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The guard moved to enter the room in front of the woman.
“Do you think me a threat to my crown princess?”the commanding servant asked, daring the armed goblin to challenge her.The guard stepped out, snapping the door shut.
Perry reached for the heavy platter that must weigh as much as the servant did, but she sent him a reproachful glare.He’d violated some unspoken rule here.But before he could ask what he’d done, the woman’s face lit up as though she’d witnessed some miracle.The tray fell from her hands, and he caught it.Gold-rimmed china and forks clanged against the metal with the sudden movement.
“Vorishka.Crown Princess.You’re alive.The rumors, they were true.”The woman bent forward as if to prostrate herself, but Vori stopped her by grabbing her hands.
“Jura?It’s so good to see you.”She froze.“An iron collar?But…but why?Who did this to you?And why are you in old kitchen garb?What has happened?”
The woman’s gaze darted around the room.This close, he could see the gray band around the woman’s neck and the slight point to her ears.
“I activated the privacy stones,” Vori said.“Talk to me.”
“Queen Artanya.Sheis what happened.”
“Why would my uncle marry someone so cruel?”
“Artanya made sure he did.Besides, the other realms have cut off contact with King Lenneck after your mother’s murder, and the goblin glass is guarded.No one has come in or out of the human realm.Until you two.”
Vori looked at him.“Jura is part fae.The iron is slowly killing her.Help me get it off.”
“No.”The woman raised her hand as if to shield the collar.“The so-called queen has been searching for a reason to kill me since she took the throne.Remove it, and she’ll use it against me.Your uncle’s love for you and your mother is the only reason I survived.”
“I don’t understand.What could the queen consort have against you?”
Jura glanced at the door.“We don’t have much time, but you aren’t safe here.She’ll find a way to get to you.”
Warning prickles rose across Perry’s arms and the back of his neck.“What do you mean?”They were here to catch a killer.What else were they facing?
“Artanya blames Vori’s mother for keeping her own mother off the throne,” Jura said.
“That’s ridiculous,” Vori said.“My grandfather made the arrangement for my parents’ marriage with Queen Clio to unite our court with the faerie throne.”
“Artanya spread the rumors that your father was engaged to her own mother before the bargain was struck.Her family likely instigated the lies that led to your mother’s murder.”The woman’s voice broke.“I tried to get to you both that night.The castle—it blocked me.The passages closed behind you.The guards, they killed your tutors, your nannies, your mother’s staff.All but me.”
“My mother was trapped here,” Vori said.“I should’ve taken her with me.”
“She wouldn’t have let you.”Jura’s eyes shone with unshed tears.“To her, you were the only one who ever mattered.Kradnovtl has been dying without you, without her golden-born, without her Vorishka.It’s the same as what would happen to the faerie court without our Queen Clio.”
“That nonsense was created to keep kings and queens on their thrones.”The room brightened even as his princess said the words.
“You need to take your rightful place,” Jura said.“Your mother came here, gave up true love, sacrificed everything because she knew you would be the true queen to save Kradnovtl.”
Vori pulled away, the action as clear as slamming a door on that conversation.
This wasn’t helping.Perry needed to get as much useful information as he could in the limited time they had.“How do we keep the princess safe?”His life depended on Vori’s for as long as they remained in the goblin realm, and she was his only ticket out.
Jura looked to him.“Stay away from Artanya.Find mercy with the king.He will love Vori.She looks just like her mother.”
“The realm.The woods.When did they start dying?”He had a strong suspicion but no proof.
“The day after Vori left and her father died in the royal challenge.”
“Impossible,” Vori insisted.“The divine rule bullshit?Legends told by kings to keep power.”
“No.Some realms need their true rulers to survive.Queen Clio may be a monster, but she’s the lifeblood of the faerie realm as you will be for Kradnovtl.”Voices argued in the hallway, coming closer.“Be careful, Princess.”Jura bowed and slipped out the door before he could ask another question.
He was alone again with Vori in this strange place.Wandering through the chic suite that could’ve been lifted from any luxury hotel, he gave her a few moments to deal with confronting memories that kept coming at her from the maid to the castle to being here in her old rooms.
