She swallows hard, pale throat bobbing. “Yes.”
Her confession cracks, though she doesn’t sway. Doesn’t try to defend or make excuses.
“Orea will want to kill you for that,” I tell her, my voice laced with threat.
“Yes,” she confesses again.
I should kill her. For all the cruelty she doled out to Auren. For what she’s done to Orea itself. She allowed the fae to surge in and destroy our land.
And yet…because of that, she also forged a way for me to get to Annwyn.
Her people watch us, tense and terrified, still shaking from the attack, while others mourn the ones who lie dead on the road. Malina’s eyes go from me to them, and I see her desperation. Can sense her fear.
But I also sense a warning of magic. A split second after, shadows appear to my right.
I move before he can.
The man coalesces, but I have him by the throat before the shadow power even fully pulls away.
He gasps and tries to wrench out of my grip, but he’s not going anywhere. I stare at the hooded man as he tries to claw at me, but rot is already soaking into his neck.
“King Ravinger!” Malina cries with desperation. “Wait, please!”
“You think to sneak up on me?” I seethe at him.
The people scream.
“Leave—her—alone,” the man sputters out, each word shoving past his constricted throat.
“Do you think I answer to you? Do you think you can stop me if I rot her bones and shrivel her cruel, selfish carcass?” I threaten darkly.
Rage flexes through him, dark eyes flashing with violence. His magic tries to gather but fails.
My voice drops low. “Your shadows can’t hide you from me.”
I’m tempted to continue on with my purge of punishment and my rite of retribution. Since this man seems important to her, I could kill him first and make her watch.
“King Ravinger, I’mbeggingyou.”
My head turns slowly toward her. Malina has her fingers threaded together in a plea, hands shaking even as the skin is iced over.
“No more death.Please. Not him. Not any of them. The only person who deserves it is me. Don’t hurt him.”
“Queenie—” the man chokes out.
She ignores him, her glacial eyes unblinking.
“Thank you,” she whispers, surprising me. Her gaze flicks behind me to look at the Oreans. “Thank you for saving them when I couldn’t. I owe you everything. Truly.” Droplets of freeze seep from the corners of her desolate eyes. “I know you want tokill me, and I understand. But monarch to monarch, thank you for coming to our aid. This is all that’s left of my people, and if I can die knowing they will live, then that is enough.”
Her chin wobbles as I stare at her. I see the dark circles under her eyes that show up starkly against her pale skin.
“Are you truly Malina?” I taunt. “Because you look and act nothing like the haughty cold queen that everyone describes, save for that white hair.”
Her icy eyes flinch and her confession whispers. “I’m not the Malina I was before.”
This would be much easier if she was acting like a conceited snob. Instead, she looks broken and desperate.
I let out a growl and then roughly let go of the man, making him stagger on his feet. Malina rushes to him, and he wraps a protective arm around her, his shadows writhing around his black cloak.
