‘How much?’
‘A lot. More than a lot. The most.’
This seemed to mollify him.
Mouse, who’s quite a bit bigger now, curled herself round my neck like a fur scarf and started purring in my ear.
I thought Grandmother was going to blast the door off its hinges the first time I refused her entry. Pleading, bribes, threats, endless lectures, emotional blackmail – I’ve had it all. Yet nothing she said persuaded me to let her in. I’m still angry with her. I’m not ready to talk about the fact that for seventeen years, she let me live a lie.Herlie.
So I began playing the music box Flint gave me to drown her out.
I also denied myself River’s company, since I knew he’d only try to convince me to speak to Grandmother.
That’s one good thing about becoming queen – I don’t have to answer to anybody.
Others have attempted to visit me. Flint told them not to bother, but they tried anyway. Elaith. Spinner. Elva. Hal.
And Fox.
He sits on the other side of the door for hours at a time. Sometimes he says nothing at all. Other times he’ll try to reason with me.
‘Look, I know this has come as a shock, and it’s not something you’d have ever chosen for yourself. But I don’t understand why you won’t talk to me.’
Because I don’t know if what we had was real, and it feels like my heart is breaking.
The words formed and died on my lips.
‘Tell me what I’ve done wrong and I’ll fix it. Whatever it is, we can work it out.’ Fox’s voice was soft. Pleading. ‘Just open the door, Blaze.’
The ache in my chest was unbearable.
During a moment of weakness I sat with my back pressed to the door, wishing it wasn’t there at all. Then I locked that thought away inside the box I keep in my head and smashed an ornate golden vase into a thousand sparkling pieces.
I picture Fox standing on the dais with the rest of the new Council – the Earth Cleaver, soon to be King of the Terrathian. I wonder how he feels about it.
I think back to what Grandmother said on the morning of the eclipse.
Make no mistake, the real game begins when the winners take their thrones.
Well, if I know anything about Fox, it’s that he likes to win.
Syla’s Eye looks back at me in the mirror, dangling from the chain round my neck. My coronation gown glints sapphire-blue in the sunlight; the expensive Vosti fabric is supple and fluid, studded with pearls. My curls are unbound, spilling down my back and framing my face, which is pale and pinched and carefully schooled into a mask of … forbearance? Resignation? Do I look grateful and graceful, just like Grandmother always taught me? I’m half tempted to send my decoy in my place. She seemed to do a pretty convincing job of pretending to be me until Caleb the stable boy saw an opportunity to earn a few coins. My life, his loyalty – it seems everything has its price.
Minutes trickle by and still I make no move towards the doors.
What would my mother say to me if she were here? Would she hold me close? Tell me everything’s going to be all right?
A cloud of drizzle forms above my head, hazy droplets landing on the mirror, scattering my reflection. Then there’s a crackling sound as the water turns to ice.
I refuse to appear weak. Not now that I own – that Iam– power itself.
Yet while I may possess it I still haven’t attempted touseit. Perhaps once I’ve figured out a way to save Hal and, if I can, return what was taken from the people of the Otherlands, I’ll reject it entirely. Let the magic lie dormant until it eventually dies with me. One person should not have this much power. It isn’t right.
At that moment a light breeze caresses my face.
It happens again – softly, running through my hair, skittering down my spine.
That’s when I hear a voice. Smooth like silk, eternally amused, whispering in my ear.
