Page 106 of The Fox Heir

Hunter’s face looks stricken. My heart is hammering in my chest, and I’m beginning to feel light-headed. This can’t be happening. It’s not possible. My eyes dart to the dead moths where they flutter above us, oblivious to the fact that my world is fracturing below.

The queen continues. “Your mother had no family left after the Llwyn raiders set fire to her village. She was the heir before you. The final descendant of the human kings who used to rule Annwyn before the Dead Queens took power five centuries ago.”

Hunter’s eyes are on the ground, his hand clenched over the copper fox on the pommel of his sword. “Did my father know?” he whispers.

The Dead Queen shakes her head slowly. “No. I don’t believe Malen ever knew about Rhiannon’s past. But I suspected. It’s why I sent Tristan to Llwyn. To find you.”

My ears are ringing. All this time, I thought the Wolf had been in the castle to find clues about a myth, the legendary Heir to the North. I never suspected it was real. That he was real. Especially not someone who I’ve known and loved my entire life.

Hunter shakes his head. “No. You’re wrong about me. About my mother.”

“I am not.”

Hunter glares at the queen. “Why would a woman who was terrorized by Llwyn go on to marry the commander of the entire Fox Army?”

“People do strange things in the name of survival,” Nalina says.

A thought hits me all at once. Grandmother was the leader of the Sympathizers before she became the Dead Queen. She was a member of the Llwyn royal family through my mothers’ marriage to the Fox King. She used her position to spy on my father. Could there have been more spies in the court of the Fox King? The little green book in my cloak pocket feels ten times heavier than it should, as if the weight of its secrets grows by the moment.

“Or …” I say, my thoughts whirring. “Maybe she didn’t marry Malen out of pure survival. Maybe she knew exactly who he was.” I turn to Hunter, my eyes wide. “Maybe she knew that by marrying your father, she’d be brought to the palace. To the king.”

“You think she was secretly a member of the rebellion?” Tristan asks, one dark eyebrow raised.

We both look to the queen, the former leader of the Sympathizers. She offers one curt nod of confirmation.

My fingers grip the book in my pocket. I shake my head. “No, she couldn’t have been. One spy in the royal court is outrageous.” My eyes dart to the corpse that used to be my grandmother. “Two would be impossible.”

“Impossible?” There’s a curious lilt in the queen’s voice. “You stand there in front of a dead queen and speak of impossibilities?”

“Hunter’s mother was married to the Fox King’s most trusted advisor. To the Commander of the Fox Army!” A bewildered laugh forces its way out of my chest.

“And my own daughter was the Fox Queen, however briefly.”

Words fail me. It’s true. As impossible and outrageous as it sounds, she’s right. My mother, the Fox Queen, was the daughter of the leader of the Sympathizers. A pang of regret stabs my heart. We should have had more time together. She should have lived long enough to tell me everything herself. But Father killed her. And here I am, listening to the story through the undead lips of a corpse queen instead.

“You have proof,” the queen says.

“I have proof?” I blanch.

She nods slowly. “Do you think I wouldn’t recognize that little green book you’ve been carrying around ever since Hunter arrived?”

I stiffen, my heart beating rabbit-fast. My hands stop fidgeting with the corners of the book in my pocket. How had I given away my secret without even knowing it?

“How did you know?”

“My eyes may be dead, but they don’t miss much, Fox Heir.”

“But there are millions of books in the world. How could you possibly know which one this is?” My fingers curl possessively around the book’s spine in my pocket.

There’s a hint of pride in her voice as she says, “I could never forget it. I printed it.”

“Printed it?” Hunter’s words sound far away, like he’s speaking into a south-facing wind.

The queen walks slowly toward me. “Before either of you were born. Before my daughter married the Fox King and your mother was ensnared by the Commander of the Fox Army, I had a very different life.”

“We already know you led the Sympathizers.” Hunter’s voice is sharp and distrustful.

“But I wasn’t born a noble. I didn’t become a rebel within the walls of Caerwen Palace. I lived in White’s End.”