page29 (1/2)
“Do you think your divine blood ick, in addition to the compulsion as consort?” No wonder he wasn’t himself
“Probably,” he said, still looking at me as if he wanted to bend me over
“Dial it down We have work to do”
My sharpness returned hiained his coe “I’ll find Greydusk”
While they were gone, I used the facilities, freshened up, and found a change of clothes These fell between arb the deh this outfit was all black, it had a satiny pattern iht I liked the knee boots that came with it I almost felt like a queen, dressed like this
Only if you intend on doing soirl Otherwise you’re not nearly elegant enough Because I suspected it would irk Ninlil, I ignored her Pretended I couldn’t feel her like a cancer in my brain or hear her insidious voice
By the time the others returned, I had a headache from her shrieks
For noas in control
“How sure are you that the Hazo aim to make amends?” I asked Greydusk
The deht of disappointing er Discover their intentions”
“That ht be best”
“We can’t spend too et jealous”
“An astute observation”
I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of this before “Is there a palace somewhere? Or a royal residence the castes weren’t allowed to claim?”
“There is,” Greydusk replied slowly “Likely to be in rags and ruins, however It’s been…uninhabited since Ninlil left us”
I was ed Murdered! And what did you fools do to avenge ! You cowered in Xibalba and squabbled over scraps like this pitiful anih control from me to cut her eyes at Butch, whom she wanted to kill for some reason
“Then let’sTired of hiding Take me there” The crack of demand in my voice, well, it came partly from me and partly from her
Maybe that fusion she’d mentioned was already under way Even as I loathed her, it was better than losingas possible, fight tooth and nail I’d never resign myself to captivity in my own head Power over demons ran on
We hold as we’d coht ahead, and none of the lesser deh to detect a difference fronored them all, and that seemed to suffice
Finally, I had a handle on the situation I’d use et the Hazo to set Shannon free That was sht them, that would indicate that I saw them as a worthy foe If I commanded them, they would kneel, especially if Greydusk read our circumstances correctly
Outside the Dohan compound, we didn’t have a chance to arick fell on me like a net The queen howled her bootless fury, but I was already caught, an insect in amber All around me, the air felt thick and slow I couldn’t ertips
“Corine!” That strangled cry was the last I heard from Chance
I couldn’t even turn my head to see how he fared
Complacent I had listened too otten the one lesson I’d learned as a child There are always enemies And now they had me Greydusk had warned me there were factions who didn’t want to see the queen return I had chosen speed over caution in reaching the Drinkers, and now my true foe had us
A ht robes etched in bloodred sigils His hair was long, twined in coial horns sprouted from his forehead “Load them up quickly, before the snare wears off”
This is the one who set the ick I will enjoy skinning hiet free
For once, I didn’t disagree Too bad about the Vortex Greydusk had ain once the spell failed They couldn’t keep the snare alive forever with the queen working to dis I had no hope of setting us free But this tio dark It was like I sat at her shoulder, watching Still here Still me
I told you, she said It needn’t be all or nothing We can become…symbiotic
My body and your ick?
Precisely
I wasn’t ready to accede, but I was closer, and she had to know that How many ti enough to decline? I tasted her triuot us?
Her displeasure flashed throughto a new caste No wonder they oppose my return
I racked my brain—and then I made the connection Greydusk had said only the Sarenized the sick Which e didn’t help at the ht down the line While I waited, helpless, a minion loaded my frozen body into the back of a cart There, they boundall oods…and Shannon’s Just in case, I supposed When the paralyzing spell wore off, I would kill them all for this
And though the dark queen approved, it was ht