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Thorn knit his thick brows together. “Do I?”
Again, she clicked her tongue. “No. But it wouldn’t matter. The queen came to get a slice of marzipan cake. She and Queen Ivory used to do that together, but only after their task was completed. Whatever game she came to play, she’s played it.”
My face drained of color. “What game? Did she say anything about it?”
Madame Rola slyly turned away to rub the already clean counter with a rag and whistle to herself. The melody was low and enchanting and entirely irked me. Thorn placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Outside,” he whispered.
I sent Madame Rola a daggered look as we went out the door. Her song clung to the air, following us.
“I know where we must go,” Thorn said.
My attention snapped to him. “How?”
“That song she’s whistling? It’s played here. It comes from the heart of the island, where ravens gather on twisted vines to watch the games being played. It’s where seven thrones are set up for the seven fae kings, and two large pedestals sit behind a table set with the largest chess board in all the realm. The rest of this island is made of little tricks and jokes, but the center? It’s where the kings go to make their deals. I almost lost my kingdom there once, and that song played as I scraped by.”
I paled with each word. “Gaia went there?”
“She must have. I didn’t think she’d ever return.”
“Because of a bad deal she made?”
His expression flickered. He squared his shoulders. “Because Queen Ivory died on that chess table. She was found in the middle of the night before you came, her body torn among the chess pieces.”
If I was pale before, I was a ghost now. My stomach knotted. “Who killed her?”
Thorn’s voice was strong in its sincerity. “None of us would kill a queen.”
Bash had said that. Talen had said it. Had Odette told me the same thing? I felt as if I’d heard it a million times, but this time it landed like a rock that sank to my feet.
The realm had taught me many things. Watch your words. Guard your face. Shield your true intentions. But if it had taught me one thing more than anything else, it was this—the fae were dirty liars.
None of us would hurt a queen.
We love our queens too much. We can’t help it.
My beautiful queen.
I’d been told it all before. But the tale of the realm placing a cruel fate upon the fae—to love their queens, only to lose them—was beginning to sound too convenient. In a land where lies were told as easily as breathing and people found their delight in tricking others, it would be an easy lie to maintain, and I’d never know the truth of it until my final moments.
It was easier to wonder how Ivory died than to picture her dead upon that table. My mind gave her features similar to mine, Gaia’s, and Dhalia’s. Bronze skin, oval eyes, thick thighs, and thin lips. A fire in her belly from Dhalia, a gentleness in her touch like Gaia’s, a determination like mine. Dead, just like we all might become.
I was in danger of losing my teeth if I ground them any harder.
“Take me to the kings,” I demanded. “I’m in the mood for a chess game.”
Thorn eyed me but obliged. We maneuvered through the bustling island, ignoring those who called to us as we passed, no matter how tempting their promise of everlasting happiness or true love might sound. Thorn kept close to my side and stared everyone down as if he were my bodyguard instead of a king.
I didn’t mind. I preferred him close. It made it easier to keep an eye on him. My ability to trust was especially low tonight.
Pure white gates reached through the dark skies. We moved from the busy streets to stand at the threshold of the center. A sliver of a river cleaved the land, and eight identical bridges formed a circle, each leading to that center.
That center.
Over the bridge and beyond the gate, we came upon the arena. Seven thrones made of black iron lined one side, where the ground dove deep with seats carved from dirt and paved in travertine. Thorn fell back so I could walk ahead but kept himself close behind me. With his golden beauty and strong presence, it wouldn’t matter that he placed himself in the back. He’d be the only one people saw.
I was wrong. All eyes fell to me.
