand over his face. “Blazing gloam masters,” he mutters.
“Three days?” I ask hoarsely.
Darvy nods, and I try to put the pieces together. Iremember the battle, remember the pain of a sword being thrust into my torso…
“They took her, didn’t they?” I curse and attempt to sit up, but fire ignites and Darvy pushes me back.
“We’ve been trying to heal you, but lucent is getting worse. The last originator passed out when we’d barely begun… I can only use Nadiette so many times before she tires, but she’s been worried?—”
“We have to leave,” I interrupt as he offers me a cup filled with water. I painfully lift my head to drink. How am I to find Vera in this state?
“Once you’re healed, we’ll put together another team?—”
“They could kill her!” I nearly shout, and pay for it with another wave of pain that has light dancing behind my eyes.
“You’re going to undo all my efforts if you don’t calm down. If you want to find her, you have to heal. That meansdon’t move,” he reprimands me angrily.
“If they let her live… he’s going to bridge with her.”
Darvy nods grimly and clasps my good shoulder. “We’ll work as fast as we can.”
I watch as Darvy pushes a needle through my skin, resorting to healing methods most of our people haven’t had to use regularly in centuries. I lift my gaze to stare at a small crack in the high ceiling of my personal room. He was able to finish healing my shoulder a day ago, but the originators, even Nadiette, can only offer lucent for moments at a time without fatiguing now. It hasn’t been enough to completely heal my side yet, even with the head start Vera offered with her own healing magic—the reason I’m still alive.
“It’s good enough,” I say after he finishes the last stitch.
