Page 243 of A Touch of Poison
“I’m sorry.” I glanced along the corridor, but there was no sign of the troops returning. “If I’m on my own, I can unleash my poison without fear of hurting you.”
“Fuck,” Rose huffed, followed by a scraping sound like she slid down the door. “Fuck!”
“I’m sorry. But I need to do this.”
I pressed my hand to the door, as a frustrated sob filtered through.
“You’d better stay safe,” Ella hissed, voice cracking.
“Don’t I always?”
“No! You fucking don’t.”
“Well… maybe this time will be different.”
With that, I squared my shoulders and started down the corridor. By Perry’s reckoning, we were on the western side of the palace, roughly towards the middle. The throne room had to be east from here, so I aimed for a turning that would take me that way.
This timewasdifferent.
Iwas different.
I had thought my identity erased the moment I’d taken that poison and given up on survival.
But I knew who I was.
I knewexactlywho I was.
I’d killed Horrors. I’d faced one of the Ladies of the Lake, a princess thought dead, and a changeling who’d fooled and abused me.
I’d killed a husband who’d wronged me more times than I could remember.
I’d endured Elthea’s treatments, even when they crossed the line into torture.
I’d learned how to turn power that had been thrust upon me tomyends. I’d turned poison into a gift.
And today I’d used that poison to protect my friends.
My gift might be death. But I used death.
I was not the powerless woman who’d woken in the Hall of Healing.
I was Katherine Fucking Ferrers, and I was going to go and save the man I loved.
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Bastian
Faolán’s nostrils flared as he lifted his head.
“A scent?” I murmured as we passed through the wide corridor.
“It’s them. They’re all together.” He shot ahead, and we followed. Each turning made my heart beat faster.
We have them, I told my other self. A few times, I’d felt the slight dizziness as our awareness came together and he checked in to see whether we’d found Kat.I’ll show you when we find her. You focus on the king.
I felt his grumble but also that it was edged with relief.
She would be fine. She had to be. And if she or any of the others were injured, we had Asher.
