Page 103 of A Crown of Lies

Trouble was what he meant to say. She was sure of it, but he never got it out. His body froze mid-sentence, eyes growing glassy, mouth hanging open. Her father’s hand went limp over theirs and his head hung low.

“Father? Father!” She let go of his hand and shot towards him, ready to shake him awake, if only to hear his voice one more time.

Rowan caught her by the shoulders. “He’s gone, Rixxis,” he said, holding her firmly. “He’s gone.”

She let out a desperate choking sob and threw her arms around Rowan’s strong shoulders. Her head hit his chest with a dull thud, and she wept into him, her body quaking with tears.

Rowan held her and kissed her head.

Tofi stepped closer, his hand on his strange sword.

“Don’t touch him!” Rixxis growled at the necromancer. “Don’t you fucking touch him!”

Tofi gave her an apologetic look. “The curse must be mitigated if you want his soul to rest.”

“You leave his head! Don’t you cut him!”

Tofi sighed and nodded. “Tofi will leave the body intact if Tofi can.”

“Come on, Rixxis.” Ieduin was suddenly there, pulling her to her feet. “You don’t have to see this.”

She didn’t think she could walk. Her legs were numb. Rowan and Ieduin practically had to carry her out of her father’s room. She didn’t remember the trip to her own room, or how Hamlet got there, but she was suddenly weeping into her bed with the little pig curled up beside her head, snorting softly. Rowan had curled up behind her, holding her tightly, while Ieduin put his head on her chest.

“We’ll stay as long as you need us,” Ieduin promised.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Rowan added. “We’re right here.”

But they couldn’t stay forever. None of them could. One day, they were all going to die, weren’t they? It could be tomorrow, or at the Wytchwood battle, or any of the other dozens of upcoming battles, or asleep in their beds. Death would come for them all, eventually.

Thirty-One

“She’sstillasleep.”Rowanclosed the bedroom door behind Hamlet, who’d trotted out after him.

“Good,” Ieduin said, crossing his arms. “She needs to rest. It’ll help her feel better.”

They both turned to Tofi, who knocked on the door a short while ago. It was a testament to how exhausted Rixxis truly was that she hadn’t even stirred when Rowan and Ieduin got up and quietly slid out of the room.

“Tofi was able to do as she asked,” reported the necromancer. “The curse is much easier to deal with once the body has expired. As long as there is life to cling to, however, all of Tofi’s methods of breaking curses do not seem to work.”

“What about the Brotherhood?” Rowan asked.

Rixxis’s suggestion had come too late to help the Crow elf and her father, but if they could find a Brotherhood knight and bring him to Greymark, perhaps they could save the next victim.

“It would be incredibly dangerous to the infected person,” Tofi said, wringing his hands and tugging on his collar. “Brotherhood knights do not have magic. Theybreakmagic. Burn it away. If the infected were a mage, he might lose his powers permanently. Any non-mages would have to bear mind-breaking pain as the Brotherhood knight burned away all traces of magic in his body. It might undo past healing spells, or rupture blood vessels. It is hard to say. Tofi is no expert on this.”

“But there’s a chance?” Ieduin asked.

Tofi shrugged. “Always a chance.”

“It’s a pointless endeavor,” Rowan said, shaking his head. “Sir Isaac must remain with Queen Eris, and all our attempts to reach any surviving members of the Reformed Brotherhood have ended in failure. If Sir Ben or any of his supporters live, they are deep in hiding. Too deep for us to reach, especially before the battle.”

“We have other problems, too.” Ieduin waved for them to follow him as they made their way toward the library-turned-war room. “Remember how I theorized the bandits would move to join the Trintan army? Well, I was right. Some of the scouts we sent to watch the engineers building the dam reported in this morning. I was in a meeting with them just before I heard about Ellisar and Leo. There are more bandits than we thought, and this so-called bandit queen might be the necromancer we’ve been looking for. They reported some undead causing trouble with advance patrols. No bites yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“Fuck,” Rowan spat, clenching his fists. Of course Divina and Simeon would be there.

Tofi frowned. “If this is true, then every slain soldier—enemy or ally—is a potential fighter for our enemies.”

“What should we expect?” Rowan asked, pushing open the doors to the library.

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