She lowers her gaze to the space between our boots and twists her mouth. “She’s dead.”
“Impossible,” I whisper.
“I killed her.”
“You lie!” I growl.
“Why do you think I’d l-lie about this? I k-killed our niece! The last piece of our si-sister!”
Isla’s warmth licks up one side of my stiff form. Though it doesn’t magically crack the ice netting my skin, it does serve to ground me.
“Where’s the body?” she asks.
“On the hill.” The tip of Ksenia’s nose is red from emotion and blood.
“Which fucking hill?” I snarl.
She squeezes her eyes shut. “Don’t…don’t scream at m-me.”
Trying my fucking hardest to poleaxe my tone, I repeat, “Which. Hill. Ksen?”
“The one leading up to the Lo-Lodge,” Ksenia replies flatly. “She was hiding there.”
The buzzing in my ears grows to a crescendo. She was so close she may as well have been hiding in the castle.
I try to catch Isla’s stare, but it’s fastened on nothing and shining like my fire orbs.
“Is anyone with the body?” she asks.
“Why? Do you think Iliedabout killing my niece?” Anger levels her stutter and heightens her color. “Most of the blood on my hands and cloak is hers.” Ksenia nods to her soiled frock. “By all means, sniff it, if you don’t believe me.”
Isla snaps out of her daze. “I’m not a blood hound, which is a shame, for it would’ve helped me locate the two of you. So I repeat: is anyone with the body?”
The frame of Ksenia’s heart-shaped face grows harsh. “I told the guards where to find her when I made it back to the castle, but with your wings, you’d probably spot her sooner.”
I thread my fingers through Isla’s, a silent refusal for her to go anywhere without me. I don’t trust Ksenia. I don’t trust that this isn’t an ambush.
I look at one of the hovering sprites. “Go check and report back.”
“Immediately, Vizosh.” The winged Faerie is already whizzing down the hallway.
I turn back toward my sister. “Is that also where you were hiding, Ksen?”
“I wasn’t hiding. I was?—”
“Do not bullshit me.” The magic under my skin beats violently enough that if unleashed, it would surely rid the surrounding hills of snow and tow the sun back across the horizon.
“I was trying to make her see reason. I was trying to get her to meet with you, Kostya. To talk.” The fur trim of her hood trembles around her blood-streaked neck. “If I’d known just how steadfast she’d be in her hatred of you, I would’ve brought her in immediately.”
My sister’s betrayal whets any residual tenderness her despair might’ve produced in me. “Liar.”
“No.” Ksenia stops quivering entirely now. “I don’t lie. I didn’t realize that her plan was to steal your amulet.”
I barely succeed at quelling my snort. “She wanted my amulet?”
“She wanted you amulet-free.”
I don’t ask how Mestyla knows about the magic in my necklace, since I imagine I’m staring at thehow. “What intent did you think she had, Ksen? Braid daisies into my hair and swap childhood tales?”
