21. We’ll Ride a Dragon’s Back Through the Very Igneuslands
21. WE’LL RIDE A DRAGON’S BACK THROUGH THE VERY IGNEUSLANDS
RUSH
Elowyn tipped her head toward mine and whispered, “It’s like he’s broken.”
Equally troubled by the unfolding scene, I pulled her closer to my side. Saffron nipped at my head, his spindly baby teeth gliding off my hair before El chided him and guided him to balance on her opposite shoulder, which he was rapidly outgrowing. He resembled a gargantuan bird clinging stubbornly to his tiny perch. The sight would have been comical if not for how Ivar leaned as far forward in his chair as the bindings would allow and stared and stared at the female on the ground. She swallowed wildly, apparently trying to gather the sufficient strength to speak some more. Ivar’s eyes shone as if feverish, regarding the female with such intensity I wondered if he saw her at all or if she was a blur at this point.
The queen’s most trusted advisor was ordinarily conniving and careful to a fault. At court he was continually aware of who was doing what, when, where, and with whom. He was a master of the queen’s game, every one of his actions a calculated move that advanced him along her chess board. Now he was completely unguarded in his reactions. Perhaps he was broken.
Pru tended to the female, and when she seemed finally able to talk again, Pru wedged herself beneath her head and shoulders to support her. Elowyn wrapped Saffron’s arms around her neck and pitched ever so slightly forward in anticipation. Everyone else was watching and waiting too. Whatever was happening, it was important.
“Turtle,” the female managed, before a debilitating wheeze. “I knew … you’d come for me … eventual-ly.”
At last, Ivar blinked and returned to himself. “Lis…” His shoulders shuddered against the rope. “Lisbeth? Is that … is that really you?”
The female chortled but it cost her. She coughed feebly, wincing at the ensuing pain. “Who else would i-it … be, Turtle?”
Evidently still in a daze, Ivar shook his head repeatedly. “But … you’re supposed to be dead. All these years … I thought you were dead.”
The female’s breathing was labored. This time she settled for a bitter smile. With her lips so parched and her face so thin, it was a grim sight.
In total silence, as a group we observed while Ivar lowered his chin to his chest, seemed not to even notice the absence of the snakes, and clenched his hands around the armrests so viciously that the wood creaked. His muscles surged against his bindings, and as he began to shake, he threw back his head and bellowed so loudly that the few birds who’d returned after the queen screamed through Ramana took to the sky again. His head thrown back, he panted like an animal.
“Who the sunshine is she to him that he’s freaking the fuck out like this?” Elowyn asked me softly, showing Ivar more respect than he deserved.
“His sister, maybe?” I offered, mostly because my own had so recently been returned.
El hummed and cooed at Saffron, who was trying to burrow his snout in her hair. The little guy had no concept of personal boundaries.
Ivar flung his head forward. His nostrils flared, his eyes blazed. He pulled against his bindings with unbridled rage. The rope held, imbued with goblin magic.
“I’m going to kill her,” Ivar screamed at the top of his lungs. Underbrush rustled as small animals bolted away. Azariah squeaked and shuffled closer to the ranucu, who was unbothered that the pegicorn apparently wanted to forge a similar relationship with him as Saffron had with my mate.
“I’m going to kill her,” Ivar repeated at the same punishing volume. A pulse of storm-gray-hued power washed over him in waves until the enchanted rope dissolved wherever it touched him. Its remaining pieces fell limply to the ground at his feet.
I stepped in front of El, drawing the cutlass and dagger once again. Xeno was already beside me, covering Elowyn’s other side—as if I were incapable of protecting my own mate. Still, I couldn’t fault him for his protective instincts. The changeling was a formidable ally. Hiro, Ry, Roan, and Reed drew closer so that they could rush Ivar. West stood like a stone wall in front of Ramana.
But Ivar only screamed again, making no move to attack or even stand. His head plunked into both hands, while his shoulders and entire back shook. “I’m going to kill her,” he muttered.
Elowyn tsked and stepped out from behind Xeno and me. On their own, my legs moved to follow her. I settled beside her in a defensive stance. When Xeno sidled up next to her on the other side, she rolled her eyes but spoke only to Ivar.
“I have no idea who she is,” Elowyn told him. “You can scream about her being alive all you want, but there’s absolutely no way you’re gonna kill her. We want to save them all, not let them die, asshole. You’re going to have to go through all of us to get to her.”
I grunted in agreement. Xeno growled, sounding like his dragon was already pushing against his flesh.
“Yeah,” Ryder affirmed with a shhhing of unsheathing metal.
Ivar’s chest heaved as he bit out, “I don’t want to kill Lisbeth, you morons. I’m going to kill Talisa.”
“Uh, Talisa … the queen? That Talisa?” Elowyn asked.
