Page 123 of A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty

She waved a gnarled hand, and I stepped forward, taking a seat at her table. A glance at her son, and he sat next to me.

“There are some things you need to know,” Pelysian said. “My mother can tie her awareness to the person you choose. It will last for as long as both of them live.”

Anticipation sparked along my skin. “Yes, this is what I want.”

“Don’t agree so freely, Your Majesty,” the hag said. “This kind of power is forbidden by all but those who worship the dark gods. And the dark gods demand sacrifice.”

I kept my face blank, even as my stomach spiraled. “What kind of sacrifice?”

“Something so precious, most in your position would never pay it.”

“Cease dancing around the point.”

“Very well. If you choose this sacrifice, you will save many lives. One day, you will be remembered for it.”

“I care nothing for those lives. Tell me of my son.”

“The future is murky, but I can tell you that by opening up communication with the one you seek, you will almost certainly prevent his sacrifice.”

My heart pounded. “Sabium won’t kill him?”

“You will buy him time, Your Majesty. What he does with that time—what you do with it—is not my concern.”

Time. That was what I needed most. Sabium had four hundred years of scheming, and he had used his own time well. “And if I choose not to sacrifice?”

“Your son will be slaughtered for the power Sabium has been channeling into him for years.”

My lungs seized, and a metallic taste flooded my mouth. “When?”

Her gaze turned distant. “I cannot see the exact time, but it is before the next full moon.”

I did this, or my son was dead. If I could buy him this time she spoke of, I would use it to save his life. I was sure of it.

“I’ll do it.”

“You haven’t heard the sacrifice required.”

“I don’t need to.”

Pelysian shifted in his chair. “Please, Your Majesty. Listen.”

I folded my hands in my lap with an impatient huff.

“Tell me, then.”

“If the current thread of fate continues to unravel undisturbed, you will one day grow heavy with child.”

The room seemed to tilt around me. Pelysian held out his hand as if he would steady me but instantly dropped it.

My breath stilled in my chest. “You think to taunt me?”

“I tell you only what I know, Your Majesty.” Her voice was quiet now, almost pitying. “If nothing changes from this moment, you have a child.”

My lips were numb. “How?”

“I cannot see this.”

“The father?”

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