Chapter 41 · Then We Find Out What She's Using as an Anchor

"Then we find out what she's using as an anchor."

Lucan drove his knife into the throne before Nora could grab his arm.

"That sounds like a terrible plan."

"It's the only one I have."

The blade struck black stone. A crack split the throne from its carved crown to its base, and red light burst through the room.

Nora threw up an arm. "You couldn't warn me first?"

"I just did."

"You said it after you started!"

"Stay behind me."

"Stop ordering me around."

His mouth tightened. "Then stop trying to die in front of me."

The words hit harder than the blast. Nora felt them lodge beneath her ribs, right beside every order he hadn't explained and every secret he'd expected her to swallow.

The queen raised both hands.

Black threads snapped around Lucan's ankles and yanked him back from the throne.

"Kneel, heir of Veycross."

The pillars answered.

One old sigil lit. Then another. Red symbols crawled up the stone, exposing the bloodline Lucan had buried under a false name.

Nora stared at him. "Heir?"

Lucan didn't look back. "Not now."

"You keep saying that. It's getting boring."

The queen smiled with a dead woman's mouth.