Page 66 of Tale of the Heart Queen

Yeah. I knew she was planning to say that. Fuck me.

“They won’t give it to me.”

“You figured it out once. You can do it again.”

I knew she would say that, too. She folds her hands together, all prim and elegant like a creepy porcelain doll that wakes up at night to murder the family it lives with.

“I can’t steal from Gabriel.”

“Why not?”

I shake my head. I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right. I already harbor enough guilt for what I did in Alluvion. I can’t leave a trail of destruction everywhere I go. A voice reminds me that I am my grandmother. Her brand of chaos resulted in one big strike, but I’m tearing through Ouranos, knocking things over one at a time. I’m no better.

Zerra gives me a tight smile.

“If your conscience is troubling you, then I guess you’ll have to convince them to give it to you.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“That is not my concern. Not if you want your mate.”

My rage builds with each sentence, charring me from the inside.

“You promised you’d give Nadir back!” My voice rises with every syllable. “And what happens if I get it from Aphelion? You’ll give him back to me then? Why should I believe you? Why would I believe a single fucking thing you say!”

My body trembles as I step towards her. “You lied to me once! Why should I believe you aren’t still lying!”

Zerra takes a step back, matching each of my own.

“Calm down,” she hisses, but I’m beyond that now. She’ll want the ark of Heart next and retrieving that from Rion will be impossible without Nadir.

“Give me my mate! Where is he? Nadir!” I scream his name so loud that my voice cracks. “Nadir! Can you hear me? I know he’s alive. I know that if he weren’t, I’d be sick. Give him to me!” I stomp towards her, my bare feet slapping the marble with purpose. Zerra backs up. “You promised, you witch!”

“That’s enough,” Zerra says, swiping her hand through the air. An invisible force drives into my chest, throwing me backward as my stomach lifts into my throat right before I crash against the tile, my skin squealing along the slick surface. I gasp at the emptiness in my lungs, trying to suck in mouthfuls of air.

A shadow falls over me, and Zerra looks down. “I told you what you need to do,” she says, her blue eyes flashing. “You’ll get Herric back when I’m satisfied.”

Herric? What’s going on? Her expression is blank but for the pain pooling in her eyes. I study her for a moment. He hurt her. It’s then I realize she never had any intention of returning Nadir.

“Well, I’m not doing it!” I shout. I lurch to my feet, look around the room, making a decision. She’s taking him from me? Then I’ll take something from her. What Herric did doesn’t give her the right to do any of this.

I call on my magic, and for a moment, it struggles to surface. Zerra glares at me with her jaw hard and her eyes narrowed. I realize she’s trying to prevent me from using it. Gritting into my reserves, I dig into my power, drilling down into pulsing crimson rivers until I feel it swell, smashing through her walls.

She gasps as she stumbles back, and magic builds in my fingertips, crackling along my limbs. Before she can recover, I unleash fire while keeping the arks in my side view. Crimson lightning bursts out of me, filling the room with my screams of rage. A force knocks me to the side, but my magic continues, unleashed and wild. I couldn’t contain it even if I wanted to.

I hear a distant scream and someone cursing my name as I tumble through the air in a cloud of dust and stone and marble. End over end, I flip until the world snaps around me and the same white fog that delivered me here wraps around my chest and throat, constricting tightly before I find myself back on land.

More debris falls from above, pelting me with a hailstorm of sharp stings. Once again, I’m in a forest where everything around me is quiet. I scan my surroundings, looking for something that seems familiar. Where did she drop me this time? The only consolation is that I don’t appear to be near Rion and his army, though I trust nothing.

I don’t even notice I’m crying until a hot tear hits the back of my hand. I’ve lost Nadir. She’s never giving him back. She’s using him to replace Herric, who betrayed her in the worst possible way. I scrub at my wet cheeks, anger stirring inside of me like hot coals.

“You fucking bitch!” I scream at the sky until my voice gives out. When I can’t scream anymore, I pound my fists against the earth. Finally, I fall quiet, breathing heavily as I push my hair back from my face. This isn’t getting me anywhere.

I stand up and brush off my leggings, but there’s little point. I’m filthy and ragged, and now I’m here without food or water or any idea of where I am.

I’ve lost Nadir.

That’s when my gaze snags on a dark object nestled in the grass. My breath catches as I stagger over and drop to my knees, picking up the ark of The Woodlands, carved with Zerra’s likeness holding the Staff.