Page 57 of The Crimson Throne
I stare down at her, pieces starting to circle ’round.
Magic in my home.
How she looks at me,throughme, seeing other things. The way she used a magic item in the border town.
“What are you, Alyth?” I whisper.
“Your ruin,” she says, then reaches for the necklace.
I seize her arm. We freeze, my fingers knotted up around her thin wrist, the skin there chilled despite the warmth of the room.
I can feel her pulse thudding as relentlessly as mine, beating hard and fast against my fingertips.
“I’m not working for Darnley,” I tell her. That that’s what she thinks this necklace means alleviates some of my unease—she doesn’t actually know what it is. That’s good.
She scowls at me but doesn’t try to peel out of my grip. “You’re not lying.” She says it like an accusation. “Which means you’re nothing more than a fool who’s being used.”
“’Course I’m not lying!” I use my hold on her wrist to tug her closer. I need her to know I want nothing to do with that git, the same way Iwanted so bad for Hal and Oskar to accept me, only I knew I’d never come close to them understanding me fully. But Alyth? I don’t know why, but her soul calls out to mine, and I can’t have her believing the worst in me.
Alyth whips the dagger up to my throat.
My chin lifts with it, the blade pressing against a throbbing vein. I stiffen instinctively.
“This amulet,” she starts, still speaking through her teeth, her eyes wide and wild with anger, “is from his mother, and your father gave it to you. Why? You have to have some inkling of his motives.”
I gape down at her, lips parting.
Wait—Lady Lennox is Darnley’s mother? That’s how he recognized it?
But then—is his mother part of Cecil’s spy network? Who the hell even is she?
My eyes shut.
I don’t know sodding all about what’s going on or what I’ve gotten myself wrapped up in, and I’m aching and exhausted, and I’ve got nothing, no idea what to do next.
But I know…I know where Alyth stands. I know where her loyalties lie.
And right now, that’s the only thing I can trust.
I open my eyes and lock hard with her furious gaze, renewing my pressure on her wrist. I raise my free hand to point at the blade she’s still got pressed to my throat.
“I’m a bit insulted you didn’t bring a fae item to threaten me,” I tell her. “What, I’m not worth breaking out the magic?”
My words take a full beat to process in her. I watch her eyes, and I don’t move a muscle, not even to breathe.
Her lips part. A shuddering breath slips out. “You—” She glances all around me again. “How do you know about that? You aren’t fae.” At that declaration, she renews her grip on the dagger and presses hard, throwing my head back. “Tell me why you are here.”
Slow as I can, I lift my hand to my neck. I grab the leather braid and start to lift it off.
She moves her blade back so I can unwind the necklace.
“I’m not here working for Darnley, I can tell you that much.” I stare down at her, willing her to believe me. This is all my truth coming right off. “I’m—”
The necklace pulls over my head.
I hold it out to her.
She rips her arm from my grip and snatches the necklace.
