Page 89 of Queen of Ever

‘No, youmadeyour choice.You took the secret I trusted you with and chose to use it to destroy me.And I’ve been waiting a long time to repay the favour.’

That seemed to jolt her into action.With a scream, she flung out both of her hands, wild-eyed as she threw the entire force of her magic at the dragon.He dropped to the ground just as I reached Imogen, touched her cold skin.Ruisin groaned, low and deep, as he convulsed.Pain would be raking through his body.If he knew her, knew her magic, knew this was how the encounter would end, why had he come?At best, he’d engaged her full attention, lifting her hold from the rest of us.At best, it might give us time to run.

‘Imogen,’ I murmured.Her eyes were closed, her skin pale, lips beginning to turn blue.I tried to gather her up in my arms, but they felt weak and slack and I staggered, almost dropping her.Behind me, Ruisin’s groans fractured, becoming higher-pitched.

‘You’re nothing.’Moriana hissed.‘You meant nothing.It was only that I was weak when I left you alive.This time, I’m going to make sure you’re really dead.’

‘Lyrathis.’The word was a whisper flitting through my mind, leaving behind an oily shudder.‘The name.My magic is gone with my heart.I can’t use it.But you can.’

And with a sudden clap of clarity, it all fell into place.I’m going bet that it has all played out exactly the same as every pair of lovers who have ever come before you, Moriana had said when she stolen Imogen’s name from me.I lay Imogen back down, galvanised by the realisation, blood pounding, as I turned towards the Unseelie Queen.Her back was to me, her entire focus narrowed in on the man convulsing and moaning on the ground at her feet.My vision seemed to darken around the edges as I approached her, as I walked the blood-slicked ground between us, until I was standing behind her.Ruisin’s chest was straining as his back arched, the long scar down its centre standing raised and pale against his skin.If you are to do something so unnatural,Dhrigada had said,the payment must be in blood on your hands.

‘Lyrathis.’The word, thename,was sharp, bitter against my tongue.‘Kneel.’

Her body seized up even as Ruisin’s stilled, his chest fluttering with fast, panting breaths.And Moriana, Queen on the Unseelie Throne, purveyor of pain and terror, my lifelong tormenter and the woman who’d born me, sank slowly to her knees.

I circled her, each footstep connecting with the earth decisively, the battle still raging around us fading to nothing in my awareness.She glared up at me and I could feel the power gripping her, feel the way she wrestled against it.But there was an iron-clad certainty in the heft of it, in the way it held her will the way it had always bent mine.

Hatred burned through me, so caustic and biting I could hardly tell it from magic, devouring and twisting as my heart pounded, remembering all the pain she’d caused Imogen, all the cruelty I’d suffered at her hands.Magic was out of the question—I’d already used too much of it.But there was a discarded blade a few paces away.That would do.

‘Prince.’Ruisin’s voice called out to me as I bent to take the hilt of the sword, sweeping it up.He was pulling himself off the ground, rising to stand.‘You owe me a favour.’

‘You can name it.As soon as I’ve dealt with this.’I returned to stand before Moriana again.Hefted the blade in my hand, considering where I’d aim it.

‘My favour is that you spare her life.’

It took a few moments for the meaning of the words to register.When they did, I turned on him.‘What?’

He wasn’t looking at me.His gaze was fixed on Moriana.‘I want her alive.But demeaned.Powerless.I want her to suffer the way I have suffered.’

‘She’s too dangerous—’

He focused his yellow eyes on me.‘I call on the favour I am owed.Spare Moriana’s life.Imprison her in the Drowned Keep.’

I stared him down, as if holding his gaze long enough would make him change his mind.But he didn’t back down.He looked calm, resolute.And I had bound myself to that favour.

As I turned back to the kneeling queen, I raised the blade.Aimed the point of it at her throat.Fear crossed her eyes, but she remained motionless, bound to obey.There was no fighting against it.No one knew that better than me.

‘Lyrathis,’ I said, the word thrumming with magic.‘Relinquish your crown and the power tied to it.’

I could see the rage, the hatred, burning up at me.I knew exactly what that felt like.But she seemed to accept the pointlessness of her resistance better than I ever had.

‘I relinquish my claim to the Unseelie crown and the magic that binds it,’ she spat, her tone venomous.Her hand shook as she raised it, slid it against the blade of the sword aimed at her throat.Her palm opened, blood welling as she reached higher and lifted the crown from her head.Slowly, she lowered it, her blood weeping onto the silk-fine silver.‘May the land accept my sacrifice.’She laid it at my feet.

For a moment, nothing happened.Then tendrils of darkness began to stir, like wisps of smoke from an unseen fire, slipping across the ground to wrap around her wrists.White frost began to climb up her arms in glittering crystals, spidering across her bodice, running down the skirts of her dress, and a shudder ran through the ground beneath us.The temperature seemed to drop, coaxing forth a writhing, churning fog as the frost continued to spread, climbing her throat, her face, her hair, turning her breath to mist.The power of the Unseelie Throne—cold, ancient and unforgiving.Those wisps of shadow swirled around her, growing denser, darker, until they converged in a flash of movement.She released an ear-splitting shriek, and she slumped to the muddied ground.

The shadows turned their attention to me.They circled me slowly, tendrils reaching for me, leaving bites of cold and frost wherever they touched, accompanied by a chill, bitter swirl of wind, like the breath of winter, until without warning they surged.Magic burned along my nerves, up my hands, up my arms, crashing together at a point somewhere in my chest that hurt like I was having my fucking heart carved out of it.I staggered, but didn’t fall.The pain settled, though my very bones felt cold.Like I’d been sitting all night in a snowdrift.

But then my awareness widened again, the trance of retribution suddenly shattered, and I was immediately seeking out Imogen.Ethan was with her, patting her cheeks and talking at her.I went to them.Dropped to my knees.Took her cold hand in mine.

‘Don’t freak out.She’s just used too much juice,’ Ethan said when he caught my eye.‘She stirred for a minute there, but she’s drifted off again.’

I examined her closely.She was smeared with mud and soot, but breathing easily, I noted with a flutter of relief.

‘Tarian.’Ruisin’s baritone rumbled, and I looked up to find him holding the Unseelie crown.‘I think this is yours.’

Blowing out a breath, I plucked the bloodied crown from his grip, tossed it from one hand to the other.‘You could have just given me her name when I came to see you.’

‘You’re lucky I gave it to you at all.I never planned to until I saw you siding with a lesser fae rebellion.’He bobbed down next to me to peer at Imogen.‘This one belongs even more to the Seelie Court now than she did when you saw her through my portal.’He leaned closer, touching fingers to her forehead.‘She’ll be alright.Rest is what she needs.And food when she wakes.Lots of it.’

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