What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)(116)

I picked up the knife from the dining room table, dragging the blade up my wrist until blood dripped onto the floor at my feet. Carefully holding it away from my body so that I wouldn’t ruin the splendor of my gown, I chose to trust Nila and Twyla with the information that might have been damning in the wrong hands. Caldris raised my wrist to his mouth, drinking from me as I gathered a single drop of blood onto my pointer finger.

I touched it to Malachi’s lips as Caldris let my blood pour over his tongue. The corpse of my enemy shuddered, his eyes drifting closed. They filled with golden light when he opened them, the muscles of his face relaxing into something completely obedient. There was not a trace of the personality that belonged to the soul that had inhabited him in his life.

There was only me.

Caldris drew away a moment later, the white lines of his Fae mark pulsing with gold where it peeked out from the top of his tunic. His blue eyes sparkled with gold, his features tense as he narrowed his gaze on me. Then he reached out to his mother, taking the crown from her hands. Golden light reflected off the diamonds as he raised it to my head, settling it atop my hair as Nila fussed to make sure that he didn’t mess up her diligent work.

“This is foolish,” Twyla said, her face twisting into a scowl. She leveled her son with a stern glare. “Who do you think she will punish for this insolence? It will be you who suffers the consequences.”

“Then so be it,” Caldris said. “We cannot raise an army unless they know that there is someone who could stand against Mab. This is the only way.”

“But she cannot stand against Mab. Not yet. You act too soon,” Twyla protested.

“Better I act too soon for your tastes than I remain complacent after centuries of tyranny. She killed your mate. She cost you your husband. She took your child. When will you say enough, mother?” Caldris asked, settling his hand around my waist as if he needed the comfort. “I would sooner die than remain a slave any longer.”

“And leave Estrella to Mab’s will?”

“What Mab fails to understand is that she cannot kill Caldris without killing me. Our lives are bound by a blood vow. When one goes, the other will follow,” I said, watching as her eyes filled with revulsion.

“Why would you do such a foolish thing?” she asked, and I recognized the emotion hiding in the horror. The thought of losing her only son was unbearable, and I was a liability at the moment.

“You may be content to live in a world where your mate no longer exists, but I am not. I’ve no desire to remain here without her,” Caldris answered, raising his chin in defiance.

“I’m going to save him,” I whispered, the vulnerable words feeling torn from my soul. I didn’t know how or when I’d remove Mab’s serpent from where it wrapped around his heart.

Only that I would.

“And who will save you?” Twyla asked, shaking her head.

“The same person who always has,” I answered, glancing down at the golden marks on my skin as my nerves threatened to tear me in two. “I’m going to save myself.”





42


Estrella


The doors to the ballroom were closed, probably sealed shut when we’d been more than fashionably late. Malachi led the way through the halls, approaching them without hesitation. The guards standing outside looked at him in confusion, stepping in to stop him just a moment before he crashed a hand against the heavy doors.

A burst of golden light flashed through the darkened hall at the moment of impact, thrusting the doors open. People who had lingered too close scattered, shrieking as they escaped the corpse that stepped into their midst.

Caldris followed after him, leaving me standing in the hallway and unable to breathe as I thought of what was to come. As I tried to channel the energy to don the mask I needed to wear for the performance I hadn’t asked for. Twyla and Nila had made themselves scarce, hopefully finding a way to blend in with the crowd so that no one would know of the role they played.

“Caldris, what is the meaning of this? Put him to rest!” Mab yelled, the command washing over my skin. I could practically feel the answering smirk on my mate’s face, the way he would smile back at her with the knowledge that he did not need to follow that order.

He couldn’t, after all.

Because Malachi was mine to command.

I let out a breath, loosing the power that lingered beneath my skin. It was like breathing, like letting out the part of me that was begging for release. The flames in the torches on the wall were smothered, dying out beneath the wash of power as I stepped into the darkened ballroom.

Only the light pulsing off my Fae Mark lit the room, making the gems on my dress and the diamonds of my crown pulse with warmth.

Light in the darkness.

Hope.

I raised a hand, drawing in a slow breath as I allowed the flames to return to each of the torches. One by one, starting with the one closest to me, they returned as I walked through the center of the ballroom floor. Caldris stepped to the side, moving out of my path as I approached the Queen of Air and Darkness.

Shadows and Starlight.

“I’m afraid he can’t do that,” I said, my voice humming. It was quiet, a subtle echo in the undertones of my words. “I am the one who raised Malachi from the dead, and as such, I will be the one to put him to rest.”

“Then do it,” Mab ordered, gritting her teeth as she studied the spectacle I’d made of myself.