65. Zendaya

Chapter 65

Zendaya

I s this Kanti's Antoni? I ask Cathal.

It is. Which means that our daughter's wrong. It is Meriam's doing, for Kanti wouldn't murder her lover.

I lock eyes with his. Wouldn't she?

"Reid"—Cathal's tone snaps his gaze to his—"bring him to Kanti, but wait for us to land before dropping the governor at her feet."

Both men shift. Cathal hovers until Fallon and I have seized his iron talons, and then he plucks us off the deck and carries us up to Kanti.

"You're not even going to try to heal any of them?" My cousin gestures to the ship.

"They're dead. Serpents cannot revive the dead," I say.

"Yes, you can. Taytah saw you revive lots of them."

I frown because she didn't show me that part of the vision.

Cathal gives a short whistle.

I don't take my eyes off Kanti. When her lashes sink and rise as briskly as hummingbird wings, I again question her involvement.

"I'm sorry for your loss," I venture.

Her jaw tightens, and she rams a hand through her hair with such vigor that she pops out some of the jeweled pins clamped around artfully twisted strands. I can't tell whether she's aggrieved or furious.

"Still think your mother isn't a heartless bitch?" And then she's standing and striding toward her deceased lover.

What do you think? I ask Cathal, as Aodhan drops off Lazarus beside Governor Greco's remains.

I think that was true shock on her face.

I try to make sense of all my thoughts. What keeps coming back to me is that this might not be some sick ploy of Kanti's to discredit my mother after all. This might actually be my mother's doing. Which begs the questions:

What sort of monster put me on the throne?

What sort of monster believed I would appreciate such an offering?

What sort of monster murdered seventy-one—seventy- two innocents in cold blood?

"I want Behati fetched," I snap as Reid returns to the ship to grab his mate. "I want to see that part of the vision."

"Of course you don't trust me," Kanti snipes, just as Aodhan streaks up the path toward the large sunstone mansion bordering the Amkhuti.

I ball my fingers until my nails chew into my palm. "Well, you did paint listening sigils all over my palace walls."

Her pink eyes swivel toward mine. "Always so quick to lay the blame."

"It was your blood, Kanti," I say.

She stops fussing with the buttons of Antoni's collar and just shears the fabric with magic. "Fine. I confess. It was me. But it was Priya's idea. She wanted to monitor all that was being said behind her back."

Sensing this is another lie, I ask, "Can you show me the memory?"

"I would, but I'd prefer we try to save my lover's life." She parts his shirt, then paints carmine whorls around his wound that is so precise, it was unquestionably made by a sorceress.

"His eyelashes moved!" Fallon falls to her knees on Antoni's other side. "Antoni's alive! Lazarus, a crystal!"

"His wound was made with Shabbin magic, Fallon," I murmur, having learned my fair share about our therapeutic crystals from Asha since Soorya failed to teach me. Though my grandmother had tasked the healer to educate me, Soorya was always too busy brewing lucent remedies or curing ailing humans and half-bloods. "There are no crystals for Shabbin wounds. Only the witch who inflicted the damage can repair it."

"Or serpents," Lazarus adds. "Has Aoife spotted any?"

The sky's so dark, I can't discern any wingbeats. Do you see her, Cathal?

He works his jaw from side to side. No. Though loath to step away from me, he pounces upward and shifts. After a moment, he says, She can't spot any in the Sahklare.

In none of the rivers?

She's investigating the last one now. An endless minute passes before he says, No serpents.

Ice slicks down my spine. Can she check the ocean?

I've already asked. She's on her way.

He lands just as Behati emerges from the house. The seer's golden cane gleams as she totters toward us, which reminds me of her other cane, the one I found at the bottom of the Amkhuti. I peer over the ledge as though I could possibly discern it in the recessed water, but it lies so deep, and there's such faint moonlight, that I see nothing.

"Is it?" Cathal is asking, arms crossed over his black shirt that was tailored to fit his large chest but looks maladjusted from the strain of his stance. "Or is there something wrong with the corpses?"

Kanti skewers him with a look. "If Antoni dies because you're distracting me, Cathal, then his blood will be on your hands."

"My hands are already filthy." My mate ticks his head toward the wan governor. "Besides, Antoni's not exactly a favorite amongst the Crows these days. Fallon, ask Lore to send more people."

"Why? Do you think?—"

"Just please do it, ínon."

"Done."

"Taytah's vision!" Kanti suddenly exclaims. "She said I would turn one of Lorcan's enemies into a friend. This must be what she meant! That Daya would make him a Serpent."

Fallon's cheeks hollow from how quickly she inhales. "Do you think…? Do you think that…?"

"Why don't we try to heal Antoni with our blood first," I suggest. "Surely our three magics combined?—"

"—would kill him." Kanti purses her mouth. "It would overstimulate his organs. Probably even make his heart burst. Great Mahananda, did Priya teach you nothing about blood magic?"

Before my mate can detonate into smoke, I step in front of him and take his cheeks between my palms. Shh. Don't let her get to you.

A wet gurgle erupts from behind me. I twist around to find Antoni arching and coughing. And then his eyes are opening.

"Kanti, you managed to heal him," Fallon murmurs.

My cousin shakes her head. "I've just resorbed some of his internal bleeding. In other words, I've prolonged his life. Only Meriam or Daya can truly heal him. Or I suppose one of Daya's shifters. Want to give your tongue a whirl, Agrippina?"

My Serpent grimaces, but then she glances my way.

"No," I say out loud. "If anyone heals the injured, it'll be me."

Do you think the corpses were poisoned? she asks me.

I don't know, but I also don't care for you to find out.

"We could carry Antoni out to the ocean," Fallon suggests, her voice shaking with emotion.

"He won't survive being moved. Hold on, abi." Kanti strokes Antoni's lips, then his cheeks, adding more blood to his sticky-red jaw, which makes his eyes pitch wide. "We're going to fix you." Is it Kanti's crazy stare that's frightening him or the lethal depth of his injuries?

When pink foam glides out of the corners of the governor's mouth, Lazarus murmurs, "That's not a good sign."

Fallon balls her fist and bites down on her knuckles to stifle a sob. "Mádhi, please do something."

"No." It's Cathal who answers for me.

Fallon looks up at her father with so many tears in her eyes that they shine violet. I presume she's adopted the hue to keep the Shabbins in the dark about the Crows' new edge. "He's not a bad man, Dádhi."

"He could be a fucking saint and I still wouldn't let your mother get close to him. I'm sorry, ínon."

Fallon whimpers.

I hate seeing my daughter this distraught. " Should I save the governor, Mahananda? "

Silence.

" Please, Mahananda. I implore you. Guide me. "

But the Mahananda does not offer me guidance.

When I realize I haven't heard from Enzo in a while, I call out to him. Is he still on the boat? I walk over to the cliff's lip and squint down at the galleon, sighing with relief when I spot a head full of green curls.

Again, I call to him through the bond. When he doesn't look up, I yell his name out loud.

He finally cranks his head back. "Yes, my queen?"

I gasp and teeter, clutching my throat in utter horror.