A small prick of sadness broke through Jessamine’s hard shell. “I wish it didn’t have to be like this, Fortuna. I remember when we were young. I remember looking up to you so much, even though you were so cruel to me.”
“And I remember you as a snot-nosed brat who wouldn’t leave me alone.”
Right, then. She had done all she could.
Jessamine stood, shadows roving over her shoulders and around her neck. She stood in front of Fortuna without even a prick of sadness now. “Do you see this scar around my neck?”
“It’s hard to miss.”
“This is where he killed me, Fortuna. My questions will start there. Because I want to know how long you have been planning this with him, and just how deep the poison goes. Do you understand me?”
“My silence is unchanging,” Fortuna spat.
Jessamine lifted her hand, guiding the shadows toward Fortuna’s face. They sank into her mouth, splitting open her jaw until it nearly cracked off her skull. She could see the shadows writhing and wriggling into Fortuna’s mouth, disappearing down her throat as they sought out the memories Jessamine needed to see.
“You will tell me everything,” Jessamine replied quietly. “And I will make it painful.”
Fortuna coughed, and black smoke erupted from her mouth, pouring more and more out until it filled the room up to everyone’s knees. Jessamine leaned forward and wafted it toward her with a hand, inhaling the smoke and ignoring the whimpers that soon filled the room. Even Sybil seemed a little uncomfortable with what was occurring in front of her, but there was no room for pity in this moment. She needed to know what happened, and she needed to see it directly through Fortuna’s eyes so that she knew what dangers were coming.
There was a time for kindness, and there was a time for brutality.
She dove into Fortuna’s mind and disappeared into the memories. There were a lot of them to paw through, but her magic had already found what she wanted. She felt like Elric was there with her, as though her god was guiding her through the mess of this woman’s head.
Just like when Elric had taken her eyes so that she could see, she found herself stepping into a frozen memory that Fortuna had fought hard to hide.
Fortuna and Leon were cozied up on a bed together, white gauzy curtains frozen in a moment of billowing movement. Fortuna leaned against his chest, her hands playing with the hair there as she looked up at him adoringly. But Leon?
Leon was looking right at Jessamine. As though he knew she would someday stand right there, seeing all the darkness of his soul laid bare. He stared at her with those bright blue eyes that she had once thought so handsome, and Jessamine knew immediately where they were.
They were in the castle.
This was the day that he had proposed to her. The same day he had gotten down on his knees before her mother’s throne and vowed to give Jessamine all the years of his life. He’d declared he would be the best husband for her and no one would ever take her from his side. She remembered seeing her mother’s jaw clench, but then she had agreed.
They’d all agreed to fall into bed with this snake, it appeared. Because he hadn’t actually wanted Jessamine as his bride. Instead, he had Fortuna in his bed mere hours before he had proposed to another woman.
No wonder Fortuna had wanted to hide this memory. This was the moment petty jealousy had festered into violent hatred. Jessamine had the throne, she had power, and she had stability. Fortuna had wanted all of that, and at this moment, she’d also wanted Jessamine’s soon-to-be husband.
Jessamine approached the bed, narrowing her gaze on the couple and trying to keep her anger in check. “Proceed,” she said, as though Elric were here to shift the memory. But instead of him, it was the magic that throbbed in her veins, just as angry as she was.
The couple before her started moving like time hadn’t stopped.
“What do you mean, you want this kingdom? You have your own,” Fortuna asked, her fingers petting through his chest hair as the curtains twisted before their image, obscuring Leon’s expression for a moment.
“I want everything, dear Fortuna. Don’t you? Don’t you want the entire world to bend at your feet and worship the ground you walk upon?”
Fortuna’s face twisted slightly, as though she was confused by the statement. “I suppose. But I’ve always thought that the right man would give it to me.”
He surged upright, rolling her over so he could loom above her pretty features. “I want the world. And I will give it to you if you help me.”
“What do you want me to do?”
Jessamine stepped closer because he had leaned down to whisper in Fortuna’s ear, no doubt to prevent anyone in the castle from overhearing him. But Jessamine heard him, just as clearly as Fortuna had in the moment.
“I’m going to kill the entire royal family, and then I’m going to take this kingdom for my own. No loose ends. And I will make you its queen.”
The hunger in Fortuna’s gaze was familiar, the expression of a woman who recognized her moment to strike. If she wanted everything, and she did, then this was the time she needed to stand up and be brave enough to claim it.
What Fortuna hadn’t known was that Leon offered her a kingdom of the dead. He’d infected its citizens, spread all that pain and fear and hatred. This wouldn’t be a kingdom at all once he was done with it.
