Page 66 of Blood and Roses

"This is the girl you stole?" the queen asked in a voice that was as rich as hot butterscotch.

"This girl is my spoils. I marked her with my totem—" Celyn began, but the queen held up a long white hand, silencing him.

"She does not bear your mark despite what you claim. I can detect no trace of your magic on her."

"Bleddyn must have removed it from her! He's given her the True Sight as well," Celyn claimed.

"Is this true? Why would Bleddyn Black Star bestow such a gift?" the queen looked her over in a way that made Rosa blush hotly. "She has no spells on her, but she definitely has protection. A trinket perhaps? Give it to me, little rose."

"I don't know what you are talking about," Rosa answered, her mouth dry and sticky.

"Why are you fighting us?" the queen frowned, as if she was the one being insulted. "You know that no one is coming for you. They cannot reach you here. You are mine now, Rosa. Bleddyn will not return for you. I would've made him a king, but he would not return for me either." Ryn touched her hand as if to comfort her, but she brushed it aside.

"Why keep me here at all? With so many fine companions, what use could I be to you?"

"You are one of her lineage, aren't you?" the queen asked. "Deryn. The common woman that Bleddyn fell in love with and made his queen?"

"Yes, but I'm still nothing more than a servant to Bleddyn, my queen. What was left of Deryn's blood was watered down to nothing over the last hundreds of years. Please, my mother is not well. I beg you, gracious queen, send me home. She has no one else."

Rosa bowed her head again. There was a silence in the hall before it was shattered by a high tinkling laughter.

"Sweet girl who loves her mother, there is no returning for you. Out of simple spite against Bleddyn, I would keep you. You are fascinating. I have not had a human pet for a long time." The queen rose elegantly to her feet and approached her. "I have a mind to keep you for myself."

She walked around Rosa, her hand brushing against her as if she was appraising a new horse. The necklace snapped and flew into the hand of the queen. She hissed at it and dropped it to the ground.

"Seraphim," she hissed. "You dare bring such a thing into my realm?"

"I had no idea I was going to be visiting the Aos Si tonight. Maybe Celyn wanted me to bring it here," Rosa added, hoping to get him into trouble. The Autumn Queen's gaze sharpened as Celyn started to apologize.

"Do shut up," the queen flicked her fingers, and Celyn's screams muffled as she took his voice from him. She turned her attention back to Rosa.

"Celyn thought it gave me True Sight. I can tell you that even with it, you are the loveliest queen I have ever seen," Rosa said with a polite bow.

"Do not seek to deter me with your charming flattery. If you did not have True Sight, you would not be able to look at me at all. You would be begging me to be my slave," the Autumn Queen leaned closer to her. "You would want me to taste you and touch you, not this Balthasar that your mind keeps turning to."

"Stay out of my head," Rosa snapped before she could check herself.

The Autumn Queen looked taken aback, and the guard raised his lance. The queen shook her head at him, and he lowered it once more.

She looked back at Rosa with a frown.

"That is not all that's protecting you. There is a spell at work here." The queen took Rosa's hand and licked the back of it. "Oh, yes, this is strong, strange magic. It has a taste of Unseelie about it, but like none I've ever known. It matters not. It's not strong enough to challenge me."

A slender woman came to stand by the queen and whispered something in her ear before pointing at a large gilt-framed mirror on the wall. Purple light was coming from it, and the queen's face lit up in delight.

"My, my, Bleddyn is trying to say hello," she purred and studied the glowing glyphs that had appeared. "Well, he must certainly like you more than you claim. He's offering a trade—you forWidow's Fury. He's getting complimentary towards the end here, but flattery will get him nowhere."

You liar, it got him everywhere last time, Rosa thought as she watched the queen smile at the glass. She tried to see the hideous old woman that the story said lay under the glamor, but it was impossible. She was gorgeous in the way that could bring the world to its knees.

"Is Bleddyn still as beautiful as he once was?" the queen asked Rosa softly.

"More so," Rosa answered, remembering the feeling of being punched in the chest when his human disguise had fallen away.

"You admire him, but you are not in love with him though, are you?"

"No."

"She is the lover of his son, Balthasar. The one she keeps thinking of," Ryn said in a bored tone. "Leiddiad."

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