Page 144 of War Queen
His eyes burned into her. “How can you walk with him and be so trusting?” he seethed. “Now that you know what he’s done! How he’s deceived you!”
Her own anger simmered at his tone. She wasn’t an idiot.
“What did he give you?” he demanded.
She ignored his question. “I came here to talk, and that’s what I did.”
“You walk with him like he’s a friend. He’s not the Bear!”
“I know he’s not!” she snapped back.
“That makes it even worse.”
His words were like knives; they stung. His eyes still blazed. “What did he give you?” he demanded again. But he was in no mind for her to show him the vial yet. Not with the want for battle radiating from his skin and Lucien still so close.
To use, Lucien had said. She pulled the necklace from her pocket and shoved it into his hand. “A customary greeting gift,” she said shortly. Then she pushed past him to Sephir.
The short ride back up the ridge to Mikael and the waiting Mercian army with Soren beside her took an eternity. Soren boiled in a pool of anger as he rode. Well, he could be angry at himself. He was the one who chose violence at a meeting meant for peace. She’d come to talk to Cyrus—Lucien—and they’d talked.
They reached the top of the ridge, and Mikael and Caspian urged their mounts to meet them.
“What happened?” Mikael asked when they reached them. “What did he say? It didn’t even look like you were talking.”
She hesitated as she glanced at Soren.
“Oh, they were talking, and walking, and having a great conversation,” Soren said angrily.
Mikael’s forehead creased. “What?”
“He put some trickery in place to keep you from seeing, and bound me so I couldn’t move.”
This wasn’t helping. “It’s Lucien,” she said.
Caspian shifted back on his horse, and his mouth opened in surprise. He knew who Lucien was and was obviously just as shocked at the news he still lived.
“Who’s Lucien?” Mikael asked.
She swallowed. “Alexander’s brother.”
Mikael glanced at Soren, then back to Norah. “Then where’s Cyrus?”
“No.” She shook her head. “There is no Cyrus. I mean, there is, but he’s one and the same. LucienisCyrus.”
Mikael only stared at her as it sank in. Then he looked out over the valley from which Lucien had long since left.
She looked at Caspian. Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. “He’s Alexander’s exact likeness.”
Caspian let out a long exhale. “As he was when they were children.”
Mikael’s eyes jerked back to her, and the shadow under his brow darkened. “It was him coming to you all this time? Cyrus? Lucien?”
She nodded reluctantly. “He’s a seer.”
“A powerful one,” Soren added. “And he’s got a fucking witch, on top of everything else.”
A quiet came, and they all sat, letting the realization settle. Where did they go from here?
“Are you going to tell Adrian?” Caspian asked her after a time.
