The queen turned. “What?”
“Children.” Thalia’s voice harshened. “In Vaccarium. Innocents. You mean to slaughter an entire populace? For what? Because of what happened to our family?”
“Our family was the least of my worries.”
Her words stopped Thalia short. The callousness with which the queen spoke, as though her own husband and daughter were of little consequence, shocked Thalia’s senses. “But they—they were murdered.”
“Yes.” The queen’s eyes sharpened. “By the very creatures who killed my own kin.”
“What are you talking about?” The tug on Thalia’s chest had her stumbling forward. “Your family lives in Mandecium.”
“My family,” the queen said slowly, “lived in Vaccarium before the prince decided that my father had grown too powerful. Before he decided to have both my mother and younger brother beheaded alongside my father. I fled my home and escaped to Mandecium. I was taken in by a family there who I didn’t know were so influential. Who would later pawn me off to your sire like a brood mare in exchange for money,” she spat.
Horror mounted as Thalia stared at her mother. At someone she didn’t recognize. “What was your father?”
Not who.What.
The queen’s eyes seemed to glow. “A Mage.”
Thalia’s throat tightened hard enough that she choked. “Did you make that creature?”
The queen cocked her head. “No. At least not intentionally. I’d hoped to strike the prince down, and in a way, I suppose I did.”
Thalia could hardly breathe as the queen ran a hand over her bodice. “It was actually your friend Marcus who gave me the idea. In searching for a solution to the ore, he’d discovered some very interesting books within the library, ones that had been given to us when the Vampyrs and humans of Agripa coexisted. They talked about themagic of the Mages. I’ll admit, I wasn’t very keen on my father’s teachings, and after his murder I’d nearly forgotten everything he’d taught me. But those books opened my eyes to the pockets of magic left over. But using it drained me. Nearly killed me.”
Thalia’s mind flashed back to five years ago when her mother had gotten so ill Thalia had thought she’d die. She’d always assumed it had something to do with their depleting ore, but now …
Thalia was going to be sick.
Everything made sense. The reason the prince had been so absent, why his council kept changing their stories. Perhaps they’d known what had happened but were trying to keep the panic from spreading.
The creature who terrorized them in the woods was their own prince.
“But now we get to sit back and watch as the Vampyrs destroy themselves, as the poison spreads.” The queen sank into her couch, triumph flashing across her features. “Thank you, Thalia. I am proud of you.”
Thalia felt her whole world shifting.
A knock on the queen’s door had her jerking.
Kamith poked his head in. “Your Majesty, I have what you asked for.”
“Good, bring them in.”
Them.
Thalia shook her head, and her world completely slipped out from under her as two soldiers dragged Cassius into the room and Reina stepped in with the bitten Vampyr.
Chapter Forty-Four
Thalia jerked, but Kamith grabbed her, stopping her from flying across the room.
Cassius’s eyes blazed, and a sharp cut along his brow indicated how they must have captured him. There was no other way they could have stopped him. His arms were chained behind his back—unable to fight as they all paused within the queen’s sitting room.
Thalia’s eyes flew to Reina’s. “Reina,” she gasped. “She did all this. She’s going to kill him—”
The queen laughed. “I’m not going to kill Cassius, Thalia.”
Thalia slowly looked to her—heart beating hard enough to crack in two. “You’re not?”
