Prager's voice snapped through, coming out of Erisandra’s mouth. “Enough. I will not allow you to say anything more.”
A crow surged up out of the queen mother’s body and with a pop, it disappeared from the throne room, leaving only the taint of wood smoke behind.
Lore's mother crumpled forward, her body collapsing in a heap on the blood-drenched floor. Her tangled hair splayed across the marble in a ring around her lifeless head.
After one shuddering breath, her chest stopped moving.
Lore rushed over and dropped down beside her, lifting her wrist before gently resting it on the carpet.
“Prager killed her rather than let her speak,” I said, tears burning down my cheeks.
“Coward,” Lore hissed, his head snapping up. His flame-bright eyes pinned me in place before flicking back to the body. Now, he was colder. Methodical. The hunter had taken over. “I vow to destroy her.” He rose to his feet and tugged me into his arms, holding me while he shook. “I will destroy her. This I vow!”
“Love, I’m here, and I’ll help you. Together.”
He stared into my eyes and nodded.
“A funeral pyre,” he said, his body shaking with fury and rage. “We will care for her body and then…” His grim gaze met mine. “We will find the three my mother died to tell us about.”
50
Reyla
His tortured gaze fell on Erisandra. “I want to do one last thing for the woman I loved.”
The silence that followed her collapse was suffocating. The room seemed to hold its breath, waiting for a move, a sound, anything. Dust swirled in the sunlight cutting through the newly shattered windows, the debris settling around Erisandra's fragile body.
Lore’s knees slid on the blood-smeared floor. His face could've been carved from stone. He moved with the kind of grace I’d only ever seen in his most ruthless moments, yet his hand trembled as he stroked her dirt-streaked face, brushing away blood already caking on her cheek.
“You didn’t deserve this.” His voice ghosted overher still form, full of tenderness. “No one does.” His jaw worked as his other hand brushed a snarled lock of hair from her face. So intimate. Gentle. Seeing him this way shredded something inside me.
His breathing rattled his chest, and I suspected his wall of self-control was beginning to crack. He traced her shoulder with his fingertips, the hollow in his throat bobbing as his voice rasped out. “She’s at peace now.”
My hands felt useless at my sides. I stepped forward, placing one on his shoulder, squeezing. “You're not facing this alone.”
He didn’t react at first, but he didn’t pull away from me either, and that was all I needed to move closer, to drop down and curl my body around his.
The doors quivered opened, and courtiers and guards cautiously crept back inside, peering around at the devastation with shocked expressions and wild fear in their eyes. When they saw Erisandra lying on the floor, the few in the lead gasped, the sound echoed by those behind.
We rose to our feet.
Several of Erisandra’s ladies-in-waiting pushed to the front, their cries tearing through the stillness. They collapsed together, sobbing as they clutched each other’s clothing. A few rushed forward, dropping to their knees beside the queen mother and draping themselves over her body.
“Who killed her?” one woman hissed, her pale face full of confusion. “Please tell me. We must go after them at once!”
Had the curse snatched back what they'd seen already?
“A beast got inside the throne room,” I said, my voice growing stronger when Lore looked my way and jerked out a nod. “The queen mother died defending King Lorick and I, and her sacrifice…” I choked off, my eyes stinging with tears. I had not loved the person I’d met when I arrived at Evergorne Court, but if Prager hadn't been inside her, forcing all her actions and snide words, I might've. “We defeated the beast, a magical being whose spirit has fled. They murdered the queen mother and destroyed the throne room in the battle.”
“The fates curse them,” a lord snarled. “How dare they enter the sanctity of this court and do such a horrible thing?”
“Such a brave soul,” someone said. “May the fates preserve the queen mother now.”
“Our poor queen mother,” a man cried out, his body shaking with sobs. Others joined in, wailing along with him.
“So brave.”
“She adored our king and queen. It's not surprising she’d give her own life to protect them.”
