This was not how he would have done it.
Because you are soft,said a voice inside him.And your softness gets people killed.
The Good Commander was demonstrating what a strong leader looked like.
But this…
“No! Please!” The witch’s voice shook as she looked to Gideon. “Don’t let him hurt her!”
“He won’t,” he said, hoping this was true. “If you answer the question.”
As Noah gripped the sword in two hands, the child tried to back away. One guard grabbed her arms while the other seized her wrist, pinning her little hand to the desk.
Meadow started wailing.
No mother should be put in this position. Nochildshould be put in this position.
Gideon stepped forward. But what could he do? His hands were bound. He was as much a prisoner here as the witch and her child.
Noah lifted the sword into the air. The blade glinted in the lamplight.
“Stop!” Aurelia stumbled forward, chains clinking. “I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just don’t hurt her! Please!”
“Then answer the question: is Cressida the last living Roseblood?”
The witch’s shoulders slumped as she realized the choice before her: the witch queen—who would kill her for her treachery—or her daughter. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she stared at her terrified child.
“Forgive me, my queen…”
Gideon watched as her green eyes clouded over, turning milky white. Her breathing slowed as her body went still as marble. More statue than flesh.
“Cressida’s mother, Queen Winoa, had a fourth child with her second husband,” she said finally. “But the sickly thing died in childbirth. The queen never fully recovered from her grief. For years, she heard it crying at night, and would wander the palace halls in search of it.”
Gideon knew the story. Cress had told it to him more than once. Cressida’s mother had remarried when her first husband died. Cress and her sisters hated their stepfather—who, by all accounts, was an unspeakably cruel man—and blamed him for turning their mother against them after the stillbirth.
“Everyone thought she’d gone mad,” he said.
Even Cressida.
“But the child didn’t die,” said Aurelia. “It was stolen away in the night.”
Gideon frowned. “Why?”
“To save it from the royal family’s dysfunction? To fulfill a prophecy—or stop one from coming true?” She shook her head. “It’s unclear.”
“And this person—are they alive? If so, who are they? And where can I find them?”
Aurelia’s eyes went whiter still. Her brow creased as she concentrated hard.
“They’re alive, but…”
It was several minutes before the clouds retreated from her eyes. When they did, she drew in a sharp breath and collapsed to the floor.
“I can’t See them.” Aurelia bent over like a dog while the guards kept her daughter’s hand pinned to the desk. “Something’s blocking my Sight.”
Noah raised the sword again.
“She’s telling the truth,” said Gideon, stepping forward to intervene. “Cressida said the same thing, that a spell is blocking sibyls from seeing this person. As if someone wants to keep them hidden.”
