Page 46 of Their Blood Queen

The room seems to tremble as I say the words, and shadows unfurl over every reflective surface.

The rotten peach on the nightstand vanishes.

I blink a few times, then drop the handkerchief I had been holding. It falls to the bed, and my mother’s fingers twitch and pick it up.

“Scarlett?” she asks as her long eyelashes flutter, then her eyes open.

I resist the urge to throw myself at my mother and completely fall apart. I’m clearly suffering hallucinations from hunger and also dealing with sleep-deprivation effects.

The stench in the room had been my own manufacturing. So had the rotten peach.

It’s just a reflection of my worst fears, that my mother was withering away like a rotten piece of fruit.

It was almost as if my nightmares were merging with my waking hours, giving me day terrors.

Just what I need.

“Mother. How are you feeling?” I ask, even if that’s a stupid question.

She had just been at death’s door. Although, I now see a glass of water by her bed and a clean basin with a damp towel. She had been recently tended to, not neglected. My nightmares had shown me what I was most afraid of seeing.

It was a good thing I hadn’t summoned my father, or else he’d lock me away until I left for the Rinhold estate.

A smile lifts my mother’s lips, and a silver glow seems to flash in her hazel eyes. Mine are silver or gray, depending on the light—or even my mood—but I’ve always been jealous of my mother’s eyes. There are flecks of bronze throughout the exterior green on the bands, and she looks more like her stunning self as she glances up at me.

Even her hair seems to perk up as the sickly sheen fades from her face. “I’m… better. Why am I better?”

Wincing, I hold up the vial. “I’m afraid I cheated.”

It’s dangerous to cheat in our world.

But sometimes it’s necessary.

Her features soften as she pats my hand. “Did you steal it?” she asks.

“No,” I answer quietly. “It was a gift.”

Her gaze rakes over me, taking in my appearance and the obvious three slashes up my arm.

She doesn’t ask me who it is I’ve entered into a courtship with. I think she knows. There is only one family in the Magic Sector wealthy enough to have freely given me an anti-aging elixir.

“Thank you, Scarlett. You’re so brave. I’m proud of you, you know that?”

I can’t stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks. Swatting them away, I take her hand and squeeze it. She squeezes mine back with more strength than she’s demonstrated in months.

Gratitude for Earl Rinhold dares to flutter in my stomach, replacing some of the anger that had been there, though I can’t help but feel the reality of my situation.

I’m going to have to go through with the courtship now. Not that I wasn’t going to, but I’ve taken away any remaining choice I might have had.

“You need at least two drops every day,” I tell her, shoving the vial into her hand.

She parts her lips as if to protest, but I continue.

“Two drops, okay? And you send word when you’re running low. If you need more, then take more. I will get another vial.”

I have to.

She gives me an empathetic smile. “Don’t worry about me, Scarlett. You’re all the matters. I know this illness frightens you. It frightens me, too. But death comes for all of us in the end. We are not cut out for the Immortality Sector.”

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