Page 122 of A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty

I didn’t trust it.

“Yes,” I said.

“Would you like me to contact the healer?”

“I suggest you focus your attention on ensuring your men stay alive,” I said coldly. “I have more than enough servants to attend me.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

I felt his eyes on me as I walked toward the door, careful to keep my pace unhurried. When I finally reached my chambers, I was shaking.

Half an hour spent listening to my ladies gossip over tea, although they certainly weren’t putting any effort into being interesting. When I finally dismissed them, they practically bolted from the room.

And I stared at myself in the mirror.

This wasn’t the only mirror that was not truly a mirror in this castle. Compared to Sabium’s hidden mirror, this was a simple enchantment. But I’d ensured it had traveled with me when I’d married him, leaving its twin with Pelysian.

I had never used it myself, some part of me terrified that I would get stuck at that point between places.

But I agreed with Pelysian. It was far too dangerous for his mother to use her power in this castle. Her magic was dark, with a heavy scent of death.

Lifting my gown with one hand, I straightened my shoulders. Before I could talk myself out of it, I stepped into the mirror.

For one terrifying moment, I was blind and deaf, surrounded by nothing but an unusual, cool magic.

Strong hands grabbed me, and a strange sound hiccupped from me. It was almost a whimper, and I scanned my surroundings. Pelysian had pulled me through, and his mother sat at a scarred wooden table, her gaze on me. I only recognized her because Pelysian had once brought her to court for a ball. She was a small woman, fine-boned, with deep-set lines creasing her face.

I wanted to kill her for witnessing my terror. Pelysian’s mother smiled as if she knew.

“Your Majesty,” she said mockingly. “My son tells me you have a need for me.”

I was the queen of this kingdom, and yet this woman somehow managed to make me feel as ifshewas the one with all of the power.

“Yes,” I said.

“What you want will not be easy. Tell me, if I can find this person for you, will you use that knowledge for evil?”

“No.”

The glint in her eye said she didn’t believe me. “What will you use it for?”

“Why do you presume to ask me such questions?”

Pelysian stiffened. “Your Majesty—”

“Let me ask you adifferentquestion, then,” the hag murmured, slowly getting to her feet. “Do you serve the king?”

“No.”

She folded her hands on the table and waited. Grinding my teeth, I took the risk. Pelysian had never betrayed me. I had to believe he wouldn’t allow his mother to either. “I wish to help the hybrid heir.”

“So you can put your false son on the throne.”

I slowly turned my head, pinning Pelysian with a stare. “I didn’t say anything,” he said softly. “My mother has the knowing.”

I wasn’t sure I believed in the knowing. But whether the gods truly whispered in her ear or whether she had somehow found other magical means to spy on me was irrelevant. I at least knew she had the ability to locate those I needed.

“Yes. I wish for my son to rule.”

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