“No, it’s not. You grew up right there with me, but you know.”
“Yes, but I didn’t have a family shoving crap down my throat every moment of every day.”
“You had me,” I breathe, praying to the gods she still counts me as family.
“Exactly.” She pulls a hand free and cups my face, wiping away my tears. “I had you. You kept away all the crazy.”
Threading my fingers through her hand on my cheek, I smile slyly. “Iamthe crazy.” She told me that so many times, laughing and rolling her eyes as she punched me in the shoulder. I want to see her like that again. I don’t like the pain seeping off her. I don’t like the guilt in my heart for having stopped Richard from killing Lief this morning. I don’t care if stabbing someone is wrong or if it leads to me being married to someone with a slug dick fetish. No one hurts my friend.
Smirking, Fabia rolls her eyes as she shoves me away. “Yes, you are. But I like your crazy.”
Catching myself before I hit the floor, I let myself grin. But I keep the laughter locked down deep.
I might not understand what Lief actually did to her.
I might not understand why the deaths here are so sad.
I might never become the queen Raza needs, but Iwillbecome the friend Fabia deserves. Because I’m never going to let her suffer alone again.
Nine
The only person who outranks a queen is the head of the Fairy Intelligence.
That doesn’t mean I can’t kill her though. It only means I can’t be caught.
- King Richard
Irritated, I glare at the red-headed woman in front of me. I didn’t recognise her; I never do when she’s in disguise. She is able to change her entire appearance with her magic, but her dumb-ass ‘knock knock’ jokes are a dead giveaway.
Straightening, I slide my knife back into its sheath. “I know who you are, Evangeline,” I say to the head of my Fairy Intelligence. “I want to know why you’re here and not in Gretadal.” Did she know about the attack on the market? Did she arrive too late, or did she use me as fucking bait? It wouldn’t be the first time, but if she put my wife in danger, she isn’t leaving this room alive.
I don’t care if she’s the better fighter. Or if she is a witch when I am not. Or if she’s spelled the room in silence so my guards won’t interrupt us – which she mockingly let me know when sheknocked on the door. I will figure out a way to eliminate her as a threat to my queen.
“The last person who didn’t let me finish my joke,” she says as she walks towards me, “died.”
“Did he commit suicide so he didn’t have to hear the punchline?” I ask dryly. “Or was it a heart attack brought on by horror?” Her jokes are often gruesome. And lethal. And gross.
She shrugs. “The verdict’s still out on whether it was the fall that killed him or all the stab wounds.”
Fucking hel.“Why are you here?” I demand again.
She smiles, giving herself the point for having made me repeat myself. There’s no one more competitive than my ex-fiancee, and she sees everything as a game.
Instead of answering, she looks around the room, taking in all the destruction from my “talk” with Jace. Her eyes linger on the milk spilled on the floor, and I will myself not to move and draw attention to my discomfort. Her mind is too sharp; she will figure out what all the thrown away food means. And if the Court is dangerous, Evangeline Sinclair is the reaper herself.
“I love what you’ve done with the place,” she finally says, her eyes meeting mine.
I shrug nonchalantly. “It was time for a change.”
“It suits you… all this rage.”
My jaw tightens over the words she doesn’t say. She has long suspected me of killing Aurelia; this must be how she sees the “real me”. A monster who destroys everything it loves.
My sister.
My fiancee.
Her and Aurelia were the best of friends. They shared their pains and hopes and dreams under the blood of war. Evangeline might have been engaged to me, but no one held her heart like my sister did, and it’s killing her that she can’t bring me to justice.
