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She was inches away from him now, staring up into his eyes, watching his face turn blue and pale.

“I felt her die,” she told him, froth and saliva dripping down his chin as he struggled. His eyes protruded unnaturally in his skull and began to redden as the blood vessels within popped and bled. “And now, I’m going to send you to whatever afterlife exists, so she can have her revenge.”

Dameon strained against her hold one more time, releasing a dry gurgle from deep in his throat, and then convulsed violently, before going limp. His eyes were wide and frightened, unfocused, staring at nothing.

Only then did Fey release him, letting his lifeless body crumple to the ground. Only then did Fey recall the Fire that surrounded them, pulling it back inside herself, and turn toward the dais.

To where Alice knelt, stone binding her hands. To where the Queen stood, one hand gripping the back of Alice’s head, and the other holding a blade to her throat.

“Stand down,” the Queen said, and for the first time, Fey heard emotion in her voice. Rage.

“This foolishness is over,” the Queen said, her fingers digging into Alice’s skin. “I must say, I am very disappointed in the two of you.”

Chapter 60

It wasn’t the look of fear in Alice’s eyes that broke Fey’s heart. It was the resignation.

Alice had fought, fought with all her power and skill. Fought and failed. Now, she knelt there, defeated, and resigned to her inevitable death.

She had given it all and it wasn’t enough.

Fey snarled and stepped forward toward the dais. She was still losing blood at an alarming rate, and any minute now she might lose consciousness. But for now, she was standing. For now, she could still fight.

She didn’t make it another step. The Queen barely flicked her fingers, loosening her grip on Alice’s skull to do so, and Fey went flying backward, struck by a gust of Air, and hit the ground, rolling painfully over and over, until she finally came to a stop.

They had known the Queen was strong. Had known the other Factions feared her.

But this? No wonder they feared her so much. No wonder they’d never tried to overthrow her.

“Run,” Alice said. “Leave me, Fey, I knew the risks—go.”

“You should listen to her,” Edelin said, watching Fey come to her feet slowly, painfully.

“No,” Fey groaned through gritted teeth.

She made it two steps this time, and the blast of Air that hit her almost blew her out the door and into the hallway.

“What are you hoping to accomplish with this?” the Queen asked loudly, her voice echoing across the long room. She sounded both bored and genuinely curious.

Fey coughed, trying to rise again. It was a wet, horrid cough, and Fey realized with faint surprise, looking down at the red droplets on the ground beneath her, that she was coughing blood. Blood, and specks of ash.

It took her much longer to stand this time.

“Justice,” Fey heard herself say, in a voice that didn’t quite sound like her own. But, then again, she felt a million miles from her body now. Her legs shook underneath her, but she pushed herself forward, forcing herself closer to the dais step by painful step. Closer to her sister.

“Justice?” the Queen asked, amused. “Where is the justice in killing my consort?” She flicked her gaze over to Dameon’s body, grotesquely blue against the pale marble floor. “Where is the justice in getting yourself killed tonight?”

Fey shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. “He killed my sister. He killed Willow.”

She sent a wave of Fire toward the Queen, but it hit a wall of Air she had summoned there and burst into nothing.

“Whatever he did, he did for the good of the realm,” the Queen said softly, as though speaking to a child. Unfazed by Fey’s approach. “Whatever he did, he did to protect his Queen.”

“You’re no true Queen,” Fey heard herself saying. “You have no right to that throne. Not after what you’ve taken from us.”

Another flick of those powerful fingers, and the ground beneath Fey twisted and bent. She fell forward, onto her hands and knees, and the stone flowed up her arms and legs like water, then solidified, trapping her.

“I have every right to this throne,” Queen Edelin snarled, her words filled with fury. “Did you really think you were more powerful than I am? Did you really think two Witches would be enough to take me down? A Witch with command over only Fire?”