“You are the queen this world has waited for.”
My stomach turns to lead.
Not this again.
I shake my head as she presses on. “This is what you were made for. To free the witches and restore the balance.”
“Free the witches? From what?”
“I am not at liberty to say.”
Thanks, that’s super helpful.
“Look, I’m not interested in being queen. All I care about is stopping?—”
“Something is coming.” Her eyes glaze as if looking through me—not at me—into some distant void. “If you hope to face it and live, then you must stop running and accept your birthright.”
Her words strike a chord with me.
Something is coming.
Derek had said something similar that day in his study—the day he told me of his father’s belief that I was the answer to Solterre’s prayers.
A fresh wave of pain flares up at the memory of his face. I swallow it back as she continues, “The choice is yours. Choose well, and you may stand a chance at survival. Choose wrong, and the cost will be this world.”
Cool. No pressure.
I pinch my temples between my hands. “What you’re suggesting is insane. Becoming High Queen? No one will follow me. No one will listen.”
“You are a dragon rider. You will make them listen.”
“How?”
“Align yourself with Vod.”
“Oh, like Derek tried to do by marrying Ilspeth? Look how well that turned out,” I scoff. “I cannot team up with Kylian—he’s the entire reason we’re in this mess. He has to be stopped.”
“I have seen what happens if you continue to pursue this notion that he is your enemy. You will err, and your mistake will set the wheels of destiny in motion.”
“You expect me to just turn a blind eye to all he’s done? All he’s doing? If I’m supposed to protect this world, then this falls under the job description, don’t you think?”
“You cannot see the entire picture,” she says, her expression grave. “You cannot see what awaits if you keep resisting. Without him ruling at your side, you do not stand a chance.”
“Ruling at my side? Kylian doesn’t share anything! You expect him to scooch over and crack me off a piece of his crown?”
What does she expect me to do? Let Kylian trample all over us because it’s part of some great master plan?
No. Abso-fucking-lutely not.
“If fulfilling my birthright means marrying Kylian, then people will die regardless. He’s a tyrant who only cares about power. He does not care who has to die in order for him to get it. Aegar won’t accept him without a fight, and I doubt the other kingdoms will kindly evacuate their thrones forme.This will only lead to more bloodshed, more lives lost.”
“The other kingdoms will have no choice. Your mates are very powerful and very determined. If it’s a throne you desire, they shall make sure you are seated comfortably.”
It’s like a record screeching to a halt.
“I’m sorry—mymates?”
As in plural? As in more thanone?!
