Page 125 of Wingless Crow: Part 1

“But that is exactly where she belongs. She stabbed my husband—”

“Sheliberatedyou. Let’s be honest, Your Majesty, and look at things the way they are. Sparrow practically handed the Sky Crown to you. She turned you from Queen Consort to the Ruling Queen. If anything, you should be upset with her for not finishing what she started and not pulling the dagger out of the king’s chest to set his spirit free.”

“No!” The queen jerked through her entire body. The skin over her high cheekbones darkened in a blush. She lowered her head, hissing through her teeth, “I didn’t want any of this to happen. I don’t wish for Tiane’s death. I didn’t plan for his assassination.”

“I didn’t say you did.” He flicked the lace on his cuff, straightening the folds of the ruffle. “But you do benefit from it, greatly. In addition to the Sky Crown, you also get a chance to marry a man who would actually bed you once in a while. You may give Sky Kingdom a legitimate heir after all.”

“I said stop it!” She stomped her foot in a lavender silk slipper. “I’m not rejoicing in the situation.”

The fact that she denied it so passionately only reinforced that what he said was true. And she knew it.

“I know you can’t publicly admit your gratitude to Sparrow for what she’s done, but you could show her mercy by letting her choose her punishment.”

“That will never happen. The only punishment she can have is death. She dared raise a hand against the king. She went against the crown. She can’t have mercy.”

“She isn’t asking for much,” he insisted. “Instead of an execution, she wants to be sent back to her world.”

The queen shook her head quickly. “If I let her live, people will think I was in on it with her. That I had something to do with her attacking the king. The Council will use it to cast me aside. There are plenty of High Lords who would help them get rid of me, using any excuse they can find. Everyone with any claim to the throne is dreaming of being the next king right now.”

And there it was—the confession. The queen feared Voron wouldn’t be the only one to see the benefits she reaped with King Tiane being out of the picture.

“Crossing the River of Mists is as good as death,” he insisted. “Sparrow would never come back. We can make it look like an execution. With a scaffold erected on the main plaza of Elaros, with the verdict read out loud. It’ll be a punishment, a banishment not only from the kingdom, but from the entire world of Nerifir.”

He saw a wall behind her eyes, impossible to penetrate. The queen had made up her mind. Still, he tried to change it. He couldn’t give up on Sparrow.

“It’ll be your chance to display leniency. Prove to your royal subjects you rule with mercy, not cruelty like your predecessor did.”

She snapped her gaze to his face, her eyes prodding.

“King Tiane wasn’t cruel. His reign was just.”

“You know what I mean, Your Majesty.”

She had to know. The king must have let his violent tendencies slip in front of his wife at some point during their marriage. Voron would go so far as to speculate that might be the reason the queen didn’t even try to return to her husband's bedroom.

At the very least, she’d seen King Tiane’s “special room.” She knew what the king was up to at his leisure.

“If you’re talking about the Garden of the Cursed—”

“I’m talking aboutallof it. Tell me where you found King Tiane after he’d been stabbed. Tell me more about the room Sparrow escaped from.”

The queen pinched her mouth into a barely visible line. Her eyes narrowed into slits as if he personally threatened her.

“So, the fat little rat has been babbling, hasn’t she?” she hissed, lowering her voice. “What did the human tell you?”

He gathered his legs under him and got up from the couch.

“She said enough for me to celebrate your impending widowhood rather than mourn it.”

She fisted her hands like she was about to attack him and took a step closer.

“You are not to repeat what you heard from the human girl to anyone outside of this room, do you hear me? Iorderyou never to speak about what happened between King Tiane and her in the royal chambers. Never.”

That was the route that Queen Pavline had chosen. She decided to play a grieving widow and hide what kind of monster her husband was. If so, Sparrow was doomed.

“The human will die.” She stopped his protests by lifting a hand. “I cannot allow a single word of what she knows to leave these walls. King Tiane’s reputation will remain unsoiled. His name is forever attached to mine, and both will remain blameless.”

“Your Majesty, with all due respect—”

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