“Who else?” Ivar snarled.
When Elowyn rounded his chair so she could better look at him, Xeno and I followed. “You do realize since you piggy-backed on my map and came here with us that all you’ve been doing is singing the queen’s praises, right? You all but told us she shits roses in full, fragrant bloom. You are aware of that? You didn’t just lose your mind or anything?”
When Ivar glowered at her like a beast about to charge, I flinched even if she didn’t.
“If you threaten Elowyn, I’ll kill you ,” I told Ivar.
He scowled and waved a hand in dismissal before bending his fingers to hurry along what had to be brutal tingles as his normal blood flow resumed. “I’m not going to kill Elowyn. And I’m most definitely not going to kill Lisbeth. I am, however, going to kill the queen no matter what any of you do or say to try to stop me.”
“Bro,” Xeno said. “Have you not been paying attention? Why the fuck would we stop you from taking her out?”
Hiro joined Pru and knelt beside the female Ivar had barely stopped studying. That drew his attention. He narrowed his eyes at Hiro in implicit threat and slid to the edge of his seat.
My friend calmly asked, “Who is she, Ivar? How has she provoked such a drastic change in you?”
Ivar swallowed with as much difficulty as Lisbeth had earlier. “She’s … my sister.”
I gave a little huh, how about that? grunt. I’d been right.
“My older sister,” he added.
“You always did…” Lisbeth wheezed and continued in a rough croak: “…like to rub that … in.” She collapsed against Pru. Hiro lowered himself to the ground beside them to help.
Ivar rose to his feet with a wince before shaking out his legs. When he began to pace, I guided Elowyn away from his path. The male bristled with raw fury.
“It was always just Lisbeth and me,” he said. “Our parents died when we were small. We led a simple enough life, but it was good. We didn’t even remember a time when we had our parents.” He reached the cabin, spun, and stalked in the opposite direction. “About twenty years ago, Lisbeth fell ill. So, so very ill. I brought in every healer I could find, used up most of our inheritance, but it soon became evident she was going to die. There was nothing any of them could do. Some of them, the better ones, could put off her suffering for a while. But it always returned.” He turned again, and this time, he met my eyes as he passed. “Talisa had only recently become queen and she somehow heard of our plight.”
Unease warred with disgust as they burned like acid in my stomach. Realization began to dawn.
“She summoned Lisbeth and me to the palace, and there she made me an offer.” His eyes were back on mine. “One I couldn’t refuse.”
I discovered Elowyn’s hand in mine, squeezing, but that was all I could feel. My body had gone numb.
“Talisa’s newly discovered alchemist, a male of incredible reputation, whose skill at the healing and alchemical arts was unsurpassed, would help Lisbeth. ”
“Braque,” I breathed.
He nodded. “Braque. He would help my sister. In exchange, I was to serve Talisa.”
“By sunshine,” Elowyn gasped.
I felt Larissa’s stare on me as she rose to stand among the recovering fae.
“Of course I agreed,” Ivar continued. “Anything for Lisbeth. And as long as she received her monthly treatments from Braque, she wasn’t exactly well, but she did do well enough.”
“Then what happened?” I heard myself asking.
Ivar sighed. “Many years passed like that. Talisa grew to rely on me more and more.” His eyes glazed over, a distinction I noticed since they held mine. “When Braque’s treatments no longer worked on Lisbeth and not even he could diagnose what ailed her, I already owed Talisa for all the additional years she’d given my sister. When Lisbeth”—he swallowed—“when she died, my loyalty and gratitude for the easing of my sister’s pain kept me at court.”
“That doesn’t explain why you became nearly as cruel as she is,” I said as blood pounded in my ears.
His mouth tightened. “No, it doesn’t.” He offered no additional explanation. “The queen tricked me. She has to have. If not, how could Lisbeth be alive? I saw her dead body.” He turned back toward his sister. “I saw your body. It was cold. You were lifeless. I’ve mourned you ever since.”
Silence reigned.
Eventually Ivar said, “And all this time … you were al ive and she was taking your power for herself. Which means … by dragon’s blood, it probably means she figured out the way to heal you and just never told us.”
“Or that yer sister was never sick at all.” The point was gruff but clear, made by the goblin Edsel. “The queen coulda been poisonin’ her all along, then pretendin’ to heal her when she mighta just been holdin’ back the poison.”
“In tactical warfare,” Ryder said, “an enemy in your midst secretly creates a problem, then offers the solution to that problem to become your ally.”
I regarded Larissa. She looked from me to Edsel to Lisbeth and back to me. When she spoke, her voice quaked. “Is it possible then that I’m not really sick? That I’m not going to die?”
“By the whole of the Etherlands,” I said, “I don’t know. But we’ll ride a dragon’s back through the very Igneuslands if we have to until we find out.”