“So we start walking through the prison and ask murderers if they want to save Elena’s life?” The disbelief in Dr. Flyte’s voice made it clear what he thought of the suggestion. “Even if any of them could be trusted, we couldn’t in good conscience let any of them back out on the streets.”
“Don’t be dramatic, doctor,” the queen said, sounding far steadier than before. “It doesn’t have to be murderers. But there are lesser crimes that still carry hefty sentences, some of which wouldn’t necessarily pose any risk to us. If we found someone that seemed reliable, I would have no qualms about freeing them. There’s a long tradition of royalty pardoning anyone they like when it’s in their best interests.”
“In my experience, the phrase ‘service to the crown’ covers a vast amount of sins,” Braeth added, turning to Bishop. “You must get us the prison records.”
“Of course,” Bishop said. Elena noticed the subtle but definite signs of relief on his face, making the knot inside her loosen just a little bit. “I’ll have to make a few mirror calls, but I can get them to you within the hour.”
“Or we could just ask Prince Nigel,” Cam said, catching everyone’s attention. He was standing by the door, pretending to be a simple guard, but Elena could feel the frustration radiating off of him. When she tried to catch his gaze, he firmly avoided looking at her. “His crime was directly against the princess, which means that helping save her would balance out the scales.”
“That’s true, but wouldn’t he be less likely to agree?” the queen asked. “His focus was on activating Elena’s sleep spell, not freeing her of it.”
“Yeah, but only because he’d screwed things up at home enough that they told him he couldn’t come back until he brings home an enchanted princess,” Cam explained. “He still doesn’t get to bring Elena home this way, but you can give him some kind of official documentation saying he freed a princess from her sleeping spell. He seemed pretty desperate to get that checked off his list.”
“If he requires more incentive, we may be able to aid him in completing other tasks on his list as well,” Braeth said. “Between us, we have resources he is unlikely to find anywhere else.”
“It’s a good idea, but I’m not too thrilled with the idea of trusting Nigel to be logical,” Elena said, still watching Cam. She didn’t care about the suggestion one way or the other, but she needed him to look at her. He was more than simply frustrated with her, and it stung in a way it shouldn’t have.
“I suppose chaining him to the floor is an option,” Ariadne offered. “If we’re careful about the metal the chains are made of, it shouldn’t interrupt the spell.”
“We will not chain someone to the floor,” Dr. Flyte said firmly. “That’s the sort of idea only someone truly evil could come up with.”
“Says the mirror who assisted dozens of evil sorceresses with their work over the decades,” Ariadne shot back.
“I consider you a level below them,” Dr. Flyte returned, an uncharacteristic amount of venom in his voice.
“Children.” The command in the queen’s voice silenced them both. She turned back to Cam. “Do you think you can persuade Nigel to see reason and agree with this?”
“Yes,” Cam said, looking at Elena. She’d been ready for the anger, no matter how much it bothered her, but the sheer hurt in his eyes broke her heart. She was the one who had done that to him.
Worse, there was no way she could safely explain. How could she admit that she hadn’t dared look at him after she’d opened her eyes again, too afraid that she’d shatter completely. There was no safe, socially acceptable way to tell another person that he was a reminder of everything she’d been stupid enough to hope for.
Still, there were undoubtedly other things she could say. “We both will,” Elena announced.
From the surprised looks everyone gave her, it was evident the conversation had moved on. “You want to examine the inmate lists?” the queen asked.
“No. Cam and I will see Prince Nigel together.” She looked at Cam, daring him to protest. Instead, he gave her a small nod that suggested he knew exactly what she was doing. It was the one sure way they would have a chance to talk—argue, most likely—somewhere out of everyone else’s earshot.
She turned back to the rest of the group. “I’ll trust your judgment on the inmate lists, but if Nigel doesn’t agree I’ll want to meet the possible candidates in person.”
“Of course.” The queen looked at both Elena and Cam, as if she knew exactly why her daughter had invited herself along. “I would never choose someone without your full approval.”
“It will be easier, however, if you can simply persuade this Nigel person to go along,” Ariadne added. She looked sternly at her niece. “Perhaps you should let your protector do the talking. I suspect he’ll put more effort into convincing our target than you will.”
Annoyed, Elena met Ariadne’s eyes with her best coolly disinterested look. “I’ll do what I need to.”
Her aunt lifted her hands. “Because you’ve been so enthusiastic up to this point.” Her voice was sharp, with genuine anger rather than the mocking Elena had expected. “You clearly can’t even manage to convince yourself of the plan, so forgive me if I doubt your ability to do the same to anyone else.”
“Why do you care?” Elena stared at her aunt in disbelief. “I still don’t understand what you’re even doing here! Fine, maybe you were upset by the thought that you’d accidentally killed an infant. But as you can see, I’m not dead.” Her voice was just as edged as her aunt’s had been, not caring if she wounded. “The curse worked out exactly as you’d intended it. There was no reason for you to suddenly regret all your hard work.”
