Page 38 of The Crown of a Fallen Queen
Devi appears beside me without a sound. She gazes down at the bed of white feathers cradling Iris’s body but doesn’t flinch or turn away.
“Do you agree with that?” she asks, tracing the effigy.
“I bet you’re the type who thinks we have complete control over our hearts. Or rather, thatyoucontrol them.”
“Mostly, yes. But I have to admit, no one can completely master true love.”
My gaze shifts to the three towers. The single window at the top of the tall, crooked keep where the king’s apartments are situated sends a shiver down my spine.
“I was there when Iris fell from the tower, you know,” I whisper.
“So was I.”
My eyes widen, and I open my mouth to ask how that’s possible, but she adds, “I kept to the shadows, of course. Freya wouldn’t have tolerated my presence. I came through the mirror to wish Iris a happy birthday—” She stops abruptly.
“Do you know how she fell? I hated Elio my whole adult life because I thought he pushed her,” I say.
“As I was exiting the sceawere, I heard a commotion and rushed upstairs…only to catch a glimpse of Iris’s dying form in the middle of the gardens.” She keeps her voice steady and calm, with no trace of emotion, and I know she’s rehearsed that speech many, many times before.
“But how did no one see you? Tons of people were watching the tower from below. My entire family was there?—”
“It’s nice to have family.” There’s a sharp edge to her voice, like I’m somehow to blame for her having none.
She probably thinks I got everything handed to me on a silver platter, apart from the family name.
“You forget, I grew up in the shadows as the bastard son of an adulterous Fae queen. For me, the concept of family is, at best, complicated,” I say.
“It’s laughable, really, that Freya ever hoped to get away with it. How did she plan to explain herself when you stopped aging?”
My eyes dart to the white, unripened frost apples dangling from the Hawthorn. “My mother and Iris had it all figured out. Iris had received a Frost apple after her wedding to Elio, and she’d eaten it, but she told everyone she’d given it to me. Of course, that lie was debunked the second I dissipated into a cloud, but their plan was actually clever. If I hadn’t been a dual wielder, people would have continued to think of her as a full-blooded Fae, and me as the halfling, and no one would have been the wiser.”
She moves away from Iris’s grave, her top lip curled in disgust. “Ugh. I’m so sick of your mother’s convoluted schemes.”
I chase after her. “Hey, at least she didn’t disavow me like my father did. I’m curious, you know. Sometimes, I wonder what would have happened if my mother hadn’t become queen. If you hadn’t been stripped of your title, maybe I would have had a completely different life.”
She digs her heels in the snow. “Your mother would have worked herself to death before she gave up scheming against me. If I hadn’t lost my crown, chances are you’d never have been born.” She picks up the pace, heading for the entrance of the maze.
Devi’s angry with me. Angry at my mother, angry at the world for all the damage it’s done to us. I don’t blame her. Maybe she deserves to be angry, but I’m not my mother, and I need her to see that.
“Elio wants me to keep my distance,” I confess.
Her brows raise.
“He warned me off you. Like a jealous lover,” I add, watching her reaction.
The corners of her eyes wrinkle with warmth. “Imagine that.”
“I told him you were old enough to make up your own mind about me.”
She chuckles softly, without thinking, and my chest swells with joy. I’m already hooked on that sound.
“Why did you act like a blushing bride at breakfast? Isn’t it time to put our plan in motion? Or are you holding back because of some old romantic tie with Elio?”
“I’m as much a blushing bride as you are a wallflower,” she jokes.
“You’re shying away from our deal. We don’t have much time.”
She opens her mouth, then closes it. “You’re right.” She laces our fingers and pulls me toward the entrance of the labyrinth. “Let’s take a quick walk, shall we?”
