Page 130 of Bedeviled

My magic still tingles, so sharply at times it feels like a static electric shock.

She drops her feet from my desk and leans back in my seat, making herself comfortable.

“What magic have you been up to, Empress?” She looks genuinely intrigued.

I tilt my head. “You’ve spied on me and sent demons after me, and yet you cannot figure that out? Perhaps I’m not the only one who’s fallen far.

“In fact,” I continue, brightening, “we should toast to that.” I lift my glass. “To being a godsdamned disappointment.”

I drink. She doesn’t. And I’m pretty sure I’ve pissed her off.

Not that her expression changes much. Eislyn has even fewer tells now than she did back in Sarmatia. But I sense I’m getting beneath her skin.

“You stole my memories and my palace from me,” she finally says. Again, there is no angry expression, but the words are accusation enough.

I swirl the wine. “It was my palace, if I remember correctly.”

The corner of her mouth twitches, and now I know I’m not imagining her outrage.

I nearly preen at the thought of it.

I stare at the pale purple wine in my glass. “When you finally remembered its existence, I wonder what it felt like to see only ruins left of it.” I tilt my head in consideration.

She sips from her glass, studying me some more. This moment feels like we’re walking on a knife’s edge. I can sense her trying to puzzle me out.

“So pleased that I forgot,” she finally says. “But then, Memnon’s tomb only appeared to be recently disturbed. Why would you leave him and a perfectly good palace to rot?” Her gaze flicks over me curiously. “Unless, of course, for some reason you couldn’t return to it in all that time as well.”

Eislyn watches me carefully, like a shark scenting blood, and I’m aware she’s come dangerously close to the truth.

“Neat theory,” I say.

“I don’t think it’s a theory,” she says. “I think we both forgot the past. All that time you went without your soul mate. What agony existing without him must’ve been—to be a soul mate with half of your bond missing. How did he awaken? Did you find him? That certainly must have been a strange reunion.” She leans forward. “But what I really want to know is how you managed to wipe all our minds.”

I’ve gone still, the tingling within me all but forgotten. Again, she cannot know for certain that it was me who was responsible for making her forget. But it’s a compelling enough possibility that she’s throwing it out.

“How about this,” I say, leaning forward. “I’ll tell you all my secrets if you’ll answer this: What did you want with Memnon?” I search her features. “What was worth killing off his entire family and sealing him up in a tomb?”

Her eyes drop to my daggers, then my ring, before returning to meet my gaze. “I suppose it doesn’t matter now, does it?” she says.

“You tell me.”

She smiles then, and her devious eyes, though bright, appear so very, very hollow. “Hmm, I don’t think I will.” She takes another sip of wine.

I guess we’re keeping our secrets for now.

“So have you given up counseling rulers?” I ask.

“I’m afraid my ambitions have always been bigger than offering counsel to mortals, though I particularly relished witnessing Memnon’s rise to power.” She smiles, her focus growing distant. “He’s still as ruthless as I remember.” Eislyn gets that covetous glint in her eyes, the one she always reserved for Memnon. I cannot believe that after the magnitude of her betrayal, she can still act like this.

“He doesn’t seem to have taken well to the modern world.” Her eyes all but dance as she refers to the night of the gala.

“No,” I agree, my gaze flicking over her, “he hasn’t domesticated himself nearly as well as you have.”

The words are an absolute lie as they fall off my tongue. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could ever blunt the terrible monster that lurks under Eislyn’s civilized veneer.

“How is the arm, by the way?” I ask. “Last I remember, I blew it off.” Only now am I realizing just how rare a hit like that from a human must’ve been. Anomalous, given our finnicky magic.

She doesn’t react, but she has gone still.