Page 117 of The Courting of Bristol Keats
“There’s something I like about him. Something that I likea lot. Way more than warm cheese puffs,” she answered, and then pointed her finger at the tray between them, levitating a cheese puff into the air, flicking her finger so it flew up a good four feet, then tumbled down, straight into her mouth. Everyone cheered at her levitation prowess, which was what Bristol had hoped for, a distraction that would change the topic.
“I bet he’s way more tasty, too,” Sashka said, still pushing the subject.
Bristol only raised her brows in a vague reply.
“Looks like repast is over,” Avery announced.
Their heads turned. Melizan and Cosette walked across the meadow toward them, their golden spears casually resting over their shoulders. They stopped a few feet away from the recruits’ picnic blanket, surveying them all with smiles that chilled even the nearby trees.
“So, who’s ready to whoop our asses?” Melizan asked. “Sashka, how about you? You want to go first?”
CHAPTER 79
The valley rumbled, stretched, the earth awakening after almost one hundred years of sleep. It nudged the stone at its center awake, too. It was nearly time. The stone felt the new grass, the rabbit holes, the tree roots cleaving new paths, the sun, the shadows of clouds. It felt everything within its circle of power, but also beyond—it felt the gentle plod offootsteps . . . footsteps. It listened. More would come. They always did, and then the stone would know. It would choose.
Bristol stood on the southern crest of the valley, the breeze whipping at her hair. For a week the team had conducted drills in various terrains, but Tyghan scheduled a break to bring her to the valley and view the stone at its center. Bristol hesitated before saying, “That’s it?”
“Not impressed?”
“With such a lofty name, like the Stone of Destiny, I think I expected more. Something fancier? It’s just a plain gray rock.”
“That’s all it is. At least until Danu’s magic shakes it awake.”
Bristol hoped Tyghan wasn’t offended by her lack of awe, but the stonework at the palace was so impressive that she had imagined that the stone that chose a new ruler for all of Elphame would be something equally magnificent. The dull flat rock was no more than a few feet across, and barely peeked above the earth.
“What are all those other stones surrounding it?”
“It’s called the Mother Ring. Willing kings and queens stand within its circle and when the one destined to be Elphame’s next ruler steps onto the stone at its center, it sings out, proclaiming them the ruler of Elphame and caretaker of the Cauldron of Plenty. But if no one steps forward . . .”
He left the thought dangling.
“Except for Kormick,” Bristol finished. “That’s the only way the Stone of Destiny would choose him.”
Tyghan nodded. “And he’ll be defending the inner circle and the stone with his legions.”
Maybe not, Bristol thought. Not if she closed the Abyss portal. She eyed the huge expanse of the surrounding valley, the waving grass, the bluebells and buttercups, the oaks standing like ancient sentinels on hilltops. The valley was too beautiful to be scarred with war, but she knew it wouldn’t be the first time. Olivia and Esmee had covered the history of kings and queens fighting for the right to rule—though none before had a limitless army of demons at their disposal. That changed everything.
Tyghan grabbed her hand. “Come on,” he said, motioning to a nearby oak. “Before we eat lunch, let’s rest in the shade of that tree.”
She pulled back, eyeing him suspiciously. “Somehow, when you say rest, I don’t think it meansrest.”
He flashed a devilish grin that told her all she needed to know.
“I’m wounded,” he said, his hand pressed over his heart. “Are you calling me a scoundrel?”
She shrugged. “Depends. Just what do you think a scoundrel is?”
“A lovestruck ass?”
Lovestruck.Even though he was teasing, the word fluttered inside her. She scowled to hide the woozy feeling. “Out here in the open? The others will be along—”
He took a step closer. “No, they won’t. I told Quin we wanted to be alone. It wasn’t a request. It was an order.”
Her brows shot up in mock surprise. “So you’re saying the Knight Commander lured me here for his own wicked passions?”
“That’s exactly what I am saying. Do you object?”
“You’re a master schemer,” she said and began unbuttoning her shirt. She slipped it off, and knew he was hoping her bra would be next.
