Page 24 of The Dead Queen

His pale eyes watch me closely. “The Queen. She was there when your grandmother died.”

“You mean the Dead Queen.”

“Some might call her that, yes.”

“Why would the queen of Annwyn be at the border when my grandmother was killed?”

My heart races anew. Was it an invasion? No, Father would have used that information to his utmost advantage. He’d have sent criers to every village to tell them we were under attack. Then he’d spin it so the people knew that he would protect them. Even if that just meant sitting in his audience chamber, plotting, while he sent those very same people to the borderlands to die.

A scouting mission, then? Seems unlikely to be a queen’s duty. Was Grandmother sent as an envoy for peace talks? I almost bark out a laugh at that thought. As if Father would ever trust her enough to speak for him.

For the first time, the Wolf in chains looks away. “It’s complicated.”

I narrow my eyes. “If you think you can trick me into setting you free, just so you can get out of answering my questions, you’re sorely mistaken.”

He holds a shackled hand up to his chest. “I would never. Despite what you may have been told, we Wolves live by a code of honor.”

I scoff. “You call causing pain and murdering innocent people honorable? Or bringing corpses back to life to fight your battles for you?”

“There’s honor in death, same as in life.”

“Of course you’d say that.”

There’s a definite shift in the pitch of the foxhounds’ cries. I stand up, on alert. I’ve been here too long. The real servants might arrive to feed the animals at any moment. My eyes dart to the Wolf. He studies me curiously.

“You’re not supposed to be here, are you, Red?”

My lips pinch closed.

“You saved me when your father would rather I die a slow death.”

I say nothing, but the panicked look in my eyes gives me away.

The Wolf sets his jaw. “You may be honorable, even if he isn’t.”

It’s time to leave. I step out of the cell door and close it behind me with a bang. The Wolf watches me through the bars as I lock it.

“For saving my life, I would take you past the border,” he says. “If you truly want an answer to your question, that’s where you’ll find it.”

I glare at him, not sure how he suddenly has the upper hand. In the cell behind me, a foxhound snarls and leaps toward his door, his chains rattle behind him.

The Wolf and I stare at each other through the cell door, assessing one another. Crossing the border into the Kingdom of Death is a fool’s errand. It would only end in my own grisly demise.

And yet.

I believe he does know what happened to Grandmother. And that the answers do lie in the north. And he really would take me there, if I freed him. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my years sewing people together again and bringing them back from the edge of death, it’s this—Annwyn can’t be trusted.

And if I dive that deep into my obsession for the truth, then I’m as good as dead.

Chapter 10

A knock on my chamber door rouses me from sleep. When I open my eyes, the light has the honeyed hue of late afternoon. I’m surprised they let me sleep this long.

The knock sounds again. “Your Highness? There’s a delivery for you.”

I sit up with some effort, like I left my limbs behind in the realm of dreams. The silk sheets slip below my bare shoulders. I prefer to sleep naked rather than dressed in the frilly nightgowns the palace seamstress made for me.

“A delivery?” I call from the bed. “What kind?”