“He was never yours,” Evera bit back, arms still held behind her back.
A huff, and the Queen turned her wicked eyes back to my fox, dismissing Evera altogether. Through her teeth, she hissed, holding her hand out to the guard. “The dagger.”
The guard looked to Harlan for approval, but the King kept his head down. Gone was his fight.
“Dagger,” Astraea shouted.
The guard stiffened, then crossed the room to hand it to her.
When Astraea spoke again, her voice was low, tone calculated. “Now, Bastard, you will shift back and let me have what’smine.” My blood. My submission.
“Neirin, don’t.” Evera shook her head, eyes pleading. “She’s mad—” She lashed at her restraints, but the soldiers held her firm. “Don’t you see that, Your Majesty?” She addressed my brother. “Don’t you see she’s not sane? She’s lied about everything.”
Harlan only flinched.
“Harlan, you’re just like Kaius was.” Astraea’s eyes rolled, and she huffed as she turned back on Evera and brought the dagger point to the dip between her ribs. My fox’s flanks trembled, and a low snarl came from the back of his throat. Awarning. Panic flooded my mind, barring me from making any reasonable deductions on a path to take. My fox, too, hesitated, as if locked in the same state of immobility.
In the Queen’s profile, I detected a flash of bitter resentment as it flickered across her facade. “You’re entirely lost to this magic, this false belief that youlovethat monster,” she spat at my mate.
“I do love him.” Evera raised her chin. “It is not only magic that has bound my soul to his.”
Growling, Astraea pressed harder with the point of the blade, creasing the fabric of Evera’s dress. The racing of my fox’s heart pounded in his ears. Through the thickness of my fear, Evera’s statement brought me strength, and I fought to control my thoughts.
Could I regain my other form if I tried? Would I be of any more use if I did, naked with no weapon? Helplessness tore at me. At least in this form, my fox could defend Evera.If he could break from his fear of Astraea to do so.
The Queen narrowed her hazel eyes, the same hazel eyes my brother shared with her. “I thought having his bitch killed would break my husband’s curse,” Astraea stated, the words drawn out with cruelty, “that he would fall in love with me again. But no.” Her jaw firmed. “Died in childbirth,” she laughed. “It was perfect. The bitch had given me a new source of blood, one that wouldn’tfuck my husbandand make threats to expose me for what I am.”
A wall of black threatened to block me out, to push me down so far within my fox I’d never return. Astraea—she’d had my mother killed. My mother, whom I’d never had the chance to meet. Who could have raised me, taught me who I was? Who could have shown me love? Images of Nyana flashed before my mind, pulling me back. I was shown love. The betrayal and thehurt caused by what Astraea had done, would never fade. But I’d had a mother; I could not slight that.
“Just like you had Kaius killed?” Evera’s cool tone brought me the rest of the way back, and I refocused on the scene before my fox’s eyes.
The fox, not having suffered as deeply from the emotional impact of the Queen’s admission, crept forward. A new resolve tingled down his flanks, raising the hair on his haunches. Death hung in the air. If it were to be the Queen or Evera, he would not let his mate fall.
“Mother, stop this.” Harlan’s voice came from near the windows, weak, pleading.
“Mind your place,” the Queen barked. She turned her narrowed eyes back to my fox and twisted the dagger again at Evera’s torso. “Make your choice, Neirin. Shift back, or you can watch her die knowing it’s at your hand.”
The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances. Within the fox’s form, I was left to watch my life unravel before me. Yet I held faith in him to an extent that I could not put into words. He would protect her, would save her in a way I was incapable of in this moment.
“Stop this,” Harlan spoke more boldly this time, having seemingly found his bravery. He came into my peripheral as he paced forward and reached for the Queen. She spun on him as if on a reflex, the dagger now pointed to his chest, her breasts heaving as she alternated between gasps for air and deranged laughter.
Astraea would never—could never—kill her son. He was her world. But she was crazed, beyond controlling her actions. My fox’s paws itched as he stilled mid-step, eyes darting between Evera and Calix and my brother, who stood at the pinnacle of the Queen’s delusions.
“Did you kill Father?” Harlan’s voice shook.
Evera took the moment of distraction and stamped on the foot of the soldier who held her. She reached for her own dagger, but the soldier tugged her roughly back again before she could grab it. Calix snarled, spitting curses at the man for his rough handling of her. My fox growled low in his throat but remained still, sizing up the situation.
Astraea, with her arm still extended, dagger threatening the life of her only living son, turned her eyes back to Calix, and then to my fox. “That boy means something to you?” There was a wickedness in the chilled calm of her voice. “Calix, do they know what you did?” The corner of her lips twisted up, and she adjusted her hold on the dagger. “I didn’t kill your father, my son,” she crooned, her attention flitting back to Harlan. She drew back the weapon and pointed it at Calix. “He did.”
The sinking feeling from before returned to my gut. It all fell together in a clarity I wished I could unsee.
Calixhad killed Father. He’d taken a guard’s blade in the gardens today to seek his revenge on Astraea. He could just as easily have taken mine the night of the festival. I’d always been keen on the boy’s ability to pick things off others unsuspecting, but I never would have suspected—
“It’s not true!” Evera cried. “All the Queen says are lies.”
But Calix gave no defense. Lips a fine line, he looked down at his boots.
“Am I lying, Calix?” the Queen purred.
