“Daughter, what a mess you’ve found yourself in.” Justice’s robes rustled as their arms crossed.
“I don’t need your sympathy. Either heal me or put me back in Everstal and let me die.” Every word Caroline ground out was a new misery.
“We can’t let you die. It would offset the delicate balance we’ve worked so hard toencourage.”
Caroline regarded them through her glassy eyes and staggered to the ground next to the fallen weapon, unable to command her legs to function.
Justice frowned down at the struggling queen. “To be honest, we thought you’d eventually sniff the prince out. You are still so young.”
“I hoped you’d bed him,” Love cooed.
“Well, I was trying to bed him, and you see how that worked out.”
Pain chuckled.
Caroline’s mind caught on something they’d said. She sifted through the conversation between claps of agony. “Wait, what? The prince?” she bit out.
“See, I told you she didn’t know.” Justice smirked in Love’s direction.
“Oh, but her heart did. I knew the moment she was born they were the perfect match. They just needed to collide. Like two roaring rivers merging.”
“You did predict it, Love. Though I would say it was more like a tsunami overtaking a village. I didn’t expect it to get so exciting so quickly,” Life chimed in.
Caroline supposed she was the village in this scenario, considering her current position. She hated that they were gossiping about her while she lay there in the throes of death. She was powerless to stop them. Or stop the face that appeared in her mind.
A prince. She ran through the list of the men of Veetula’s royal line.
A name traipsed across the long-forgotten visage in her mind. The man she’d seen only glimpses of as a child during the last peace celebration, which had ended in bloodshed. He’d been there, the one from afar, standing next to his older brother, King Hollis. She’d barely gotten enough of a look at him for his image to stick in her memory. Especially after the trauma she’d experienced that night. And anyone in the castle who might identify him, dead.
The name floated like a cloud on her last dregs of consciousness before the darkness consumed her.
Prince Breicher Ivanslohe.
Violent coughing wracked Caroline’s body. Her hands snapped to her throat, nails clawing at the liquid metal that was being poured down her throat. Firm hands gripped hers and pulled them down to her sides.
She wasn’t dead. Not yet. Pale, hollow faces came into view as her vision cleared. She must have passed out. It was the first time she’d ever seen them all leave their perches on the benches. All five were kneeling around her body, pouring their energy into her.
Caroline had thought the healing might feel like a crisp, gentle stream flowing through her. Instead, lava poured down her windpipe, spreading beneath her ribs, then fanning out to her extremities. Her back involuntarily bowed off the ground on a scream before she slammed back into it.
“Can you not do something? I need her still.” It was Life snapping at Pain. She’d never seen them have such emotion.
“Even if I could ease her suffering, I wouldn’t. She’s a vile creature.” Pain paused, then flicked his eyes to Love. “You do something.”
Love, who’d been staring mindlessly into the distance, with only a hand on Caroline, sighed. “I’ll see what I can do. Are we sure we wouldn’t prefer to let her die and give the power to the other girl?”
Caroline tilted her neck back, straining her eyes to get a look at Justice, who was chuckling above her head. “I think we’d miss this one. She’s proven to be far more enjoyable to watch than the ones before her. She’s very… creative. I think I’ve become inspired.”
“Then Love, please,” Life beckoned.
Love shrugged and crawled across Caroline’s convulsing body. “We didn’t have to make the rosenwood so strong. I cautioned you against that.” Love shot a glare at Pain. The Gods must not understand that Caroline was not only awake, but conscious and privy to their lapse in protocol. She was seeing behind the carefully constructed façade, which was the only view they’d allowed her to see when she visited them to receive her punishments.
The God Love lowered themselves down onto Caroline’s body, their slight weight, and the gentle power that was fighting her pain enough to ease the worst of the tremors. Love cupped her hands around Caroline’s face. Leaning on her elbows, she looked down into the queen’s eyes. “Daughter, are you in there? You must fight this. I’m going to do what I can to help you.”
Caroline fluttered her lashes, making a show of her incoherence.
“She’s lost in her mind. I told you if you wanted her to live, we shouldn’t have let it go on as long as we did.”
Love didn’t seem to care one way or the other whether Everstal’s queen lived or died. The annoyance temporarily distracted Caroline from the blistering pain. An idea slipped through the break.
