Page 223 of Of Nine So Bold

But she wasn’t the only one with a goal here.

“You have to stop,” I told her, making my voice as level as I could while I backed carefully toward the tree, my arm outstretched behind me. “Send the Voidborn back. They’re destroying everything.”

“Isthatwhat you think is happening?” She shook her head as if amused by me. “You’re so limited, Gwyneira. You always have been.“

I ignored the jibe, taking another step back while I drew upon the magic link I shared with my men. Let my stepmother believe I was trying to reason with her. Only a little farther, and I would reach the tree trunk.

And then I’d kill the thing she’d twisted into destroying the kingdom it once symbolized.

“I admit,” my stepmother continued. “I applaud this little menagerie of allies you’ve collected. Seven dwarves. A vampire prince with angel blood—or is he king now that the rest of his family line is dead? One of your men even hides a demon.” She smiled. “They’ll all bemostdelicious when I drain them dry.”

Beyond the glass, my men were barely holding their ground against the onslaught of Voidborn. But still their power filtered through to me, answering my call.

“Please, Stepmother,” I said, taking another step backward. “I know you want to keep the throne, but youhaveto see the damage you’re doing. You can’t rule Aneira if it ceases to exist. If the wholeworlddoes. You have to stop this. There won’t be anything left to rule if you don’t.”

She gave me a patient look. “I’m not going to ruleAneira,you silly girl. I’m going to ruleeverything.”

I took another step back, but a shudder went through the soil. Roots snagged my ankle, tripping me. Falling backward, I barely caught myself with both hands on the rough ground.

Pain shot through my palms as the sharp roots tore my skin.

My stepmother merely laughed. “Look at you. Honestly believing that Aneira could be enough for me.”

Blood welled on my palms, the wounds stinging and throbbing. The image of that poor giant dying when the tree branches stabbed him flashed through my mind. Desperately, I tried not to think about it.

If she won, I was dead either way.

“But you’redestroyingAneira,” I said, not taking my eyes from her. “You’re destroying the entireworld.”

She scoffed.

Twisting my leg carefully, I tried to extricate my ankle from the roots. “You’re doing exactly what the Voidborn want, don’t you see that? You’re not ruling anything. You’re acting like theirpuppet.”

Rage flashed across her face. Her blue eyes snapped to me, more alive than they’d been this whole time. “You pathetic little brat. I amno one’spuppet.”

I paused, searching for something to say that would keep her talking rather than trying to kill me. I was so close to the trunk. If I could get free of these roots, it was only a short distance more to reach?—

Tingles of magic licked across my bleeding palm.

I froze.

“You know,” my stepmother said, looking at the battle beyond the glass. My men had been driven back to the main gate of the castle. I could barely see them past the Voidborn surrounding them. “I was going to kill you first. Rid you from my presence once and for all, like that damned Huntsman should have done ages ago. But now…”

She chuckled as Niko stumbled under an onslaught by the Voidborn. Dex raced to his rescue, barely managing to drive the monsters back before more lunged at him. “Now I think I’ll make you watch.”

Swallowing hard against panic, I strained for the magic I’d just felt. It hadn’t been like the corruption my stepmother wrought. It was different. Brighter.

The taste of fresh apples flitted across my tongue.

I tensed, but the flavor didn’t turn to vinegar and poison in my mouth. It tasted of my childhood. Of summers spent playing beneath the broad and beautiful branches of this tree.

And it felt like a promise and a desperate, dying plea.

Therealtree of Aneira was still here, beneath all the poison.

Shivers coursed through me, driven by understanding that fell over me like snow. My blood was calling to the tree, not just because the generations of my ancestors who’d lived and died in this place, but because…

The prickling magic grew stronger against my palm.

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