A low chuckle came from the cell at the end of the corridor. “With an imperious tone like that, it’s a miracle anyone believes you when you say you don’t wish to take the throne.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s a miracle that anyone believed you should have ever sat upon it.”
The traitor to the Wonderland Court laughed again. “No miracle, dear niece. Only leverage, magic, and knowing what people wanted.”
I was close enough now to see her face, shining in the light of the single lantern she’d been given. Her black hair still hung in thick curtains and shone like polished glass, not yet dirtied or oily. Her porcelain white skin, however, was marred. Patches of dirt dotted her cheekbones and the underside of her chin. She’d been tossed down here in the clothes she’d worn during the calling of the creatures trial. Judging by the way she was shivering now, they weren’t nearly warm enough for the cold of the dungeon.
“The people have spoken. Your trial starts tomorrow.” I pulled a bag of food out of the satchel I wore against my hip. It was common food: crackers, dried meat, hard cheeses, and a jug of water. I passed it through the bars, and my aunt snatched it up.
“You should know many of them are already sharpening their knives. We won’t be using your executioner—he died in the battle. There are so many people vying for the privilege of chopping off your head, I expect it will take some time to decide the best person for the job.”
“Then there isn’t much difference between them and me after all,” the former queen snorted. “Will I have a final meal?”
I shrugged.
Sela popped a cracker into her mouth and chewed it loudly, as if she were trying to make a lot of noise.
I shuddered. “I have questions for you. If you answer, maybe I’ll see to it you get a final meal—exactly how you like it.”
Sela raised her eyebrows, and popped another cracker into her mouth.
“Where’s my sister?” I wanted to continue talking, to drown out the noise of her loud chewing, but I knew better than to jabber on. It made people look weak, and my aunt would never respect or respond to someone who appeared weak. Even if they had her locked up in a cell.
“Elise . . . what a darling girl. Much more malleable than you.” She stood and came closer to the bars separating us. “She’s kept in this realm, under lock and key of my allies.”
The Dark Court. It has to be the Dark Court.
In the two days that my aunt had been imprisoned, I’d been learning much about the various Faerie courts. As far as I could tell, the Dark Court was the only kingdom to ally with Wonderland after my parents’ deaths.
“All right.”
I took a long slow breath. My next question was harder. And yet, I needed to ask it, needed to know.
“Why did you kill your sister? Why did you hate her so much?”
The vision I’d seen in the Enchanted Forest ran through my mind, unstoppable as a freight train. Sela had seemed justified when she ended her sister, and furious as she struck down my father. I knew from experience that powerful emotions always had powerful stories behind them.
I had to hear this tale.
Sela made a clicking noise. “I’m surprised it took you so long to ask. Clearly, you learned that I killed her, even how.”
Her poisonous green eyes bore through me. She was obviously wondering how I’d figured it out and been able to show her the image of her sister pleading for her life before being struck down. But keeping her pride intact, Sela didn’t ask.
“Everyone loved your mother. They couldn’t help it, something about her drew them in like flies.” She shook her head, still peeved that her sister was so charismatic. Then her gaze flicked back to me, and she paused. “You obviously did not inherit that from her. In fact, I see many similarities betweenus, which is . . . curious.”
If I wasn’t trying to be strong, I would’ve shuddered.
Perhaps my aunt had been a good person once, but that had been long ago. And while I’d committed atrocious acts since I was a child, I had hope that someday soon the pattern would change. When I returned to the human realm, I fully intended to turn over a new leaf.
“Anyway,” she continued, “most of the gossipers at court swore that I’d hated your mother since she’d stolen your father from me. We had been betrothed all our lives, but the moment he laid eyes on Isabel, he lost interest in me.”
If it was possible for someone as cold-hearted as her to cry, I think she would’ve at that moment.
“It hurt, I’ll admit. And yes, at the time, I was livid about the situation. Particularly when our father forbade me to leave the court and hide from my shame. But all that pain wasnothingto what happened later. The moment that tore my world apart and ensured I would end Isabel’s life.”
“And that was?”
Her lips curled up. “Your birth.”
