Page 169 of War Queen
Norah couldn’t see Adrian in the vision, but she could hear him next to her.
“Can you control all animals?” he asked.
“Most, I can. With blood.”
“Did Alexander have power?”
The vision faded to dark, and they all opened their eyes. Norah opened hers to find Lucien looking back at her.
“He had power, yes,” he said, “but it was different. What it was—I don’t know.”
“You”—Adrian’s words caught in his throat—“you look just like him.” He could only stare. “Just like him.”
A sympathetic line etched across Lucien’s brow. “Norah said you two were close.”
Adrian nodded, and his eyes welled again.
Lucien’s gaze fell to the ground as the line of his lips tightened. “I like to think we would have been close.”
Adrian shifted as he swallowed. “We could be.”
Lucien smiled sadly. “If I had known… about you… things might have been very different. I’m sorry, Adrian.”
“Things don’t have to be this way,” Norah said. “Mercia’s not your enemy.”
“I don’t see Mercia as an enemy.”
He’d already told her that, but she wanted him to remember. “And Kharav isn’t the same kingdom as it was,” she added.
But his face sobered, and he took a step back.
“The king you knew is dead,” she told him. “Everything has changed.”
“Does the Shadowlands still force people into slavery?” he challenged back. “Still buy them? Still sell them?”
The answer was damning, and she couldn’t bring herself to answer.
“Then nothing has changed,” he said with steel in his voice.
“Lucien, change takes time,” she pleaded. “Mikael is a good king.”
“A good king?” he snarled back. “I’ve been in his mind, seen his memories. You think he’s innocent?”
Norah stopped. Mikael had called Lucien with the blood he took from her.He hadn’t come, he’d told her.“He said you didn’t come.”
“I didn’t show myself to him. That doesn’t mean I didn’t see.”
Adrian stepped forward. “Then you would have seen the good as well, unless you chose not to.”
Lucien’s gaze darted to his brother, and the corners of his eyes creased. “You defend the Shadow King?”
“I defendmyking,” Adrian said firmly.
Lucien took another step back.
Adrian’s face softened, and he took another step forward, extending his hand. “Brother, things aren’t as they were, and they can be different still.”
Lucien’s eyes moved to Adrian’s hand and the sword entitlement marking that extended out from under his sleeve. Disgust flashed across his face. “You’re one of them?”
