Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-Six
Antony
The cold determination in Thyra’s eyes is fucking terrifying.
She plunges the iron dagger toward Rohan’s heart.
Cassia claws at me, and if I weren’t determined to keep my sister safe, I’d let her loose. Or stop Thyra myself.
But it’s Mother who snaps.
The second Thyra’s arm descends, Mother throws herself at Thyra, screaming like a wild animal, her fingernails raking down Thyra’s side. She shoves Thyra out of the way, knocking her to the floor, where she lands with a thump.
Thyra’s hand opens, and the dagger hits the smooth porcelain floor, sliding toward my feet, stopping at my boot.
I scoop it up, ready to step between Galla and Thyra, but Mother now throws herself at Rohan, wrapping her arms and legs around him, hurtling into him so fast that she knocks him to the floor, where he lies sprawled beneath her.
He doesn’t make a sound.
“Get out!” Galla screams, but this time it’s clear she’s shouting at me, her green eyes flashing daggers, her chest heaving. “Get that witch away from me.”
Thyra lifts herself up onto her knees, appearing completely unperturbed about her fall. “Oh, Galla, darling, you’re upset—”
Galla’s entire face twists with rage. “I see through you, Oracle. Don’t, for one second, think you’ll deprive me of my strongest warrior.”
Thyra smiles.
Fucking radiant.
Her eyes light up so brightly that, for a moment, I wonder if she’s about to have a vision. I’m not certain I’ll see the telltale stream of molten gold striking up her arm beneath the silver dress, but I remind myself I’ll see the change in her features.
Fucking Goddess. There’s no telling what Thyra would do if she were to have a blade vision right now…
But her features remain the same, even if her eyes are far from dull and her cheeks glow.
As mother seethes, remaining hunched over Rohan like a wild dog protecting its only scrap of food, Thyra rises to her feet, brushes down her skirt, and defies Galla’s command, crossing the distance to her.
Ensuring the chain doesn’t tighten, I move smoothly forward with her, maintaining the slack while keeping Thyra firmly in my sights.
My move toward Galla seems to be the threat the lords were waiting for. Ten paces away from me, Quintus and the others lurch forward.
My hand snaps back to wrap around my axe, and that’s all it takes for the lords to stop in their tracks, their tension rising.
Without fuss, Thyra kneels beside Mother and brushes away a final smear of blood from Mother’s cheek. “You missed a spot.”
Galla crouches even lower over Rohan.
“Darling Galla, you can’t blame me for trying.
This one scared me. I didn’t like it.” Thyra pouts as she brushes at an invisible speck on her sleeve.
“I probably should have let you strangle him to death, but I wanted a little fun.” She raises her eyes to Galla’s.
“You understand, don’t you? Boredom is such a terrible thing. ”
“Get. Out.”
Thyra heaves a dramatic sigh. “If you insist.” She sweeps to her feet and moves toward me, but then she pauses to throw back to Mother. “Do try to stay alive.”
With that, Thyra sweeps past me, scooping her arm around Cassia’s waist as she goes. My sister is frozen, her face sickly pale, but she allows herself to be swept along.
I keep my eyes on the lords, walking carefully backward, judging my pace to make sure the chain between Thyra and me never pulls taut.
Staying right where she is, Mother spits her words, and once again, it’s clear they’re for me. “I waited for you last night.”
When I don’t rise to the bait, her voice becomes shrill. “I gave you the chance to break the curse. But it seems you couldn’t accomplish even that.”
I let her barbs roll off me. These taunts are mild compared to some.
Thyra really got to her.
As the doors begin to close behind us, Galla screams at her lords and ladies.
“None of you will go near that bitch! Only Rohan.” Her voice lowers, and my final backward glance tells me she’s wrapping her hands around his face.
“Rohan, dearest, you’ll shadow her, hmm?
You’re going to make her life unbearable.
You’ll do this for me. Of course you will—”
The doors thud closed.
