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He led her to the railing, then draped a protective arly blue sky was dotted with other islands, each with its own city Below theht was remarkable, but she and Thronos had work to do She turned to survey his face "I was proud of you in there"

"For what reason could you possibly be proud?" He led her back inside, heading for a sitting area

"Though you were repeatedly kicked in the ballbag, you didn’t look like it"

"Thanks?"

"Perception is important When Omort’s rule cruer His poere still intact, godlike even, but he lost his followers through his behavior, his lack of leadership I can’t believe I’ king right now They need you"

He let out a breath "I never wanted to be king"

"I always drea a Vrekener queen"

He raised a brow at that "And what about now--can I look as though I’ve been repeatedly kicked in the ballbag?"

"Withhis swollen leg Then her upstanding Vrekenerin "We’re going to get through this"

"You were right all along Things are not as I’d iined them I had this idea of black and white, and now I’"--best she could "

"I can’t believe Aristo is gone I know he did evil things--he hurt you--yet I’m still conflicted Just when I add one e of his nose "Was he the one who did those things to Queen Bettina?"

"She told roup acted with impunity, as if they were outside of the normal Vrekener co?"

"You believe him capable of such an act?"

"If you’d seen him as my sister and I have"

Thronos shut his eyes "Did Cadmus speak the truth about my brother’s ultimate fate?"

She hesitated, then said, "It’s likely The Deathly Ones are a warrior breed If the va to impress the soed"

Thronos opened his eyes "How did Aristo become like that? Your brother was destined to beco toward it"

She had no answer for him He didn’t seeladly went into his ar on his lap "I’ht, there’s a chance--slim to none, but still a chance--that you aren’t" Lanthe’s overwrought biological clock gave a sigh of hope

Thronos stared at her with eyes gone silver Kind of like he loved her Then he said, "How aot this My sister is very good friends with Bettina We can extend an offer of peace to the Deathly Ones You ize on behalf of your brother"

"That won’t be a probleet her to the table She kind of became a shut-in after her attack If you even utter the word Vrekener, she runs away, sobbing and stuff"

"My gods"

"But there’s an upside Bettina’s not only a gold fanatic likefor this" Lanthe held up the silisk medallion "So we’ll offer it as a present to celebrate peace between our factions Depending on how , this could be a lock"

"You told ive up your do sound "Not in a ive it up for you Because that’s e do--we save each other’s asses" She let that sink in "So by neutralizing the Deathly Ones, we’ll be taking care of the Dacians as well As for the House of Witches, I think that’s all Carrow The good news is that she survived the island The bad news is that the last she saw of us wasn’tideal" When Thronos had been dragging Lanthe down a tunnel as she’d spat and cussed

Thronos winced at the memory "Lanthe, I--"

"Look, you can ue when you firstother than getting this kingdom out of the crosshairs I’ll write to Carrow and explain to her that I’e demons The only reason Rydstrom declared war is that he doesn’t know I’m in Skye Hall of my own volition" She frowned "Did I really just say that?"

"So you’re to be er under her chin "I don’t want you to have to fight aze on his "We are partners We’ll be co-ruling this joint, and we’ll play to our strengths I’ood at stuff like this Nïx said that I was to shine in this realm So just let the sorceress do like she do"

He exhaled a long breath "Then I’rateful for uarantee My own If Morgana drained the powers from the vault, she will have kept the choice ones She was already a force in the Lore before, so I can only iana had been io was so colossal, it outstripped even Sabine’s And now that Morgana’s adversary Dorada had risen, who kne the queen would react about anything?

"I can extend an olive branch," Lanthe said, "letting her know that Skye Hall is under new ement, and that fifty percent of the royals here are Sorceri But I make no promises She’s about as predictable as Emberine Thronos, she could strike down everyone here with a snap of her fingers"

"Assu she can find us"

"If the va Morgana how to do the saree since he gave her the fire scythe Morgana won’t stop until the va"

"Will she be so bent on reaching us?"

"I don’t mean to heap bad news upon bad news, but Bettina is her ward One of the few people in existence that Morgana cares about Now that Bettina’s married a Dacian royal vaeted a worse victim" Aristo had screwed up, well, royally

"What about your presence here? Will that not influence your queen?"

"I’m sure she thinks I’ve been abducted and brainwashed Even if I convinced her I’ her ana wouldn’t forgo any of her plans for Sabine--and definitely not for me"