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ChapterTwenty-Two
Vori’s breath caught, and her skin prickled with goose bumps.She’d heard stories of only one faerie queen who could appear when called through a mirror after blood summons.Her mother’s ruler.The terrifying immortal who had bartered one of her subjects to a mad king.The one worshipped as a goddess for centuries.Queen Clíodhna.
Vori held perfectly still.
Remain calm.
Maybe the mirror didn’t work both ways.
“You look exactly as your mother did when she went to the goblin realm.Except those amethyst eyes.”There went the hold-still-and-she-can’t-see-me theory.“Just as the prophecies predicted.Ever so beautiful with such beastly strength.”
Vori bit back her need to tell the immortal what she could do with her “Beauty and the Beast” bullshit.Although it’d been said as though high praise.
“Queen Clíodhna.”Damn, she couldn’t remember all the titles that her mother had taught her.Something about beauty and banshees.
“Please, child.We speak queen to queen.It’s Clio.”
Child?What a way to condescend before extending common courtesy.But the immortal was rumored to be over two thousand years old.Vori did the mental calculations.She’d lived approximately one percent of that two-millennia mark, so some allowances could be made if the woman thought they were on a first-name basis.Her brain rewound, skidded, and stopped.“Queen to queen?”
The immortal frowned.“The prophecies didn’t mention you’d be stupid.”
“Because I’m not.”Or maybe she was.She had accepted a challenge for a throne she didn’t want.To save Jura, but still.“But I’m also not a queen.”
“You’re the goblin queen.You were born to be.Slip skins.I dare you to show me anything but a massive golden crown.”
No way Vori was slipping skins.But she couldn’t deny the crown’s existence.“So?”
“So…” Clio drawled, as if to emphasize the “stupid” conclusion.“It’s your destiny.”
“People keep saying that word.”
“Because it’s all that matters.And watch your tone.I’ve killed people for less.However, I’ll make an exception for you as a fellow ruler.A simpleminded one.”
Vori resisted the urge to roll her eyes.She focused on Clio’s throne and all that beautiful gold.So shiny.Except…was that a skull?Or two?Or ten?She squinted.What the hell kind of ruler had her mother served?“Your throne?”
“Yes?”
“Is it made of skulls?”
Clio curved her lips in a triumphant take-no-prisoners smile.“It is forged from those I have vanquished.Covered in gold.That should call to the goblin in you.”
“It does.”Lying wouldn’t help.“The pulsing lights around it?Magic?”
“Mymagic.My blood sustains the realm.Much like your own.”She gestured toward the stones behind Vori that glowed gold and violet.Great.Even her castle wanted to make her look stupid.
“I don’t sustain an entire realm.”No matter what everyone said.
“You do for now.Blood is what gives our worlds life.You’ll need many offspring to make up for the royal blood your father spilled.Have you begun taking lovers?”
Vori blinked.What a completely inappropriate turn this conversation had taken.Lovers?She hadn’t done more than kiss the one man she wanted.“I have a consort.”She fought a groan.Why had she volunteered that information?To brag?To defend herself?It wasn’t as if Perry had suggested he would stay.Even if she had to.
“Tell me about him.”
“He’s a witch.”
“Oh no.That won’t do.Male witches have no active powers.”
“This one does.”
