Page 89 of A Kingdom of Monsters

“But you were going to marry her?”

To my surprise, Scion cut in. “That means absolutely nothing, rebel. We don’t marry for love.”

“I know,” I snapped, wishing I could control my voice better. “Bael told me you marry for power. So, what kind of magic does Cassinda have?”

“She’s an illusionist,” Ambrose said. “Grandmother would have preferred to find another seer, but there simply isn’t one strong enough to make a good match. My mother is an illusionist, like Scion, so it seemed the most reasonable alternative.”

I pursed my lips, thinking hard. They talked about their hypothetical future children like they were breeding particularly rare horses. It was so cold and disconnected it made my skin crawl.

And, as much as I hated myself for it, I couldn’t help but wonder how I’d measure up. I didn’t have the right powers to keep the dynasty growing. Worse, I was half human. What if my children were rejected and looked down on because they weren’t illusionists or whatever else.

I shook my head and blinked to clear my mind. This was absurd. I’d never thought much about children before, except hownotto have them. Clearly the stress and lack of sleep of the last several days was making me go a bit mad.

“Is Cassinda angry that you didn’t marry her?” I asked, slightly distracted.

“Oh, absolutely,” Ambrose said far too quickly.

My eyes narrowed. As before, when I’d considered Scion kissing another woman, I felt a stab of irrational rage so potent that I had to put a hand out on the bedpost to steady myself.

“Because she didn’t get to be the queen,” Scion blurted out, looking at me sideways with something like concern. “She wanted to be the queen, it wasn’t about him specifically. Her father proposed she marry me instead about ten years ago, but obviously it didn’t work out.”

“Why not?” I replied through gritted teeth.

“For one thing, she’s several hundred years older than I am. That doesn’t always matter, but it’s not ideal. Also, the situation with Thalia was more pressing. If Gwydion wasn’t happy to take my place I would have had to marry her.”

I had to drag my mind and swirling emotions back from the edge of insanity to even begin to understand what he was referring to.

Thalia had explained to me once that she was sent to the capital to marry Scion because she’d found her true mate and the family was afraid she had enough Everlast blood to set off the curse. “I’ve always thought that was strange,” I muttered, my voice returning to a normal register. “If Thalia had enough Everlast blood to potentially be dangerous, isn’t she too related to you to marry?”

Scion scoffed. “That’s nothing, rebel. For the entire year that Penvalle ruled there was a lot of talk about trying to force me to marry Aine.”

“Aine?” I said, distracted. “But she’s your cousin.”

“Right, but that’s irrelevant. She has the persuasion gift, which is more rare than illusion and objectively more powerful if it’s used correctly. If a child could have both illusion and persuasion–”

“They’d be like Idris,” I blurted out.

They both paused and looked at me, then each other.

“Did he use an illusion?” Scion asked no one in particular. “I didn’t notice.”

“He must have!” My voice grew louder with excitement. “What other power could banish the afflicted so quickly? What if hesimply hid them, or–oh!” I exclaimed, my eyes growing even wider as an even better idea occurred to me. “What if they were never there to begin with? I remember thinking it was strange. I didn’t smell the smoke.”

Again, they glanced at each other.

“I’d say you’re right, rebel,” Scion said slowly. “But that doesn’t help us now.”

“How?” I demanded. “If we know what powers he has we’ll know how to stop him.”

“He means it doesn’t change what we have to do,” Ambrose added. “We still need to find the jewels and put the crown back together and have all your bonds sealed. Without that, it won’t matter how we attack Idris. You’ll be drained, and then there would be no point continuing anyway.”

I narrowed my gaze at him. It sounded like he was saying that if I died, he’d see no point in continuing. But that was insane. Even if I died, the kingdom would still matter. Right?

Ambrose glanced at the window and then back at me. “It’s getting late and there are no fucking clocks in this place. I don’t know what time it is, but we likely have to get down to dinner. I’ve yet to think of a better way to get the jewel than simply asking Bran for it, and dinner is the only time to do it.”

“Agreed,” Scion replied. “Could we simply order him to give it to us?”

“Perhaps.” Ambrose glanced at me. “But that would likely make him angry, and I’d rather avoid that if we can. All they need is the smallest push and they’ll succeed from us tonight.”

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