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He flicked his wrist and I went flying, crashing into Aeris. I flailed—just managing to untangle myself and sit up as Meallan conjured a bronze blade ringed with purple flowers, and plunged it in Alisdair’s gut.
“No! Stop it!” Frantically I emptied my pockets, flinging vial after vial at him—bellowing my throat ragged. “Get away from him!”
One of the vials shattered over his eye, slicing his brow apart. He jerked, driving the sword deeper. “Fuck it to Meya, someone kill that bitch already!”
Half the cheering, celebrating mob came to life and surged toward me.
They tripped over themselves coming to an abrupt standstill.
Pure, unadulterated fear filled my heart, and theirs. Turning away from me, they faced the throne room entrance... and screamed.
“My lady!” Aeris seized and hauled me back, getting me out of the way as half the Lyricans trampled, stomped, and shoved each other running for the village entrance. Over their heads, five— seven— thirteen— twenty Taken stalked into the room.
“Wait— No!” Meallan cried. He sniffed himself and his eyes bugged. “NO!”
“That’s right,” I sang, smirking more wickedly than my husband ever could. “Linseed, rosehip, and suet, wolf bitch. Just for you. You really shouldn’t have given me that tip.” I laughed in his bulging, stricken eyes. “Or you should’ve been as smart as your other wolf friends, and run when you saw me coming.” I threw another vial at him, making Meallan roar to blow my eardrums out. “At least I won’t have to tell you twice.”
He ran.
Streaking past me, Meallan shot out of the village entrance, leading a snarling, charging horde of Taken like a dangled apple before a horse.
His howls faded in the distance.
“Should I go after him?” Aeris gritted. “Make sure they kill him.”
A groan sounded to my right.
“Someone else needs you more.”
“Bradach,” she cried, abandoning her queen, her duty, and her games—and racing to his side. But Aeris wasn’t nearly as fast as me.
I fell next to Alisdair, and grabbed my dagger. “Alisdair? Alisdair, can you hear me? Don’t you give up on me!” His eyes fluttered at my shout, but I could feel it. He didn’t have much time. “Alisdair, come on, please. Don’t you want to know how I figured it out?” I cried desperately, tears clogging my throat. “It was something Gisela said when she saw my bracelet. She called it a charm, but it’s not. It’s a jewel. A black stone. My sister had no reason to reduce a glittering, expensive jewel to a little trinket... unless it looked like something different to her.”
I brought my hilt down, smashing it on the jewel. Alisdair grunted.
“That’s right, love,” I said, seizing on any semblance of conversation. I had to keep him talking.
I had to give him reason to hold on.
“I almost figured it out that night when Meallan tried to kill us in the woods. He said he had to stop you destroying the cursed heart, so that you could love me back.”Bang! Bang! Bang!“If he said that’s how you break the curse, then that’s exactly how youdon’tfucking do it.
“He’s under the beast curse. He can’t speak about it, and he definitely can’t speak about how to end it, so where did he get that from? Where did we all get that from? For centuries, this lie has spread through the kingdoms—fed by guesses that became rumor that became truth.”
“Cal...li...”
“I’m here, Alisdair. I’m here, and I finally understand.” I sensed them approach. Felt the weight of dozens of curious eyes, but no one rushed us or attacked.
They were listening.
“That day, when you faced Constance on a burning battlefield, you didn’t create the beast curse,” I gritted, lips twisting. “She did.
“Her very soul is a curse. An evil, horrid thing that sucks the light, and the warmth, and the joy, and the faemanity from everyone and all. That terrible, rotten thing that puts everyone around it through the same pain it goes through. Constance turned herself into the worst kind of beast to have love and power, so what do we who fall under its influence become?”
“Beasts,” someone whispered.
Bang! Bang! Bang!“You didn’t know that would happen when you ripped her soul out of her chest. But when you realized, you did the only thing you could, and ripped out your own.”
“What?” Aeris cried, helping Bradach to his feet. “What are you saying?”
