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I watch as heads nod and voices sound in agreement. I feel so weak, so ill, there’s nothing I can do to force them to listen to reason, to ignore this insanity. Treason is punishable by death in Oronrel. Without me to protect the Unseelie people, there’s nothing stopping Variant and Morrigan. The Cockatrice might not be working for them, but his greed will serve their interests if he’s still devoted to Abedon.

The soldiers, who were once under my rule, pull me from the throne room as the court deliberates, and they toss me into a grimy cell in the dungeons far below the castle.

Once I’m imprisoned within my own stone cell and the guards have left me to my solitude, I punch the wall, feeling my knuckles tear and bleed. I broke free from Morrigan only to be imprisoned by my own fucking people. My head still throbs painfully as I flop onto the rickety cot. The place where I carved the rune from my flesh is already healed. I must regain my strength if I’m to escape.

The door to the dungeon swings open. I look up but I can see little in the darkness. But I can hear and the sound I hear grates against my nerves. The Cockatrice chuckles darkly.

“You are now an enemy of your own kingdom, Theren.”

“What do you get out of placing Morrigan in charge?”

“When the Midnight Queen is confident she will be victorious in her mission, I shall set Lord Abedon free,” the creature responds. “He will once again rule these realms and my kind will flourish, as we did under his reign, before he was exiled from this land. The Singularity must be completed; darkness must eclipse the light and burn it with chilling fire until there’s nothing left but ash and rubble.”