“It’s not that simple.” Her mind flashed to Lord Adrian and the burning castle at Irenbis.
The queen rose, and Thalia refused to shrink as she stopped in front of her. “I’m disappointed in you, Thalia.”
Thalia didn’t want to admit how those words sank into her chest, how they started to rip at her already-torn heart. “You don’t know what it’s like,” Thalia got out, ignoring the rattling chains in the cage. “What I’ve had to deal with, what I’ve fought—”
“What exactly have you had to deal with?” The queen’s words sharpened like a blade.
Thalia swallowed, her eyes darting around. “I—”
Fast as a snake, the queen grabbed her. Surprise flashed through Thalia at the strength she possessed. Her spine locked up as her mother dragged her to the caged Vampyr. “Have you had to deal with this?”
Thalia’s feet refused to move as she was shoved toward the cage. Her whole body froze as she met the bitten’s eyes. The Vampyr’s nostrils flared behind the mask, and she lunged as far as she could with the chains.
Thalia tried to jerk away, but her mother’s grip was viselike, pressing her against the cage. “Have you faced this?” the queen hissed, her fingers tightening enough to bruise.
Thalia shook her head, her body trembling.
“Shall I bring Cassius down here? Shall I introduce him to this creature? Perhaps they know each other. Perhapshe’dbe more willing to talk than my own daughter.”
Thalia’s cheeks burned with tears. “Please. Don’t—”
“Don’t what, Thalia? It’s clear from your hesitancy that they’ve wormed their way inside your head. Perhaps I was foolish in thinking you wouldn’t succumb to their ways. That your deep-rooted hatred forhimwould have stopped you from falling under his guiles once more. I was wrong.”
“No—” Thalia shook her head, willing her mouth to stop speaking. Willing her body to stop acting like a coward.
“No, what?” The queen finally released her, stepping back.
Thalia slumped against the cage, unable to rise, unable to stop the words poised on her lips like a damned confession. “There’s a sickness,” she finally rasped.
“And?”
Thalia couldn’t look at her mother. She stared at the puddle of saliva below the Vampyr’s limbs. “It causes madness.”
The queen shifted. “How does it spread?”
“Though their bites.” Thalia’s stomach rolled, but she couldn’t take the words back. Couldn’t erase the knowledge she’d just handed over to her mother on a silver platter.
“Where did this sickness come from?”
Thalia shook her head, eyes welling, but she pushed the acid aside. “I don’t know.”
The best lies are the ones with truth weaved into it.Cassius’s words rumbled low in her ear. Thalia was going to be sick.
“Is there a cure for this sickness?”
Thalia forced the bile from her throat. She wished she had a blade. Wished she had something so she could slice off her traitorous tongue. She should have just sent the damn letter about the sickness, if only so she wouldn’t have to now confess before her mother, who stood above her like a wrathful god. “I don’t know.”
Thalia finally looked up, finding the queen above her, imperious and cold, nothing like the woman who’d first tasked her with her mission. The woman who’d seemed almost sorry for sending her daughter away like a lamb to the slaughter.
She wished the ground would open and swallow her whole. Wished her mother would just shove her into the cage with the Vampyr, if only so it would save her from the roaring in her head—in her heart.
Icy fingers gripped her chin, and Thalia flinched as her mother lifted her face. “You have done well, my daughter.” Thalia trembled as the queen cupped her cheek. “Perhaps I was wrong. You have served Agripa. Far more than I thought.”
The queen released her, and Thalia slumped.
“Given this information, I do believe that our enemy is one step closer to their demise.” The queen moved to the stairs, her gown rippling behind her.
She stopped before she disappeared under the shadowed archway. The queen looked over her shoulder, and Thalia forced herself to meet her mother’s stare. To look at the woman she’d become, who’d poisoned her as thoroughly as a Vampyr bite.