Thyra doesn’t stop, stalking ahead of me along the corridor, practically pushing Cassia along with her, and for now, I’m prepared to let her take the lead.
At the intersection, she pauses only to snap. “Which way?”
“To my quarters,” I say, at which my sister tugs Thyra to the right instead of the left from which we came.
Thyra’s pace increases, powering along, observing Cassia’s nudges until we reach my door.
Thyra smacks her hands against it. “Open it.”
The moment we step inside, she wrenches on the chain, and I’m startled by the wildness in her eyes.
“Take the circlet off me,” she cries. “Please. Just for a moment.”
As soon as I release her, she wraps her hand over her mouth, her demand stifled. “Bathing room?”
I point, and she runs.
A second after she disappears into it, I’m met with the sound of vomiting.
Violent heaves.
I stop in the center of the room, a living area sparsely furnished, hardly that of the king, suddenly finding myself uncertain how to proceed.
Cassia stops beside me. “What the fuck just happened?” She tilts her head back, one of the pins coming loose from her hair, but she doesn’t bother fixing it. “Did Thyra…help Rohan?”
I take a moment to consider the impossible. “I believe she did.”
“But… how the fuck…?” Cassia drags herself to the nearest chair and sinks into it. A moment later, tears spring into her eyes. “I thought Rohan was going to die.”
“Which time?” I ask pointedly.
Cassia’s voice is heavy. “Both.”
Thyra appears in the bathing room doorway, wiping her mouth with a cloth. Tears leak down her cheeks as she leans heavily against the doorframe. “The moment Galla stood up, she lost her power. Then I planted a seed.”
“She fears you’ve seen her death,” I say.
Thyra gives a firm nod. “She won’t be able to shake that fear now.”
The tension around Cassia’s mouth increases, and the longer she stares at Thyra, the warier Cassia seems to become. “You were more poisonous than Mother.”
Thyra falls quiet, a silence that extends until she breaks it. “My father once told me that a female Oracle is all things to all people. I never understood what he meant until today.”
I’m not sure what to make of that. I feel like I’ve read, or maybe heard, the same thing somewhere before, but I’m not sure where or when.
Thyra pushes herself upright before she wobbles her way across to me, lifting her arm. “The circlet.”
Removing my glove, I clip it back on, but I hold on to her wrist, wrapping my fingers lightly around it.
The silver gown is too thick for me to feel her pulse.
It’s startling that she has become like me.
She’s covered in armor, and I can’t tell if her heart is hammering or if she’s calm, her expression giving little away.
“We’ll all see more of Rohan now,” she says, her eyes raised to mine, as if she’s trying to peel back as many layers from around my heart as I want to remove from hers.
“You should expect me to be extremely unhappy about that. I might even try to kill him again.” Thyra breaks her study of me to glance at Cassia. “You need to be okay with that.”
“Fuck.” Cassia lets out a laugh that becomes a sob, a near breakdown, a collapse of her walls such as I’ve never seen before.
Thyra pulls out of my hold, wrapping her arms around Cassia in an instant, holding my sister as she sobs, letting her cry. Letting her go just as quickly when Cassia pulls back and tries to steady herself.
I know my sister well enough to know she’ll hate that she was so vulnerable just now. Vulnerability will only get her killed.
Cassia swipes at her cheeks, sniffing loudly, barely looking up. “I’ll make sure you get what you need at the library this afternoon. Tomorrow morning, bring Thyra to the training tower. I’ll be there.”
A moment later, the door closes behind her.
Thyra’s arms slowly lower.
All things to all people.
I’m unsettled. Chilled. Warmed. Off balance in a way I’ve experienced too many times already today.
Thyra ran rings around Mother like nobody ever has before. But she did it by reflecting Mother’s own poison.
I find myself wondering how often Thyra conforms to my behavior simply because it ensures her survival.
Who is she really?
Her arms finally lower, her lips settle, her features smooth out, and all I know for certain is that she’s a mystery.
I resolve to discover all her truths. Just as I’m determined to hide my own.