Putting in every ounce of effort possible, I focused as hard as I could to show him the room and who now stood in it, willing him to see it through my eyes.
The moment my vision overtook his own, Jace sat up instantly, ready to strike the queen down in his mother’s cottage. The force of his movements startled me enough to drop the sight connection.
When my eyes flew to his, he was panting as he stood beside our bed and then looked at me. “I…I can’t see her.”
“What?” I breathed.
“Show yourself to me, you bitch!” he roared into the dark room.
“A queen does not concern herself with mortal filth,” she hissed at him.
Idina was watching him intently now, and I willed my sight back into his, his eyes flaring as he saw her once again through my gaze.
“Now…is that what I think it is?” Idina asked with a malicious chuckle as her gaze returned to the dress. “Youmarriedone of them? Elianna…I knew you had always been a traitorous snake, but I never thought you would take it to such an extreme height.”
“It was never I who was the traitorous snake, Idina. That title has always been yours alone to claim. And you wear it so well, I might add.”
“You think that betraying your own race, and inter-breeding with lesser beings, is not treasonous? And you believe that you are fit to rule? While I despise your existence, you are the daughter of the latefaeking, and I had not taken you to be quite so reckless.”
“Elianna,” Jace growled. I could feel his patience slipping as he frantically tried to watch through the bond’s haze. “We don’t have any weapons in here. And I can’t even see her with my own eyes. I don’t know what the fuck to do.”
“Stay where you are.That is an order.”
“If she fucking touches you…”
“An ORDER, Jace.”
I felt him hold himself back at my command—his anger igniting our tether in searing flames.
Idina’s stare drifted back to my mate, and my heart crept up my throat. “At least it appears that you keep your mortal pet in line as he stands in the corner with his tail between his legs.”
“You will not speak of him.” My nails dug into the palms of my hands as they balled into fists, shaking with rage. “And interesting for you to declare what deems an act treasonous…considering youmurderedmy father!” I barked, my voice rising with each passing word.
If my knowledge regarding the manner of the king’s death surprised her, her face certainly didn’t show it.
The corner of her lips tilted into a venomous, knowing smirk as she took a single step toward me, placing her hands behind her back.
“You were always such a good little youngling for your father, doing as he said and always making sure he was pleased with you and what you had accomplished…you and I are not so different in that sense, I suppose,” Idina said.
My eyes flared. “You are implying that you murdered the King of Velyra over a century after your father’s death. If that had been his wish, I’m sure many chances for that had presented itself when your father was still alive…or even shortly after his death.”
Her eyes narrowed in on me, as if I had struck a nerve. “You know nothing, and I will not waste my breath in explaining what I have done for my kin. I know how you are with your own, and you would have been just as ruthless.”
“If a threat presented itself! Not to steal the throne from the royal bloodline of the realm! Andyouare a threat, Idina,” I hissed.
Anger-riddled pride radiated from Jace.
She took a step toward me, and I stood my ground at the edge of the bed.
“I am a threat?!” she seethed. “You stole my only children from me. Murdering one in cold blood for his claim to the throne you so desperately seek while poisoning the other two against me. I am theirmother. Make no mistake, Iwillget my other children back from you, whether you hand them to me or I pry them from your grasp.”
“Murder in cold blood? Claim to the throne?!” My fists were getting ready to strike her the second another word left her mouth. “Your son was just as malicious as you are, and he possessed as much claim to the throne as a peasant beggar in the slums that you look down upon so much.”
Her eyes widened in shock as her jaw ticked with fury, its aura filling the room.
“As for Avery and Finnian, they hate you just as much as the rest of the realm does. Perhaps even more,” I continued.
A huff of approval sounded in my mind from Jace as he impatiently watched through my eyes.