Everyone else in the room was silent, watching the scene unfold. As Ariadne’s jaw tightened, Elena remembered her aunt’s odd reaction from earlier. She leaned forward, focused on the other woman. “Unless there’s something I’m missing.” The words were as much a threat as she could make them.
The tension in the room was thick enough she could feel the press of it against her shoulders. Dr. Flyte was the only one brave enough to risk breaking it. “Elena, I don’t think—”
Ariadne cut him off. “Yes.” Eyes still on her niece, she pushed herself to her feet before anyone could argue. “I presume there’s an empty room nearby where we can speak?”
That certainly didn’t help calm down the rest of the table. “Ariadne, sit down,” Braeth commanded. “Elena, don’t.”
“We’re just going to talk, Braeth.” She kept her gaze fixed on her aunt, wondering if that was really true. The anti-magic cuffs were back on Ariadne’s wrists, and if it came down to a physical fight, Elena was far from defenseless. If the battle turned emotional, Ariadne was one of the few people in the room who didn’t have the power to cause her pain. “It will ease my mind.”
The queen’s expression was brittle as she turned to Ariadne, but her eyes were so full of feeling they almost burned. “Anything you can say to her you can say to me.”
Her sister flinched away. “No, I can’t.”
The queen absorbed this in silence. “I don’t need to tell you what will happen if you hurt my daughter.”
Ariadne’s face went tight. “No.”
No one else protested as they headed for the door, but Cam stopped her briefly with a hand on her wrist. “You’re not planning on doing anything stupid, are you?” he asked under his breath. “Killing her might be stress-relieving, but it will just make things harder later.”
Elena surprised herself by smiling a little. “I’m really a much calmer person than you think I am.”
Cam made a disbelieving noise, and it was comforting when he followed them to the spare meeting room. He stood guard outside as Elena shut the door, then turned to her aunt. “No more games. You have nothing to lose by telling me the truth and nothing to gain by feeding me a pretty story. Once you found th
e curse hadn’t malfunctioned and killed me, what made you decide you had to undo it completely?”
Ariadne just watched her. “What do you want, more than anything?”
Elena blinked, thrown by the question. “Is this where you offer to buy my soul?”
Her aunt scoffed. “I’m being entirely serious. Name me one thing you would give up everything to have.”
Elena stared, offended by even the idea of the question. Nothing she wanted was worth everything. “What business is it of yours?”
“Your mother nearly died saving your life.”
Stung by the implication, Elena’s eyes narrowed. “You’re the last person who has any right to accuse me of being a bad daughter.”
There was a flicker of amusement in Ariadne’s eyes, quickly gone. “No. But I don’t think you understand that the curse was intended to activate immediately. The only reason you could have possibly survived as long as you have was because your mother must have poured enough energy into you to create a reserve that kept you alive.”
Elena’s eyes widened at the news. So it had taken the sacrifice of someone she loved to get her even this far. It seemed like a particularly cruel joke. “I’m sure you found that hilarious.”
Ariadne flinched. “A long time ago, I thought I wanted my sister back.” She closed her eyes, hand moving to grip the back of an empty chair. “But I didn’t want her enough to risk my pride, and even if I hadn’t made the worst mistake of my life I would have still lost her.”
The last thing Elena wanted to do was believe her. But the pain in her voice had been too raw to be an act. “And you think she’ll forgive you now?”
Her aunt took a deep breath, opening her eyes. “No. But I want it badly enough to risk everything I have.”
Worry and anger tightened Elena’s chest, and she moved away from the door toward her aunt. “Even her?”
The surprise on Ariadne’s face made it clear that Elena had let too much of what she was feeling bleed into the words. “I swear to you I will die before I let your mother come to any more harm than I’ve already caused her,” her aunt vowed, her gaze far too understanding. “But you have a choice to make.”
“I’ve already made it.” Elena’s fingers curled. “I won’t let them be hurt because of me.”
Ariadne looked at her like she was an idiot. “Do you really think that losing you to the curse won’t hurt them far worse than any spell from me could manage?”
“That’s not—” The words froze on Elena’s tongue, and she tried to force out a different variation. “They’ve prepared for that.”
“Ah, the great lie, that one pain is kinder than another.” The thread of bitterness in the words was far more convincing than sympathy would have been. Ariadne moved toward the door, patting her niece’s shoulder as she walked by. “It seems we’re more alike than we thought.”
As the door closed behind her aunt, Elena was left with the sneaking suspicion that Ariadne had left with far more answers than she’d given.
Chapter 20
A Convincing Argument
Cam really wanted to punch something. If that ended up being his big sister, then so be it.
“Just tell me you’re not going to do anything stupid,” Laurel said again, watching her brother strap an extra dagger sheath to his thigh. There was no need for it—it would take eight arms to properly use all the weapons he was attaching to himself—but Nigel was probably too stupid to know that. And if Cam needed to intimidate the guy, he’d be ready.
No matter what happened, he wanted to be ready.
Laurel scowled at Cam’s silence. “Listen, I’m not saying you shouldn’t do this. I just want to hear you say, out loud, that you’re not going to do anything that would get you arrested if law enforcement saw it.”
