Page 128 of The Stolen Throne
“Reven, can you…” I trail off. I can’t even get it out.
A muscle ticks at the side of his eye.
“Can he what? What aren’t you telling us?” Achlys demands, climbing to her feet. “What’s wrong with her?”
“A Shadow,” Reven says, his voice dangerously low. “Eidolon poisoned her with a Shadow, and he did the same thing to King Trysolde.”
I frown. I’m not so sure it’s a Shadow. Not if Reven took them all. Eidolon wouldn’t be after him if there were spare Shadows hanging around.
“Leave the room,” Reven growls. “All of you.”
Omma reacts at the same time as me. “The hells you say!” we both snap.
Reven slashes me a glittering look. “Goddess damn it, Meren—”
I tip my chin up. This is nonnegotiable. “She’s my sister, and you’re my…” I pause, swallowing hard. “I am not leaving.”
He glares at me, and I glare right back.
“Horus.” Reven takes me by the shoulders, backing me up across the room. He positions me beside the Wanderer, as close to the door as he can put me without backing me out of the tent completely. “Be ready to get her out of here. Knock her out if you have to. The others are on their own, but watch them.”
Horus nods once. “You have my word.”
“Hey!” I say to him. As my guard, he should only be obeying my orders now.
“My duty is to your safety, domina,” he replies. “His order aligns with that duty.”
Reven stalks back over to Tabra, ignoring Omma, who shakes her head but doesn’t dare try to stop him. Back turned to me, he sucks in a breath and brings his power forward, purple light filling the tent.
I wrap a hand around my amulet. Please don’t let this end in disaster.
He holds out one hand toward Tabra, then…nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
I shift on my feet. “Um. What’s happening—”
He hunches over her. “Seven hells. I feel it. It moved at the sound of your voice, Meren.” He drops to his knees, peering closer. “It’s buried inside her, like a tick dug under the skin.”
Omma makes the sign of the sun over her heart. I’ve never once seen her pray or show any kind of faith until this moment.
He puts his hands on either side of Tabra’s face, and she opens her eyes, staring back at him, utterly trusting. Reven leans in and whispers something in her ear. Tabra’s peaceful expression flickers. No. The face inside her flickers, and I’m pretty sure it smiles at Reven like it did at me.
Taunting.
Reven’s posture changes, morphing to something of pure, determined concentration. Leaning back slightly, he holds his hand above her heart and wraps it in a fist around something I can’t see. Then yanks hard.
Without warning, Tabra’s head flings back, chest arched into the air, and her eyes and mouth open on a silent scream, agony visibly gripping her body.
“Tabra!” Achlys surges toward her.
Omma snags her by the arm, keeping her back. “Don’t. Let him do this.”
Reven jerks forward, the thing inside her fighting him. He places one hand on the ground beside her and stares into eyes gone soulless as he continues to pull with the other hand. Darkness pulses in the tent. The flames in the brazier flicker before going out, leaving only the light from his hands.
Reven growls and yanks again, and suddenly I can see it. The thing in his grasp writhes and fights, which is when I realize that this isn’t like a snake he can pull out of a hole. This thing is like a poison, like roots of a tree spread throughout her.
I can’t look away.
