AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterThirteen
Her uncle.Now her king.In his human form, Uncle Lenneck had withered and shriveled—almost as though the dying kingdom had tapped into his life-force, leaving him fifty pounds thinner with his hair carved into balding patches, long lines around his mouth, and eyes cratered deeply in a permanent frown.The amethyst that had been the wicked crown’s massive sparkling centerpiece hung around his neck.The jewel looked like it threatened to strangle him, a millstone to drown him in its cursed quicksand.
Vori’s breath caught, the air in her lungs clawing for release.Her skin tingled with a flood of stabbing pins and nerve-ending needles.A rush of adrenaline slammed through her and spun outward.She burned from within as if stuck between slipping skins.
No.This sizzling power, it didn’t come from her.
Perry.
His powers swelled and rolled over her, calling to the addiction she’d quickly formed to the high she rode each time she tapped into his magic.Like an electrical shock to bring her back to reality, her chest unlocked, her smothering fear lifted, and she could suck in a breath.She clamped her fingers tighter around his arm and pulled hard, gulping down the magic in overwhelming draws.
Guards in black—the customary king’s guard uniforms—surrounded them, weapons at the ready.The gravity of the situation hit her.
“Uncle.”She dropped into a curtsy, perfected at the edge of a cane in her childhood.“Your Majesty.”She corrected herself, pleading for a stay of execution because why else would the king invade her suite so quickly with an armed guard?Dragging her consort into a bow with a quick tug, she thanked the powers for her goblin strength.
Not being able to see her uncle’s expression while holding the curtsy and bowed head had gut-clenching dread exploding through her.Waiting for the king’s judgment was worse than being caught in the middle of her biggest heist clutching the stolen loot.Except she couldn’t fake their way out of this.
Hiding the amethyst-studded cuff behind her back, she dipped lower instead of making a fist over her heart.No need to add more questions than how she’d stayed alive, been gone for over a decade, and returned with a witch at her side.Focusing on the floor, she studied the uneven dips and bumps as if they could make her forget her vulnerable, exposed position.Or worse, Perry’s.
She risked a quick glance to where he bowed and stared at her, his gaze searching for an answer.This wasn’t a human trial to be judged on merits, evidence, and arguments.Please.She mouthed the word, silently willing him to keep his mouth shut instead of launching into his ever-the-attorney method of building a case out of any situation.
Steps muffled on the stone floor had her tensing every muscle.Her hair slipped from her neck, leaving it open to an incoming attack.She couldn’t take much more of this.
The waiting.
The uncertainty.
The horrific possibilities.
A trembling weight landed on the back of her head, a gentle stroke as one would pet a favored animal or child.
“Vori?”The king’s voice broke on her name as if her being here had shattered him.
She raised her head to meet his gaze without rising.“Uncle.”
“You’re alive.You’ve come home.”He brushed a soft touch against her hair, her shoulder, as though she might disappear.“You look just like her.”
She didn’t have to wonderwhohe meant.Her mother.The heartache in his words told a deeper story.Her gorgeous, strong-willed mother who had married a mad king.And now, she was gone.
It was a truth Vori couldn’t run away from.All the denial and escape in these two realms couldn’t undo the loss.Her throat burned, and she clenched her jaw to keep the grief from spilling out.There was no lock she couldn’t pick, but this one…she didn’t want opened.
“What happened to you?”the king asked.
“Mother sent me through the glass to the human realm.”She wouldn’t share more until she knew the potential consequences.
“You’ve been gone so long.”
“I couldn’t come back.”Again, truth without explanation.
“You’re home now.It’s all that matters.”
A dark-haired woman stepped beside the king.The stranger looked as though she couldn’t decide between her human and goblin skins.She curled her fingers into claws, but her soft human flesh bent wrong at the knuckles.A giant silver crown towered on her head.Artanya, the pretender queen.
Her face looked as if someone had tried to tear it off years ago.Deep gashes crisscrossed her cheeks and nose, leaving ridges of scar tissue that drew each feature downward in a tragedy mask.Only the woman’s hard gaze remained untouched.
Her uncle waved a hand.“My consort.”
“Your queen.”Artanya’s tone was glacier cold.
