“Please, Thaden,” I whisper. “I have time. The Vandawolf doesn’t.”
He gives a quiet exhale, his hand tightening on my cheek as if he knows I won’t like what he’s going to say. “I’m not sure that anything can save him, Asha.”
“Tamra can.”
Thaden’s jaw clenches, but I can’t read his expression because he twists to glance at the throne.
The Queen has risen from her seat and is stepping toward the Vandawolf—or, more correctly, toward Elowynn, who has continued to kneel near the Vandawolf’s stretcher.
The Queen said there’s darkness around me, so she’ll surely sense it around the Vandawolf, too. I don’t know what she plans to do, and I’m already tugging toward her, pulling on Thaden’s hand.
To my relief, he supports me without objection as I hobble toward the stretcher.
I stop when I reach it, keeping my distance from the Queen. She doesn’t appear to be paying me any attention, but as I draw closer, I can see that she’s eyeing me from beneath her lashes.
To Elowynn, she says, “Commander Dawn. Rise and report.”
Elowynn lifts to her feet. “Queen Karasi, I’ve brought Asha Silverspun, as commanded. However, when we found her, this man was with her.” Elowynn points to the Vandawolf. “Just as you see him on this stretcher, that’s how we found him. We brought him back with us for your judgement.”
Queen Karasi barely glances at the Vandawolf, her narrow-eyed focus remaining on me. “Who is he?”
“He is called the Vandawolf,” I reply, speaking before Elowynn can. “And he needs my sister’s help. If you will just?—”
“This is the wolf-man we heard about?” The Queen’s speech cuts across me as she aims her question at my brother. “This is the man who held you captive for years?”
Gallium now stands on my right while Thaden is on my left.
My brother nods. “He is.”
The Queen turns back to me. “So you captured your captor, Asha Silverspun?”
“No.” My voice is hard. “I rescued him from the humans who betrayed him. And now I ask?—”
“Well.” Queen Karasi’s hand flutters to her chest. “How intriguing that you would seek to save the beast that caused you so much pain.”
She glides closer to me, her long gown slithering across the floor behind her, until she blocks my view of Tamra in the background.
Given her warning not to get too close to me, she’s coming far nearer to me than I thought she would.
All the while, her golden eyes gleam at me. “Despite the darkness that has taken control of your mind, what spark of light must have driven you to forgiveness?” Before I can draw breath to answer, she continues. “Indeed, you must have a story to tell, and I do love a good story.”
She claps her hands, two loud claps. “Gallium, will you bring your sister a chair so she can sit at a distance and tell me her story?”
And immediately to me, she says, “Come, Asha, you may sit near the throne. Not too close now. Close enough that I can hear you.” She beams at me, as if she’s bestowing me an honor. “Entertain me with your story.”
Gallium hasn’t moved. His focus on me. So, it seems, is everyone else’s, including Elowynn, who is reaching for her hidden weapon.
A haze of anger has descended across my vision and a snarl rises to my lips. “Entertainyou?”
Thaden’s hand clenches around mine, but all I needed was this rush of fury to give me another boost of strength.
Standing tall, I wrench my hand out of his grasp. “You would be entertained while someone dies at your feet?”
Elowynn takes a step forward. Beside her, still kneeling, Gliss looks up, her face pale. I sense Thaden close in at my back while my brother also edges toward me—to stop me or support me, I’m not sure.
As for the Queen, my anger seems only to amuse her. Her lips curve upward and her eyebrows rise, her eyelashes batting at me.
“Well, of course,” she says, her voice just as serenely melodic as it was moments before. “You live at my whim, Blacksmith. You must give me a reason to keep you alive.”
