House of Shifting Tides (The Kingdom of Crows Book 4) by Olivia Wildenstein

Author:Olivia Wildenstein [Wildenstein, Olivia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

Zendaya

Agrippina’s face blooms in full color across my lids. Just before I part ways with my grandmother in front of her bedchamber doors, I ask, “Has the Mahananda recovered from Fallon’s curse-breaking?”

She turns her fatigued gaze toward its smooth surface. “Not yet.”

I nibble on the inside of my cheek. Then why did someone mention Agrippina? Why must she be found?

“I need to go rest. I’ll see you this evening.” The queen kisses my pearl, then Enzo’s, before departing in a whoosh of white silk.

Could Agrippina have gotten lost? But lost where—in Luce or in Shabbe? She didn’t sail home with us, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t return eventually. After all, Taytah never put up the wards she threatened to erect.

Right before Abrax shuts me inside with Enzo, who I convened for a private conversation, I ask, “Are the Rossi women back in Shabbe?”

“No.”

“They decided to stay in Luce?” I ask.

Enzo’s intrigued stare prickles my nape.

“Luce is their home, Daya.” Abrax says this with no condescension. “Is there a particular reason they’re on your mind?”

“No,” I lie.

Abrax slants his head.

Since I can tell he isn’t convinced, I add, “I’ve been so busy training Enzo that it only just occurred to me that neither she nor her daughter has visited in some time.”

His neck straightens and his eyebrows level. “I’d offer to send for them, but I don’t think your grandmother would approve. She’s been adamant about restricting the number of visitors inside Shabbe ever since⁠—”

“—she learned about serpent poison.” I sigh. “I’m aware.”

He offers me a sympathetic smile. “It’s possible she’d make an exception if the request comes from you? I know she’s fond of Ceres. You should ask her at supper.”

I nod, casting a glance around me at the other guards’ faces. None of them are staring with suspicion. None of them are staring at me, period. But are they listening?

“I’ll be right outside if you need anything,” Abrax says.

I nod my thanks, then tread past Enzo as Abrax gives us the privacy I requested.

Are you okay? Enzo asks. You seem agitated.

“Yes. Fine. Sit. We need to talk.” My terse tone only deepens the angle of his brown eyebrows as he takes a seat on my divan and I sink onto it beside him.

My mind clings to Agrippina even as I explain my desire to make another Serpent to Enzo. Yet I don’t let her name slip through our bond. I want him to fully concentrate on what I’m telling him…what I’m asking him.

When disappointment scores his face, I snatch the hand with which he’s strangling his bony thigh and cocoon it between my own. “What is it?”

“I…I…” He slides his lips together, his black eyes taking on a worrying sheen.

“Tell me your thoughts.”

He stares hard at my fruit bowl. I know I’m young and not really a looker, but—he swallows—am I really not enough?

“It has nothing to do with how I feel about you, Enzo.”

Doesn’t it? “You s-still love Fa-Fallon’s fa-father.” He steals his hand away from mine to mop his cheeks.

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