Page 20 of Fate and Flame
It was only easy because he knew, if not for this, I’d find another way. He probably watched the hall all night waiting for me to show up.Know-it-all. He grabbed my hand, and within a split second, we were racing through the castle on steady wind he commanded, and then I was standing alone in a torch-lit dungeon staring into the cell of my greatest enemy. Morwena.
For a moment, I went back to the child who feared her. My heart raced. But then the faces of my fallen parents flashed through my mind and I raised my chin, straightened my shoulders, took a deep breath, and stepped forward.
Bound by her hands and feet, with a tie wrapped around her mouth, she was wide awake, glaring at me from the front of her barred cage with her piercing blue eyes. Her white-blonde hair a mess of tangles, pooling around her.
I paced in front of her, trying to collect my thoughts.
“Do you know who I am?” She blinked but said nothing. “If I take that gag from your mouth, are you going to play nice?”
She shook her head.
At least she was honest. I reached up between the bars, hooked my finger around the fabric, and jerked it down.
“You might be promised, but you aren’t bright, girl.” Her voice was raspy but strong.
“Did you order my parents killed?”
Her lethal eyes held mine as a wicked smile spread across her beautiful face. “Why would I answer your questions, girl?”
“Why wouldn’t you? I’m just a lowly peasant and you’re a magnanimous queen.”
She snorted.
Clearly, I was going to have to bait her. I reached through the bars once more, quick as a snake, and yanked the massive jewel from her neck.
Her eyes lit up, but as soon as her evada pearl was removed, she began to gasp and then choke.“Okay,” she rasped, fear flashing before she hid it away.
I clasped the long chain of the necklace and peaked an eyebrow until it was understood which of us was currently in control. I was destined to kill her, but she didn’t know that. No one did. And I certainly wouldn’t be doing it in the Flame Court, putting the blame on Tolero. I placed the chain over her head, and she dragged in breaths as she stepped out of my reach and gasped, her shoulders heaving.
“Such vulnerability.” I tutted. “Did you order my parents killed?” I held my voice calm, calculated.
“Yes,” she ground out.
“And me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.
Silence.
“Why?” I barked. Facing my own fate was far worse than facing a mortal queen with an attitude problem. I could kill her. Right now. And there was satisfaction in that. Treacherous satisfaction.
“Your father signed his own death warrant when he refused to turn the Hunt over to me. Your mother was caught in the crossfire and you were just a happy accident when I realized who you were. You landed right in my lap.”
“My mother was not caught in the crossfire. I was there. I watched her die.”
“Oh, how sad,” she said, a wide grin still slathered across her face.
“I will kill you. Maybe not today, but one day.”
“You are a child. You have no idea what it means to kill. I’ve killed hundreds. Thousands. I’m not scared of you or your prince. You’re all so worried about me when you should be looking farther north.”
“I think we both know you are scared, Morwena. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have hunted me. You wouldn’t have killed my parents. You wouldn’t have done a fucking thing other than sit on your pretty throne and stare at your beloved king you seem so infatuated with.”Her eyes lit with fury, and I smiled as sweetly as I could. “Problem?”
“Only one.”
I took my time inspecting the dank dungeons. I watched the light flicker on the walls and noted the selkies in the other cages now awake and watching me closely. I found comfort knowing Greeve was with me, though he hadn’t made a sound. “I’d say certainly more than one. But what do I know? I’m sure Tolero has his reasons for locking you down here, probably because you’re a—”
