He turned to leave, spinning me around with him.But we had taken no more than a step before the Queen was in front of us again, nose to nose with Raleigh, grinning terribly.
‘You’ve hypnotised her.’
Raleigh’s breath hitched.‘What?’
‘You entranced her.I felt it before.’She placed her hand flat against Raleigh’s cheek.‘You broke our rules.’
Raleigh’s carefully constructed mask couldn’t conceal the panic that crept into his eyes.‘Only to protect her.I never twisted her emotions.’
Her smile didn’t falter.‘Are you sure?’
Raleigh’s hesitation might have cost us everything.
‘I’m sure,’ I cut in.
‘You’re entranced, pet.You can’t be sure of anything.’
No.Our plan was crumbling around me.I cursed myself for ever making Raleigh agree to this.He’d known the hypnosis was a mistake.Why hadn’t I listened?
‘I never altered her emotions or actions.’Raleigh’s words were carefully measured, but with shaking hands and an unbalanced scale.‘I only enchanted her to prevent anyone else from doing the same, becauseyourman hypnotised her first.’
‘Yes, Lukas played his part wonderfully, didn’t he?’
My heart sank.It had been deliberate.All of it.She knew that Raleigh would put me under protective hypnosis if Lukas tried to enchant me.But he never would have done so if I hadn’t insisted on it.It was my idea.I had led us into her trap.
Raleigh’s face betrayed nothing, but I could feel the terror rolling off him.‘Our deal is done.You can’t make me stay.’
‘You forget, my love.I can make you do anything.’
She clenched her hand into a fist and suddenly Raleigh was on his knees, crying out in shock.I threw myself at her, but she caught me by the front of my dress and shoved me away.I landed heavily on my back near the throne, my ears ringing, wondering if I’d broken every bone in my body.
I dragged myself up when the world stopped spinning, wincing as my shoulder skimmed something cool.The glittery tinkle of glass rang out behind me.The vials.I tried to still them before they could fall and shatter, when one caught my eye.
I shot a glance back at the Queen.She was standing over Raleigh, his chin cupped in her hand, his teeth bared as he fought against her invisible bonds.She’d said it before.The only way she managed to maintain such sway over Raleigh was because she kept a piece of him.So what if I took that piece away?I closed my hand around the vial, hoping she wouldn’t turn around, and slipped it into my pocket.
I wasn’t deluding myself.I knew holding Raleigh’s blood wouldn’t give me any control over him – we’d tested that once without any result.But I could take away what little control it gave her for at least as long as it took for me to do what I had to do next.
It was sheer arrogance for the Queen to keep her back to me.What could a little pet of a human do against her?She really thought I would sit here on the dais, a timid flower, while she took her time breaking Raleigh.It was that arrogance that would kill her.
She kept her back turned as I reached through the slit in my skirt, through the gap between the gown and the opening of my pocket, and carefully unsheathed my dagger.Raleigh caught a glimpse of the carved handle as I dragged it out, eyes wide in a cocktail of emotions I didn’t have time to contemplate while I crept ever closer.
I raised my arm high over my head and brought the blade sailing down.
She was gone.
Laughter surrounded me, echoing through the hall, rebounding off every mirrored surface.I turned and turned again, searching for her, trying to ignore my desperate reflection spinning in an empty room.
‘Do you thinkyoucan hurtme?’
She was behind me.I whirled around, slashing, but she was gone again.This was getting me nowhere.I flicked the knife, flipping it so that I gripped the blade rather than the hilt, leaving the crucifix carved in the hilt on full display.She stopped laughing.I spun fast enough to catch her this time, and found her doubled over, teeth extended, pupils narrowed to slits.She hissed at me like a cat, then vanished.Actuallyvanished.Her laughter didn’t echo.She was gone without a trace.
Twenty-Five
‘PUT THAT AWAY.’RALEIGHwas trying to reach me, shielding his eyes as he approached.
I readjusted my grip to cover the cross, but kept the blade drawn.‘Where did she go?’
‘I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out.Come on.’He grabbed my left hand and tugged me after him.We fled the room, running along the empty corridor, while I tried to ignore the building sense of foreboding when each corner we turned greeted us with more empty halls, and an eternal mirage of mirrors upon mirrors.
