Page 97 of City of Snakes
My free hand impulsively found its way to my neck—visions of what had happened to my mother surfaced.
Disposable.
Removable from the situation.
A husband who grew tired of me.
An heir who resented me for the heavy crown they wore.
I’d heard enough. I stepped out and slammed the door behind me. What he’d admitted was a gut-wrenching reminder that he could not be trusted.
Krait Darvanda may not have been the enemy I’d once imagined him to be, but he’d intended to use me and that crumbled my prior confidence that his motives were altruistic.
Bile rose in my throat as I thought about the ways I’d opened myself up to him already. I’d agreed to marry the bastard before knowing he’d deemed me a broodmare—before knowing my fate fully. And he’dlet me.
With shaking hands and a drunken gait, I forced myself down the hall.
I didn’t know where to go. Halfway back to the bedchamber, Elsedora found me.
She wasted no time with pleasantries and grabbed my hands. “The deathmark—it is on King Emmerick’s broadsword. Right on the pommel,” she gasped. “I saw the light leave his eyes, and the transition happened right before me. Something isverywrong in Helos. King Mattock no longer acts entirely of his own accord.”
“Did you hurt him? Did he hurt you?” I sputtered.
“No, of course not. I’m fine. But Sybilla, you cannot go near him. Promise me. Not until we figure out a way to rid him of Caym.”
I grew dizzy. El held my shoulders to steady me. Maybe the swaying was from the port, or my waning health, or the shock of having my worst fears confirmed.
Every stone of a carefully built tower was coming crashing down around me. Yet the puzzle was snapping together.
I was a daughter of Isleen.
Krait was the fifth heir of Shadows.
Our child could stop the Death Origin.
The Death Origin had his grasp on Emmerick.
I swallowed hard.
I should have insisted we went straight to Krait...but propriety was lost to me now. After what Krait had told me, my respect for his boundaries had worn thin as glass.
He expected a child? I expected safety for all of my loved ones.
We needed to help Emmerick. We needed to stop the Death Origin before it was too late.
I knew my friend. Even angry, Emmerick would not betray me without outside influence. He would not turn on me the way he had in that council meeting.
But was it already too late? That was a doubt that I didn’t allow myself to linger on. The King of the Sahlms might have deceived me, but he could still be useful for the time being.
Strong strategies could sometimes take root in soft soil. I didn’t trust this realm or its ruler. But I did trust that he would keep me safe...until I gave him what he wanted.
Tears rolled down my cheeks, and El squeezed my arm with raised brows. I crumbled, bending at the waist. “Maybe we should ask King Darvan-dick what to do. He seems to haveplentyof plans I have not been privy to.”
“He told you.”
Elsedora’s thoughts raced.“Oh shit. She’s going to leave.”
“I’m not leaving.Yet,” I said, answering her internal worry.
