Page 11 of The Blood Witch

“Don’t play dumb with me, Alice,” Kallista said, waving the words away. “It insults both of us. You know what I meant.”

Alice’s eyes hardened. “My sister,” she answered darkly.

Kallista nodded. “Yes. Your sister. You’ve seen the posters, haven’t you? It would be hard not to at this point, I imagine.”

Alice had. She had heard the rumors, too. Calls for Fey to be crowned queen. Arguments that her very existence was proof of a new, Goddess-chosen royal line.

“Fey isn’t interested in ruling,” Alice said simply.

Kallista shrugged, somehow making even that simple motion look elegant. “Few good rulers are. Only a sociopath would want the job, if you ask me.”

“Believe me, Kallista,” Alice insisted. “Fey is more sociopath than queen. She doesn’t want it, and between you and me, she would be terrible at it. And you might want to keep those thoughts to yourself when you are on the council. Do you think so little of your role here that you are so happy to throw it away? To give up the throne to a new dictator?”

“Oh please,” Kallista laughed. “I know this new leadership won’t last, just as much as you do. You have a power vacuum in this city, andI’ve lived through enough of those to know that they breed monsters. Someone will make a play for the throne, Alice. Whether you want to believe that or not doesn’t change the fact that it will happen.”

“Why are you here if you believe that?” Alice asked, stone-faced. Her headache was finally gone, but she was tired. Oh, so tired.

“Because I think the council is a good idea,” Kallista said. Alice held her gaze, hoping to see some evidence of a lie in her eyes, but saw nothing there. “I do, Alice. I think it’s brilliant. And I think it’s the best shot any of us have at keeping the peace in this realm.”

“But?”

“Peace is a fool's dream,” Kallista insisted. “Life is entropy, Witch. We can spend our whole lives fighting for stability, but eventually everything falls to chaos, no matter how hard you try to stop it. Chaos is the one constant over the course of time.”

“Why not you, then?” Alice challenged. “You say a power vacuum breeds monsters—who’s a bigger monster in this city than you? Why don’t you make a play for the top spot?”

Kallista made a face, scrunching her nose in distaste. “If I didn’t know you better, I’d be insulted.”

“You know what I mean, Demon.” Alice shook her head. “If the strongest beings in the realm will fight to take the throne, then why not you?”

Kallista shrugged. “I don’t want it.”

“But it’s so hard to believe my sister doesn’t feel the same?”

Kallista smiled, a wide and wicked thing. “Clever little trap you set for me there, Witch, I’ll give you that. Truthfully? I believe you when you say your sister doesn’t want it. And Goddess help us if she ever does, with all that power at her pretty little fingertips. She’s just as likely to kill us all as she is to rule us. But me? I’ve never had any interest in ruling. I simply don’t need that sort of stress in my life.” She examined her fingernails, as though bored. “It ages you terribly, and I don’t need the wrinkles.”

Alice snorted. “So… you believe the council is doomed to fail? That peace is doomed to fail? But every meeting you’re still here, still trying to make the realm a better place. Why?”

Kallista almost smiled. “I suppose… I suppose I’m hoping you’ll prove me wrong.”

She’d heard enough. Alice gathered her things, piling them up and scooping them into her arms. “I look forward to trying, then,” she said, heading toward the exit. “I’ll see you at the next meeting, Kallista.”

It was late. Later than she’d hoped to stay. But knowing Joy, she’d stayed up to wait for her. As she left, Alice’s finger traced the edges of her scar, wishing she could still feel Joy through her mark.

Chapter 5

FEY

“You’re lying,” Jasper accused, a playful smile curving his lips. It wasn’t the same smile he gave the other patrons—the flirtatious one full of the promise of sin. Fey liked this smile better, the one he seemed to save just for her.

“Not lying,” Fey assured him with an easy shrug. “Hand to the Goddess, I’m telling you the truth.”

“Exaggerating, then. Come on, you must be,” he pestered.

“Nope. Not exaggerating. Not even a little.”

Jasper shook his head in bewilderment, his green eyes sparkling. Fey glanced at him but quickly looked away, a pink blush coloring her cheeks. Just like Alastair, Jasper was so good-looking it was sometimes hard to look directly at him.

“You’re saying theykneltto you?” he asked with a chuckle, leaning his elbows against the bar. His thick muscles shifted under his shirt with the movement. “They actually got down to their knees and knelt? In the middle of the store?”

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