Page 148 of City of Snakes
“Syb,” Em breathed out and stared from his place there, arms over his head—how could they have done this?Envoy or not, he was a King. Logic told me that they were only taking precautions, but fury told me they were about to disregard my wishes to keep him alive.
“Leave us…” My teeth ground.
Krait’s hard, murderous stare didn’t deter me.
As he spat back, “No,” I moved his feetforhim. He looked more pissed off than I’d ever seen him before—a scowl crossed his face as he left the holding cell and walked up the stairs.
I glanced at Elsedora and said, “Don’t make me do the same to you.” She bowed her head. “Keep Darvan-dick and Ryn up there until I am through.”
“As you wish, my Queen…but be careful.” She didn’t want to leave, that much I could feel. But she respected my request and followed Krait up.
Alone with my greatest friend and my greatest enemy, I reeled—dizzy with power, with shock, with confusion.
“Are you him, or are you,you?” I asked Emmerick.
“It’s me…but they’re right, Sybilla. I am not safe for this world if Caym has any chance of reaching me.”
I looked over at Firose momentarily. “And the traitorous scum that you dragged with you…what is she?”
Firose’s nostrils flared, but her lips pressed together.
“She has helped me a great deal, and for that, I owe her a great deal. She’s not an envoy.”
I scoffed, not for a second believing that. “I don’t know how you regrew a head like the worm that you are, but I’ll have it off again soon,” I said to her, finally willing myself to approach the woman who’d inflicted so much chaos on my city.
She finally spoke. “I can assure you that your hate for me is mutual, Queen Wymark. But we seek the same outcome. Caym bent my will for centuries, and he will do the same to King Mattock should he not be stopped.”
I glanced at Emmerick briefly. “I don’t see any use for you alive. If you could have stopped Caym, you would have done so before bringing Death to my doorstep.”
“Sybilla.” Emmerick’s voice sounded desperate, which made me pause and look between them. They wore kindred haunted expressions.
I focused, reinforcing my hold over Krait at the top of the stairs and Ryn floors above him. Both were likely seething by now.
Just a little more focus, a little more strength, was needed. Digging deep into the well of magic I possessed, my mind pushed into Emmerick’s, needing to understand for myself how he’d come to be here with Firose.
Was this all an elaborate trap?
Peeling back layers, I closed my eyes as his emotions and memories began to flood me.
Flashes of their time spent together with her in a burgundy veil flew past. Every conversation. Every revelation. Every memory and nightmare in the months that had passed, some tinged in a dark amber glow.
He trusted her.
He’dbeddedher.
My heart sank, and my desire to see what other stones I might be able to overturn grew. I delved into Firose’s mind next, wanting to know if she was truly helping him without ulterior motives.
When her emotions hit me, I had to bend over at the sinking weight of them. Her pain, her suffering, her torture at the hands of Caym.
Her thirst for vengeance was so strong it felt like hot iron against my mind, sizzling into the fibers of my soul. But she was so very tired of carrying on.
Years of warring with Caym’s will.
Her hands being forced to do unspeakable things.
Betraying Fenris, who she’d loved.
Watching the demise of Freya, who she’d cared for deeply.