Finally, he stopped long enough to glare at her. No matter how little she clearly thought of his emotional self-preservation, she usually trusted him to hold up his end of a fight. “I won’t do anything you wouldn’t do in my place,” he snapped, wishing she’d go back to being the dangerous hothead he’d grown up with. “Is that comforting enough for you?”
“Of course not. Why do you think I’m worried about this in the first place?” When he didn’t respond, she broke eye contact first. “Fine.” She shook her head with a quiet curse. “At least let me go with you.”
“So you can get arrested instead of me? No.”
Lauren swore more loudly this time, slamming the flat of her hand against the hallway’s stone wall. “You can’t expect me to just stand here!”
Wholeheartedly understanding the sentiment, Cam throttled his anger back. “There’s not much of a choice when you’re dealing with magic. This is the first useful thing I’ve been able to do all day.”
She sighed, temper draining out of her. “I know.” Stretching her now-sore fingers, Laurel gave her brother an assessing look. “There’s room to stick another dagger or two in your boots.”
Cam huffed out a laugh, some of the pressure inside his chest easing. “I would, but I ran out.”
“Amateur.” Pulling a dagger out of her own boot, she flipped it around and handed it to him handle first. “Ever pick up Mason’s little trick with one of these?”
“Those one-handed, mid-air spins he used to do? Not unless I keep my eye on it the whole time, which kind of misses the point.” He added the dagger to his own arsenal.
“Doesn’t mean you should abandon the idea completely. Just do one spin with it as you walk in. You can keep watch out of the corner of your eye for that long without the guy noticing.” Her smile was dangerous. “If you can time it so the blade catches the light, it’ll be even better.”
Cam felt a rush of affection for his big sister. “You’re scary.”
“You always were a flatterer,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m thinking Mason and I should head out in the morning. I’m not going to worry less if I’m back with the unit, but at least I’ll have something to do to distract me.”
He watched her, not sure what response she wanted. “Makes sense.”
“As much as I hate it, there’s nothing I can do here to back you up. And, I will admit, I have no right to try and drag you off the battle line,” she said. “This is your fight.”
She looked so sad and proud of him, all at the same moment, that Cam instantly felt uncomfortable. “Remember, I’m mostly window decoration at this point.” He made the words more joking than he felt. “I probably won’t even get to stab anybody.”
“Oh, there’s always hope.” Genuine humor lit her eyes. “This Nigel sounds like enough of an idiot to need persuasion.”
~
Elena was waiting for him just outside her mother’s workroom, clearly listening to the discussion going on inside. As the two of them left the castle, she filled him in on the new developments. “If we can’t make Nigel work with us, there’s an embezzler who we might be able to use in the spell. Apparently, elves own several of the accounts he stole from, and he’s terrified that they’ll find him once he gets out in a few years.”
Cam listened with only half an ear as they left the castle, trying to figure out what was going on inside Elena’s head. He thought she’d offered to go with him so they could talk, but if they were going to keep pretending like nothing was wrong, she might as well go back to the workroom. “Sounds safer than picking someone who’s in for a violent crime.”
“That was the general consensus.” Elena hesitated, then seemed to come to a decision. “I’m not sure he’s our best choice, though. He doesn’t think ahead, so he might agree without thinking through all the implications.”
That sparked his temper. “So could Nigel,” he shot back. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask them.”
She gave him a sideways look that said too much for Cam to translate. “So you are upset with me.”
The litt
le restraint he’d had left snapped completely. “Of course I am!” he shouted, making the few people who were out on the street turn to stare. He’d spent the entire miserable day trying to be good. He’d let her keep her distance, no matter how much it had hurt, because he knew how fragile she must feel. He’d wanted to go beat his knuckles bloody against something, but he’d stayed close because he’d remembered how much it had mattered to her before.
But Elena hadn’t been licking her wounds and getting ready for the next round. She hadn’t cared about him being close, because she’d been ready to push them all away for good.
She might as well have kicked him in the stomach.
For a while, neither of them spoke. Then Elena cleared her throat. “I’m sorry.” She paused again. “I wasn’t avoiding you because of anything you’d done. It should have occurred to me how rude it would seem to you.”
Cam’s jaw tightened at the completely misdirected apology. Knowing he was going to shout if he said anything, he fixed his eyes straight ahead and kept walking.
Elena accepted this for about ten steps, then he felt her glaring at him again. “Listen, I thought we came out here so we could talk about this. I told you I was sorry, but if you need to shout at me than go right ahead.” When he didn’t respond, she reached out and grabbed his arm to stop them both. When he tried to pry her hand off his arm, she only tightened her grip. “You’re the one who hated the ice routine so much, which gives you absolutely no right to do it now. Talk to me.”
Cam pivoted around to face her. He’d been wrong about the glare—there was challenge in her eyes, not anger. He imagined she’d have a similar expression if she was facing down a dragon.
The fact that he would have killed to see it on her face an hour ago made his chest hurt. “You wanted to give up.”
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