Page 149

Energy pulsed in my chest, charging the air around us. Her smile didn’t falter—not once as she flicked a long look around the Great Hall—a room packed with mortals. I knew then this was why she’d waited until now to tell me that she wanted to see Atlantia burn. She’d already begun to use the people as a shield.

Then again, when had she not?

But she was wrong. My anger. My sense of fairness. My love. My power. They were strengths. Not fatal flaws that would result in the deaths of untold innocents.

“You’re wrong,” I said, hands trembling as I grasped the arms of the chair again. “I’m not you.”

“If that’s what you need to tell yourself,” she replied with a smile and a wink. “But if you had to cut down everyone in this room to save what you hold most dear, you would without hesitation. Just as I have.”

My breath stopped. My heart stuttered. I wanted to deny what she claimed. I needed to.

But I couldn’t.

And that struck every raw nerve in my body. “You may have given birth to me, but blood is the only thing we share. We’re nothing alike. We never will be. You’re not my mother, my friend, or my confidante,” I said, watching that smile fade from her face. “All you are is a Queen whose reign is about to come to an end. That is it.”

The faint glimmer of eather appeared in her eyes as her grip tightened on her glass. Her lips thinned. “I don’t want to be at odds with you, daughter. Not now,” she said, and the sudden bitter taste of grief pooled in my throat. “But force my hand, and I will force yours and prove just how much we are alike.”

Casteel.

She was threatening Casteel.

My skin went as cold as that hollow, aching place inside me, and when I spoke again, my voice sounded like it had in Massene. Smoky. Shadowy. “I could kill you right now.”

Her eyes met mine. “Then do it. Unleash that power, child. Use that rage.” Eather glimmered in her eyes. “But before you do, remember that you’re not sitting before an Ascended.”

A short, shrill scream pierced the Great Hall, followed by the sound of shattering glass, and then silence. I twisted in the direction of the shout, stomach dropping when I saw the couple that had stood by the statues fall to their knees, blood raining from their eyes and ears—their mouths and noses. Louder, longer screams rang out as mortals scattered from the couple as they shrank into themselves, collapsing into nothing but skin and bones held together by silk and satin.

Malik and Millicent whipped toward us as people cried out, moving farther away. But Isbeth…she hadn’t taken her eyes off me. Not once. But she’d done that, and that kind of power was…

It was horrific.

I didn’t know if I was capable of such a thing. I didn’t ever want to find out.

The Blood Queen sat back, her head tilted as she studied me. “I believe you will benefit from some time alone. And then tomorrow, we will speak further.” She motioned one of the knights forward. “Escort her to her chambers and make sure she remains there.”

I rose as several of the knights left their stations to surround me.

There would be no tomorrow.

No more discussions.

Turning from her, I walked the edges of the alcove, my hands steadying. Instinct told me that we had run out of time. It didn’t matter what she thought I’d do, nor did I believe that I could quell my temper enough to halt her hand—to stop her from senselessly harming others. Instinct also told me that Isbeth wouldn’t go for Casteel immediately. She had two others to slaughter before resorting to that.

Kieran.

And Reaver.

She would do it to prove that I was as unstable and cruel as she was.

All you will liberate is death.

Though maybe she knew me better than I knew myself. Maybe the prophecy was exactly as she and others believed. Perhaps Willa was wrong, and Vikter had been sent to guard something evil. Perhaps I was the Harbinger.

Because if she did as she threatened, I would drown in the blood I spilled.

That meant I was out of time.

I searched for Kieran’s imprint and sent him a quick message. We need to make our move tonight.

His response was immediate and full of resolve. At the entrance to the Great Hall, I looked over my shoulder, finding the Blood Queen standing beyond the alcove, the fine crystal glass still in hand as she watched me like the predator she thought she was.

I looked away, my will forming in my mind. The eather pulsed in my chest.

The glass the Blood Queen held shattered, reminding her that no afraid, submissive Maiden had sat next to her.

The moon had found its place in the sky over the city, its light drenching the rolling waters of the Stroud Sea. I stood at the window. Beyond the inner walls of Wayfair and the Temples of Nyktos and Perses, the Rise loomed.