‘Are you trying to punish Raleigh?’
‘For what, dear one?’
I swallowed.I wasn’t supposed to know about the deal.‘For leaving court.’
‘Oh.’A melodic sigh.‘He never really left me.’
She peeled herself from me and suddenly I was free, alive.I flew from the throne as quickly as I could, stumbling down the steps in my haste to put as much distance between me and her dais of death as possible.
The Queen glanced back at me in cold amusement as she approached the stained glass behind us.
No.My eyes had adjusted now.It wasn’t stained glass at all.Along the wall were hundreds, if not thousands of tiny vials, each filled with a measure of crimson liquid.Each vial bore its own label: names printed in a delicate, elegant hand.
It was blood.
This was what Raleigh had meant when he said the Queen kept the blood of everyone she had ever turned.I’d pictured something more scientific – a library or a vault.I never imagined something so grotesquely beautiful.
‘Lovely, isn’t it?’she said.‘Every piece is a dear member of my precious family.’She ran a finger along the length of one vial at eye level.Even from this distance I could make out the name:Raleigh Linford.‘No matter how far they stray, there will always be part of them at home with me.And as long as I have a part of them, they will always obey.
‘I always know my family are safe when the wall remains red,’ she said, returning to me.‘For the last fifteen years I’ve lived in fear that I’d find Raleigh’s vial full of ash.But now he’s back.’Her expression cooled.‘And you want to take him from me.’
She vanished, and then I could feel her behind me, so close that the puff of breath from her short laugh pushed against my neck.
‘Did you know that human hearts beat faster when their host is lying?’She ran an icy finger along my jugular.I fought the urge to shove her away.‘So tell me the truth, Clara Wagner.Do you really love him?Or are you just a whore he hired to fool me?’
‘I’d rather you didn’t speak to my betrothed like that.’
Raleigh.I didn’t have to feign my relief as he strode into the chamber, each step accented with the armour of false arrogance he wore as the Prince of Rostenburg.He stopped as he came within an arm’s length of me, close enough for me to realise that I never wanted to be on the receiving end of the look he gave the Queen.It wasn’t far from how he’d regarded me when we first met – any weakness was caged in several layers of detachment – but there was something else too.A hardness I could only decipher through context.Hatred.Terror.The aching echo of centuries of wasted love.
‘Raleigh.’The Queen said his name like it was oxygen, and in that moment I understood.If Raleigh had spoken my name that way on the day we were betrothed, I never would have tried to run.I never would have wanted to.A flicker of hesitation crossed him.But no more than a flicker.What good was a siren’s song to one who can already see the monster?
‘Let her go,’ he said.
‘My love, it’s been so long.’The Queen pressed her cheek to my hair.‘Is that really how you would greet the love of your life?’
‘The love of my life is standing in front of me, but it isn’t you,Your Majesty.’
I could almost hear her smile widen as Raleigh spoke.Her fingers danced up my throat, resting where my pulse fluttered against her fingertips.‘And what of you, dear one?Do you trulyfeel the same about him?’
‘I’ve told you how I feel.’
‘Of course you have.But have you told him?’
I knew she felt my heart lurch.
‘Why not tell him now?’She pressed harder against my throat – a bruising reminder that she could push all the way through if she pleased.‘You have nothing to hide.’
I breathed.She was right.I had nothing to hide.
My eyes met Raleigh’s, carving a path through the vault walls.He was already retreating further into himself.They were the eyes of a man already mourning.
‘I love you,’ I said.‘More than you know.’
I held his gaze until the Queen tsked, letting her hand drop away.Only then did Raleigh’s expression shift.She pushed me away from her, sending me staggering into him.I righted myself before we collided, but he caught me anyway, dragging me to him, engulfing me in his embrace.
‘And I you,’ he whispered.If we were all human, I would have thought only I could hear.But he wasn’t, and his words were never meant for me.
He lingered only a moment after we pulled apart, then turned his attention back to the object of his deceit.‘Well, there you are, Your Majesty.You’ve heard it for yourself.Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a wedding to plan.’
