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With a sputtered sniff of surprise, she cried, “We most certainly do not—”
But I kept talking over her, “I’d like to discuss the approaching Donnelly army.”
That caught her off guard. She blinked, demanding, “What about them?”
“They’re coming to attack, merely to get me back. So I’m here to help you keep the peace and prevent a battle.”
“Help me?” the queen snorted incredulously. “I don’t need assistance from a smart-mouthed little princess who doesn’t know her place. I say, let them come. We’re ready to fight.”
“You most certainly are not,” I argued. “There are innocent villagers out there on the streets right now who’ll get caught in the crossfire if you go to battle. And you haven’t even started to evacuate anyone. The Donnelly troops have already burned a path through the Dimway Forest and probably the Back Forest by now as well. Just think of how many of your subjects that’s harmed. Hundreds have probably already been displaced from their homes because of this.”
Kalendria merely shrugged. “Not my problem.” Strolling down the steps from the dais, she approached me at a leisurely pace, her hips swaying as her cape trailed along the floor behind her and her heeled sandals clicked against stone. “Your kingdom is the one causing all the collateral damage. This is on their shoulders.”
“But I can help you stop them,” I growled, wishing I could just shake some sense into her. “As soon as Urban, the leader of the Donnellean army, sees me alive and well and not being held captive, he will cease their advance immediately. I can probably even get their soldiers to restore a good portion of the damage they caused before they return home. This doesn’t have to end in any more bloodshed.”
“But I’ve grown a taste for blood, princess. Starting with yours.” She stepped in closer, her eyes glittering with crazed malice. “And when your army arrives, I’ll relish dumping your rotting corpse off the tallest tower of my castle, right into their laps.”
My lips parted in horrified shock as I listened to her plans.
“Then we’ll eliminate every one of your savage soldiers and show the rest of the Outer Realms to never discount the power and might of Far Shore again.”
I shook my head, desperately. “No. They’ll defeat you. Your soldiers would never be able to take on the full force of—”
“I guess that’s just where we’ll have to agree to disagree, then.”
Snagging my elbow in a brutal grip, she yanked me close. When I heard the snick of a dagger being drawn open and felt the sharp tip of its blade prod my side, I drew in a gasp and glanced toward the back of the room.
I could tell both Indigo and Farrow were frowning in concern, straining to see exactly what was happening at this end of the hall, but they couldn’t tell that the queen meant to kill me herself, here and now.
Keeping my cool, I turned back to Kalendria. “I take it you’ve changed your mind about ransoming me, then.”
The queen narrowed her eyes. “The moment I learned your brother dared to invade my land with his filthy troops, yes, your life became forfeit. We’ll teach them once and for all not to mess with us.”
I nodded as if I understood. “It seems you’ve made up your mind on the subject.”
“Most definitely,” she snarled in a low voice, her eyes flaming with hatred. “But tell me one thing first before I spill your life’s blood all over this floor.”
I arched my brows. “What’s that, Your Majesty?”
Her features filled with disgust as she studied me from head to toe. Then she sniffed dismissively and asked, “How it is that he would have the gall to turn me down, only to let an ugly, pathetic thing like you into his bed?”
Momentarily too boggled to answer, I blinked in surprise. But I had never expected her scorn for me to come from jealousy, because I’d snagged Farrow and she hadn’t.
Realizing I had already conquered her in one way, despite the fact she was seconds away from gutting me, I smiled broadly and made a show of taking the hairpin from my tresses so I could fling the newly freed locks over my shoulder in a saucy show of defiance. “I guess you’re just incapable of the proper kind of seduction it takes to secure a real man, and I’m not.”
“Bitch!” She seethed, gritting her teeth. “I’ll show you exactly what I’m capable of.”
With a cry of triumph, she reared her arm back high, intending to plunge her dagger forward and stab me straight through the heart.
Behind me, I heard a chorus of voices yell, “Nooooo…”
But I blocked them out so I could concentrate. Beating Kalendria to the punch, I gripped the hairpin tight within my fingers and I came up low, thrusting the needle-pointed end forward so I could shove it straight into her throat as hard as I could.
This time, there was no hesitation before the magic was released. Vines pierced her neck on impact, the ladder growing out through the back of her head and arching up toward the ceiling, as more grew from the front of her chest toward the floor.
The queen barely had a chance to gasp in surprise before her eyes dulled, and death became her.
Shuddering from the grossness of it, I drew back and immediately whirled to face Farrow and the others as they pounded forward to assist.
