Page 51 of Moonmarked

Everything smelled sonice—like flowers blooming and magic, something both sweet and sharp. At the far end of the vast hall, the queen’s throne sat on a raised dais carved from stone so smooth it caught every flicker of movement and mirrored it like rippling water. The back of the throne arched into a delicate canopy of branches that could have been natural or could have been painted white,and they were laced with crystal blossoms that glowed golden.

Around the dais, fae stood like pieces of art themselves, seven of them, their armors different, jeweled, like they were meant to blend into the room seamlessly.

Every step I took toward the throne felt heavier, as if the room itself was testing my worth, measuring the weight of my presence against its beauty. No wonder I felt like a fucking stain on the floor—muddy, out of place, nothing but an easy prey for these predators.

And then there was the queen.

She sat on her throne all by herself, wearing a dress held in place by a thick band over her left shoulder, and thenspilledall over her body like actual liquid gold. She wore her jeweled crown, and her light blonde hair in a thick braid, her face so perfect my instinct insisted that it was wrong—simply because nothing could possibly be so right and have no…warmth. She was as cold as the throne she sat on. No emotion anywhere on her, though her eyes were golden.

She sat at the very edge of her seat, arms spread to the sides, heels of her hands resting at the edges of her throne’s armrests, and she held her chin up and looked down at me masterfully.

The guards didn’t let me stop moving until I was in front of the dais, just a couple feet away.

Then they spread out, five on either side, one hand on the handles of their sheathed swords, all their eyes on me.

Everyone’seyes were on me—the queen and the other fae who analyzed me like they were trying to pick me apart and see every drop of my blood. I was the center of their attention, and nobody made a single sound, but my head was so crowded I didn’t even hear the silence. I heard nothing at all but my own panic.

Seconds ticked by.

The queen didn’t even blink as she looked down at me, like she was waiting for me to crack open or drop dead any moment now…

“I didn’t do it.”

My words echoed in the wide hall, the impossibly high ceiling, until the stars portrayed in it absorbed the sound completely.

A single arched brow.

My heart stood still.

“Leave us.”

I wasn’t sure what I expected her to say, but it wasn’tthat.More like something along the lines ofoff with her head!,Red Queen style.

Butthisqueen didn’t shout. She didn’t order my execution, and the fae who had been standing at her sides bowed to her deeply before they started for the door. Most of the soldiers who’d come here with me walked away, too, but three remained. Stepped farther back toward the walls, always watching.

The sound of the golden doors closing echoed in the room the same way my voice had. The silence stretched, and I could have sworn that the glowing crystals over the queen’s head were moving, swinging to the sides, as if wind blew in here but only they could feel it.

I thought maybenowwas the right time to act. I thought maybe now I had a chance—there were only four of them. I could release the heat that had been building up inside me with every step, and I could run.

“You dared to run away from my palace, mortal?”

When she spoke, every hair on the back of my neck stood atattention.

My God, she washorrorincarnate.

“I…I had no choice,” I forced myself to say.

Fuck, it was impossible not to feel small and guilty and a speck of dust on her shoe when she looked at me like this, when I was inherthrone room,herpalace. So hard to keep my power, butI didn’t do it—I didn’t do it—I didn’t do itsang in my ear, and that was the only thing that gave me a bit of reassurance.

“You could have stayed. You could havenotmade me chase you across the realm.” The queen leaned forward, and my knees shook. “Do you understand whom you’re speaking to, you wretched thing?”

Not going to lie, I was surprised to hear her curse me like that. And I wanted to be angry, I really did. I hated people calling me names—except there was no room for anger inside me right now. I was full of fear and panic and alertness.

Swallowing hard, I raised my chin higher. “I did not kill the prince,” I said, and by some miracle, my voice didn’t shake. “You were there. You saw him—he was alive when I walked out of the room.” She had seen him—she had been crying and hugging his head to her chest, smiling and laughing at the same time.

And now that I thought about it, the queen looked so calm, didn’t she?

Wait a damn minute…

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