“Of course not. After I tear down the Veil, I will once again be able to walk between worlds. The human and fae realms will no longer be conjoined, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to benefit one another. Just think what the future could hold. What advancements we could see on both sides. Humans and fae have so much they can learn from one another.”
She breathed deeply, sensing his energy. It radiated with hope, with joy, with excitement, almost too potent for her to bear. He truly believed in what he was saying. Even she could see the potential he imagined. The possibilities of sharing resources with another realm.
Yet there remained that steady sinking in her gut. One that told her this wasn’t quite right. Just because someone believed in their own principles didn’t mean they weren’t flawed.
“You want an alliance with me,” Cora said, keeping her tone neutral so as not to reveal that she’d already made up her mind, “and you’ve shown me how we can help each other once you’ve conquered El’Ara. Yet what would you have me dobeforeyou’ve won? How do you expect me to aid you during your campaign?”
He sobered from his excitement, adopting as level a tone as hers. “I will ask only what is fair. Soldiers, access to your lands, and the location of the tear.”
Her pulse jumped, and from his nod, she knew he’d heard it.
“Yes, you know where it is, but I won’t try to get the information from you now. I will demonstrate my trustworthiness and allow you to consider your options. Alliance, surrender, or war. Either way, this can only end in my success. I will find the tear with or without you, and I will find my sister too. I won’t ask you to take any lives for me. Ailan, Mareleau, and Noah will die by my hand only.”
Cora couldn’t keep her reaction at bay, couldn’t hold in her gasp as she heard him speak Mareleau and Noah’s names.
“I know about them too,” he said, “though I regret that I learned about them too late. If I can claim one flaw, it’s that I didn’t value the prophecy Desmond was so invested in, aside from what it said about El’Ara. I used logic to test my son’s conclusion about you and found it flawed. Since I knew you weren’t the prophesied mother, I deduced she simply hadn’t been born yet, and so long as she didn’t exist, I didn’t care about her.
“Before my memories returned, I had no interest in the mother, only reaching the Veil and finding a way inside. Then it tore while I was imprisoned. My mind was befuddled for days as I struggled to process all these new memories, comparing them to the assumptions I’d made, some of which had been incorrect. By the time my mind cleared and I realized the full truth of what had happened—that Ailan’s heir had been bornunder the black mountain, in the very castle I’d been imprisoned in—it was too late. Queen Mareleau was gone. As were you.”
The pointed look he gave her chilled her to the bone. Did he suspect she and Mareleau had left Ridine together? Even more chilling was the realization of just how close Darius had been to getting his way. For three days, he’d been imprisoned at Ridine while Mareleau and Noah were just floors overhead.
Thank the Mother Goddess his mind hadn’t cleared a moment too soon.
“My promises aren’t empty,” Darius said, “but neither are my threats. My soldiers are in Vinias. Reinforcements from Norun are already on their way from the capital. Only I can stop them. If you’re ready to forge an alliance with me, I can end the conflict between Khero and Norun. All they want is Prince Helios’ body. I can convince them I’ve retrieved it. I can halt Norun’s progress and stop them from setting foot on your kingdom’s soil. Otherwise, they will come for blood and you will be outnumbered.”
Breathe in. Breathe out. Don’t react.
He didn’t know about the rebels. He had no clue that between now and the meeting at the border, his promised reinforcements would get caught in the rebellion. Without them, Darius only had five thousand men. With Khero’s forces allied with soldiers from Vera and El’Ara, they could face him with better odds.
“I need more time,” she said. “I can’t take this alliance lightly. If you want me to trust you, I need more proof. Give me the full three weeks to determine if you’re worth my trust and I will meet you at the border as planned with my answer.”
His eyes narrowed to a squint. Did he see through her ruse? Did he suspect what she kept hidden? The tic deepened in his jaw and his fingers curled tightly at his sides. Then he whirled back toward the balustrade and propped his elbows upon the rail. His energy flared with frustration.
“Is it the other queen?” he asked, voice low. “Is she the reason you hesitate?”
“You seek to end her life.” Emotion crept into her voice, but she didn’t bother masking it. “What kind of person would I be if I didn’t hesitate?”
“She and her son are two people.Two. In exchange for their deaths, thousands of lives could be saved. Are those two lives more valuable than those that would be lost during war? Is it not your duty to put the lives of your people first?” Slamming his fist on the balustrade, he faced her again. “You shouldhateher.”
She sucked in a sharp breath.
“My son mistook you for her.” He took a forbidding step closer, temples pulsing. “He cursed you to die childless. Destroyed your brother’s mind. Tried to start a war in your kingdom’s name. You were banished from your own castle, forced to flee, all because you were the wrong girl.”
Memories of flames flashed in her mind’s eye, the terror of her nightmare echoing in the beat of her heart.
“You’ve borne the brunt of torment that had been meant for her all along. Does that make you feel noble? Do you fancy yourself a hero, Queen Aveline?” He closed in another step.
She launched back, her knees quavering.
Should it have been her?asked the taunting voice from her nightmare.
Darius continued, tone edged with malice. “Do you take pride in the protection you’ve provided? Do you enjoy watching her with her newborn baby, flaunting the joy of motherhood that you’ll never have? Are you glad you gave up your youth so that she could be coddled? Have you never wondered what your life would have been like had Desmond targeted her instead of you? Have you never wished for it?”
Darkness flared inside her, a dangerous pulse. She tried to smother it down, but it begged her to look at it. Begged to swarm around her. But she couldn’t. No, she couldn’t. That wasn’t her. That darkness didn’t belong to her.
He stepped closer once more, towering over her. “Do you deserve the punishment you’ve been given? Do you delight in the sacrifices you made? Or…do you wish the burden had been given to the one who’d deserved it all along?”
“Stop,” she bit out, shoulders trembling. The flames of memory grew brighter. The darkness in her chest grew tighter. It screamed at her, clawed at her, fought to emerge from the prison that was her heart.
