Free Shadow Queen by B.R. Nicholson Page B

she said, reaching
out to touch his face. He shrank away, his gaze hard. Ilsie
retracted her hand, shocked by his icy presence. “What happened to
you? Where have you been all this time?”
    “That’s not why I’m here,” said Merrick, his
gaze lingering on the smoking candles. “It seems there are some
things the Grand Sage requires me to fix .”
    Ilsie ran her fingers through her damp sandy
curls. “ Luka —Merrick, you can’t, he’s your son!”
    “He’s an abomination!” The Grand Sage stepped
into the light from behind Merrick’s shadow. She cast her hard gaze
over all present, sending their stares crashing to the dusty
ground. “How dare you defend the beast that slaughtered our
Phoenix! You should be ashamed of your family and willing to atone
for all their wicked deeds,” she said, her voice venomous and chill
with hatred. “Merrick has agreed to set right all of his
sins, not just his monster son.”
    “I don’t understand,” Ilsie said, her voice
quivering. “Merrick, please, what’s happening?” She reached out for
him again and grabbed his hand. It was shaky in her grasp.
    “Ilsie, if I don’t kill them, the council
will kill you, me, Ethen—everyone we love. We have no choice—”
    “— them ?” Ilsie gazed back into his icy
blue eyes. “This isn’t just about Luka, is it?” She dropped his
hand and punched him hard in the chest. “Damn it, Merrick! Tell me
the truth!”
    “Astrid…” he said, his words failing him. He
looked away again, his mask of contempt cracking under the weight
of Ilsie’s cries. She pounded on his chest, wanting to hurt him as
much as he had hurt her.
    “Ilsie, she has to die. They both do,” said
Vintas. It was the softest she had ever heard his gruff voice. He
reached out to touch her shoulder. She jerked away and sobbed in
Merrick’s embrace.
    “Please, Merrick! Please…” her words faded as
Merrick lifted her chin in his hands.
    “It will be easier for them with your help,”
he said, wiping the tears from her face. “They would never have to
be in pain. They would just… slip away.”
    Ilsie pushed herself away, disgusted by her
brother’s request. “You wish for me to poison them? You want me to
kill our children ?”
    “ You have no choice ,” said the Grand
Sage. “ I will not risk the lives of my people for the sake of
your wicked family!” The old crone rushed Ilsie, her gnarled
hand latching onto Ilsie’s wrist. Her touch burned, sending howls
pouring from Ilsie’s lips. The pain drove her to her knees. The
room spun around her as the Grand Sage’s words seeped into her
mind. “ You will do this or you will suffer a much more terrible
punishment than death. I have survived far too long to be
ruined by your ignorance. ”
    Jagged scales stabbed through the blistering
skin of Ilsie’s arm. With large, terrified eyes, Ilsie nodded, her
sobs pleading. “Yes, I’ll do it—just please stop!”
    Ilsie looked up at the Grand Sage, a wicked
smile etched in her ancient face. “Hurry, child,” she said,
releasing Ilsie’s mangled arm, “before they get away!”
     
     
     

Chapter Six
    Wilhelmina smirked as she traced her scythe
across the Anvalin’s surface. A swirl of inky black jettisoned
across the blue stone, tormenting the souls held inside. She
smiled, reveling in their shrieks.
    “There’s something intoxicating about an evil
woman,” said Luthen as he slithered his arms tight around her
waist. “Perhaps that’s why I can’t keep my hands off you.”
    She laughed, pulling him closer. “I’m sure
you’ve said the same to your child queen.” Her words are bitter in
her mouth. She hovered near his lips, tempted to kiss them.
Disgusted, she pushed him away instead. No elf was going to make a
fool of her.
    “Crossing me is a very dangerous thing to do,
Luthen,” she said, weighing the well-balanced scythe in her hands.
Its deadly silver glinted in the Anvalin’s light, thirsty for the
taste of blood and