“Ask the heart to give me its magic. Once I have it, I’ll be able to defeat him.”
Nausea stirs in my stomach. This is wrong. Otavio here is wrong. But I need to know what he means. “What magic? How does it work?”
“Ask the heart to give me the power to imprison the Witch King, and I promise you that’s what I’ll do.”
It feels wrong, but I don’t want to challenge him. “I don’t even know how to ask.”
“Astra, I know what you’re thinking.”
“You do?”
“Yes. You’re thinking that if the magic of the heart can defeat the Witch King, there’s no reason for you to give it to me. You could take it for yourself and do that, right?”
“That’s not?—”
“Listen. Youcoulddefinitely defeat him, but you wouldn’t know how. You don’t have all the years of training, the experience, the knowledge. If we had time, I’d train you, I’d teach you, but we don’t.”
These are lies. Otavio raised me. He could have prepared me. I don’t know what he’s planning, but I’m not giving him any magic. I shrug. “I don’t know how to do it.”
“Talk to it and ask. It’s not complicated.”
“Can’tyouask?” I truly hope he can’t, but I want to know why.
“You’re the royalty here, Astra. Do you want to wait for the other living Tiurian royal to come and get this magic?”
Obviously not, but I’m not going to give Otavio any magic. I need to gain time while I figure out how to tell him I won’t do it. “Explain your plan. Maybe if I understand it...”
His stare turns into a glare, and then he sneers. “You were always a disappointment. Always. Weak-minded, sloppy, dumb, brash, ignorant.Imade you what you are. I made sure you were beautiful, fascinating, and for what? You didn’t even know how to leverage your beauty, opened your legs willy-nilly, to get nothing in return. Your blood might be royal, but you’re nothing.”
“Honesty appreciated. Now leave.” If he’s right that I can order the heart, then this ismycastle.
“That’s exactly what I was planning. Are you sure this is how you want things to go? Are you that ungrateful?”
I pull my dagger. I’m too far to stab him, but I can still throw it and kill him from this distance. “Go.”
He bursts into laughter. “Oh, you think I’m afraid of that tiny little dagger? You think you scare me? Oh, Astra, I thought I had trained you better than that.”
My hand trembles, and I feel silly for a second, but then I regain my composure. “I don’t care. Leave.”
He smiles. “Do it. I dare you.”
Even before he finishes his sentence, my wrist flips, and the dagger flies into his neck. Blood gushes out, but he doesn’t fall. Instead, he removes the weapon.
“Bitch!” he roars.
An ice shard appears in front of me, then buries itself in my chest. Blood gushes and gushes from my wound, and I look at it as if it was someone else, feeling nothing. My knees buckle, and I kneel. Ice forms around me, attaching me to the ground.
I’m bleeding. I’m dying. My body is numb, and all I can think is that my soul is leaving my body.
Otavio laughs, then stabs the heart. A shrill shriek reverberates through the room as he licks and sucks the dark blood coming out of it, looking like a starved animal. Shit. He’ll get the heart’s magic—and I can’t do anything.
Dark blood drips from his mouth as he turns to me. “Enjoy your stay, Astra. You were useful, after all.”
I want to scream, but my mouth makes no sound. There’s so much blood around me; ared puddle about to meet the dark puddle of the heart’s blood. I should have stopped Otavio, shouldn’t have spent so long listening to him.
Now I’m dying. And the heart is dying.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper.
