Page 29 of Tanglewood Magic (The Three Sisters 2)
“He knocked you out? I’ll kill him.”
“Not him. Zelaria. Hit me with a sleeping charm.”
He ground his teeth.
“Found them!” Isis tossed Circe’s wand to her, her dark eyes blazing.
“Quickly,” Rhys said. “We’ll have to run for it.”
Circe took his hand. “No need. Isis?”
“Got it.” She grabbed his other hand and circled her wand above her head. True fear gripped Rhys as the shadows in the dungeon melted from the walls and rushed at him like a dark wind. Darkness swallowed him, knocked the breath from his lungs. All he could think was that he’d become the night itself and was being channeled through a cramped and lightless space.
The next second, he was standing in the snow in the shadow of a mountain a half mile outside Maelhaven Palace grounds.
“That was a neat trick,” he said, coughing.
“Comes in handy when you’re being charged by elderbeasts,” Isis said.
Circe shivered in the mountain chill. “My sister can command shadows, as well as other things.” Her teeth clacked together in the cold. Rhys realized that neither of them had coats. Not surprising, considering how Zelaria had rounded them up.
“Where to now?” Isis asked. “I think Medea is in real trouble.”
“There’s something I need to tell you.” Rhys pulled Circe against him and wrapped the sides of his coat around her. He regretted he couldn’t do the same for Isis, but before they moved on, both of them needed to know what he’d learned. As fast as he could, he relayed what Pern Franwise had said about Zelaria. “I think Medea and Tavyss were set up. I think Zelaria was responsible for poisoning Medea, and she’s used Tavyss’s claim to the throne of Paragon as a reason to challenge her position.”
“But Medea planned to step down anyway,” Circe said. “Why would Zelaria do that?”
Isis’s dark stare pierced right through him, and he could tell the moment she understood. She was not as softhearted as Circe.
“Because she wants to be queen,” Isis said darkly.
Rhys nodded. “If Medea is painted as a traitor or dies, Zelaria becomes queen. The ritual of the Sacred Lots cannot be performed if Medea is dead or has abandoned her throne.”
Isis seethed. “I knew there was something up with that witch.”
“She already has troops lined up at the border. Most of them don’t even know why they are there. It’s all a setup. I suspect she’d been working with Eleanor this entire time. If there’s a scuffle… Zelaria will benefit if Medea is killed.”
“Zelaria’s always wanted to be queen,” Circe said, shaking her head. “Why didn’t we think of this before? It was no secret how much it stung when the Fates named Medea.”
Isis scoffed. “We didn’t think of it because Medea trusted her. Zelaria helped her a lot in the early days. How was she to know the witch was just biding her time?”
Circe fisted her hands and yelled in frustration toward the heavens. “She poisoned Medea,” Circe said incredulously. “I always knew Zelaria was strange and off-putting, but she’d never struck me as a murderer.”
Isis frowned at her sister. “She never struck us as someone who would throw us in the dungeon either. She had us arrested for aiding Medea’s treason.Treason, Circe. If Rhys hadn’t rescued us, we’d have been executed.”
Rhys stared at the profile of the woman he loved as her disbelief melted away, replaced by horrified acceptance. She leaned into his chest. He tried to sound confident as he said, “For Zelaria’s plan to work, Medea and Tavyss have to play into her and Eleanor’s plans. We have to prevent them from taking the bait. The only way to stop her is to go to Paragon and keep Tavyss from announcing his intention to be king. If we do that, there is no catalyst for violence. If we can get them out alive and return Medea to Darnuith, she can deny Zelaria’s claims. We can make the council listen and set things right.”
ChapterFifteen
“Medea told me the announcement was to be made after the banquet tonight. They’re already in the palace. How will we get to them in time? The Obsidian Guard isn’t going to let us through the front gate uninvited.” Circe looked between Isis and Rhys, desperate to save her sister.
Rhys scratched the stubble on his jaw. “At one time, you mentioned that you were an expert in transformation like your namesake.”
“I am,” Circe said.
Isis agreed. “She’s the best I’ve ever seen.”
Rhys raised an eyebrow. “The wards around the Obsidian Palace aren’t designed to keep out animals.”
