Darkness Revealed (Guardians of Eternity #4)(89)

Once away from prying eyes, Morgana reached out to jerk Anna around to face her, her anger overcoming any fear of the woman’s mysterious power.

“You worthless brat.” She gave Anna a sharp shake, sadistically pleased when she felt the woman shudder in pain. “Do not ever turn your back to me. I am your queen.”

Again Anna managed to wrestle from her grip, but not before Morgana had managed to leave a savage burn on her arm.

“You’re a homicidal maniac,” Anna hissed, lifting a hand to cover her ugly wound. “It’s no wonder that your brother refuses to rest in his grave until you’re dead.”

With a sudden gesture Morgana sent Anna slamming into the wall. She was done screwing around. She wanted this woman dead. And she wanted her dead now.

“You know nothing of my brother,” she mocked, her confidence returning as Anna swayed and leaned against the wall to keep her balance. Anna Randal might have the blood of ancients in her veins, but she was still a weak, easily shattered human. “This is nothing but a desperate trick to try to save your pathetic life.”

Stiffening her knees, Anna reached in her pocket. Morgana smiled as she calmly smoothed the gossamer of her gown. If the stupid creature thought she could reveal some hidden weapon and frighten a powerful queen, she was about to learn a painful lesson.

“Really, then where do you suppose I got this?” Anna demanded, holding out her hand to reveal the perfect emerald glimmering against her palm.

Expecting a hexed knife, or even one of those charmed amulets that witches loved to flash around, Morgana’s smug assurance cracked and shattered as she caught sight of the emerald that had once graced her brother’s golden crown.

No. No, it couldn’t be.

That gem had been buried with her brother, and despite her best efforts over the centuries to attempt to retrieve the powerful emerald, she had been continually blocked by Merlin’s last and most potent spell.

Damn the wizard to hell.

If he hadn’t managed to disappear Morgana would have dragged him to Avalon and devoted the centuries to teaching the bastard the true meaning of pain.

A tremor raced through her body as the energy of the jewel surged over her skin.

“How…?”

As if taking courage from the emerald, Anna tilted her chin and stepped away from the wall.

“My grandfather gave it to me. He seemed to think that it might help me destroy you.” She clenched her fingers around the stone. “What do you think? Shall, we give it a whirl?”

Morgana instinctively backed away. Until the spell was broken upon it, the emerald would respond only to her brother.

Or, obviously, to one of his blood.

“This is not…not possible.”

Anna’s lips twisted. “Over the past few days I’ve discovered that there are very few things that are impossible.”

“He’s dead,” Morgana said, as much to convince herself as the annoying pest standing before her. “I watched him die.”

“You betrayed him.”

Morgana’s lips curled at the accusation. Of course she had betrayed her brother. She was above the tedious morals that plagued the lesser beings. All that mattered was that she survived and that the world would bow before her.

“Arthur was a fool,” she sneered, thrusting aside her brief unease. With or without the emerald, she still held the upper hand. So long as the vampire was chained in the attic this woman would do nothing. Nothing but die. “With me at his side he possessed the power to rule the world. No one could have challenged us. No one would have dared.”

“Maybe he didn’t want to rule the world,” Anna countered.

Morgana laughed. Typical. There seemed to be some innate flaw in her brother’s blood. An inability to see past the mundane humanity to the glory that was their birthright.

Fate had intended them to be above mortals. Above demons. Above all.

And yet, Arthur insisted on playing the role of the benevolent ruler, always determined to see that his shining vision of justice prevailed.

So weak. So ripe to fall into the hands of his enemies.

She had done him a favor by putting an end to his pathetic dreams.

If she hadn’t, someone else would have.

“You rule or you follow or you die,” she said coldly. “There are no other choices.”

“Did you get that off a bumper sticker?”

Morgana narrowed her gaze at the flippant response. Enough of this foolishness. She wanted answers. “Tell me how you found that emerald.”

“I told you.”

“My brother’s dead.”

“He may be dead, but he has no intention of resting in peace. Not until he’s had his revenge.”

Morgana’s gaze shifted to the emerald. She wanted to deny the bitch’s claim. Arthur’s powers were considerable, but not even he was above death.

Still, there was no denying the rare stone that glittered in the palm of Anna’s hand. Or the fact that the girl couldn’t possibly have acquired it without the assistance of her brother.

Somehow Arthur’s shade had reached out to Anna.

“He has no powers.” She lifted her hands, allowing her magic to swirl through the room, stirring the curtains and making the ugly framed pictures of roosters fall to the cracked linoleum floor. “He can’t harm me.”