Page 149 of War Queen
She stepped closer to him. “Lucien, your brother loved you. Family was so important to him. And to Adrian—do you know what it would mean to him to learn that you’re alive?”
For the first time, a sense of heart flickered across his face. His eyes glistened. “I never knew I had another brother. Not until you told me.”
He hadn’t known? Her heart hurt. “He’s such a beautiful person.”
“Is he… like… us? Alexander and me?” He rested his hand on his chest.
She shook her head. “No, there’s nothing weird about him. He’s perfectly normal.”Wait. She bit her lip as she squirmed. “That didn’t come out right.”
He gave a small smile, a genuine one, and her heart leapt—the beginnings of goodness. This was what they needed. She knew if they could just connect and talk and work through things—
Suddenly, Norah was ripped from the vision. Her eyes flew open to being shaken abruptly.
“Salara!”
She gasped. Where was she? On the floor in her chamber.Mikael stared down at her as he clutched her shoulders. Soren knelt beside him.Wait…
No. No, no, no…
“Salara,” Mikael called again, an urgency in his voice.
Soren gripped her hand, peeling open her fingers and wiping Lucien’s blood away with a cloth.
“No,” she cried as she tried to jerk it away. “No! I have to go back.”
Mikael’s eyes were dark and angry. And something else—scared. “What are you doing?” he raged. “You called him to you?”
“Mikael, please! He’s there. I have to go back!”
The look in his eyes killed her—the look of betrayal.
“No. Mikael, he’s talking to me. I’m getting through to him! His anger’s built on perceptions that… that aren’t true. And those he seeks vengeance against, they’re all gone. It’s not you he holds ill will for, it’s your father. And he’s learned about Adrian. I can see it—I’m getting through to him!”
“Salara,” he said between his teeth as he shook his head.
She had to get him to understand. “Do you see what this means? What if I can convince him? Break his alliance with Gregor? Mikael, I could stop all of this. I could stop this war!”
He shook his head again.
“Please! I have to go back.”
He clutched her tightly. “This man is deceiving you.”
“Not anymore, he’s not!”
He held up the vial. “Where did you get this?”
Damn it. She couldn’t answer.
“Where did you get it?” he demanded again.
“He gave it to me,” she confessed finally, “when I met him in the valley.” She avoided Soren’s burning glare.
Mikael stood. “You kept this from me?” he asked angrily.
“Because I knew you’d take it from me.”
“So you lied?”
