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Seven hells, he was even more of a tool than I remember. "I understand why someone got rid of him. But the entire family?"
Valina's smile seems a little sad."When was the last time you made a decision for any reason but your entertainment, little Devar?"
I narrow my eyes. What does she know about me, to throw accusations of this sort?
"You're cruel. It is in your nature. Those you love best, you'll tease and trick for fun. The blood of the fae does not wane with time, especially mixed with that of an immortal. It is not natural for your kind to rule over theirs, child."
"You're saying you think me unfit to rule." The insult wouldn't needle so much if it wasn't tinged with a bit of truth.
"I'm saying you should have ruled a fairy court in the wild lands. For all the words they choose to describe themselves, demis, halfbloods, the inhabitants of the mortal kingdoms are just that. Mortals."
"Hypocritical, coming from you."
"I'm no queen," she snaps. "Those under my care, I protect. Do you?"
"So, what, you'd have me give up my crown?"
"I'd have you deserve it, child."
I decide I dislike this woman quite intensely, though her words aren't likely to leave me anytime soon. "Why not kill me then? If the traitors believed, like you, that the Devars aren't worthy of the throne."
"Isn't that obvious?"
I'm entirely clueless.
"My, it's a good thing you're pretty. I refused to come to a man's aid and a hundred corpses were burned high the next day, Devar."
My jaw ticks. She can't mean it. "You?"
Valina shrugs. "I let it be known that if the last child was taken, I'd look a little closer, is all."
And it's enough. The threat of Valina Frejr's fury has served as a shield I didn't know I had for most of my life.
I'm about to thank her, when the ground beneath my feet shakes and collapses.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX
THE FALL
The session's over, and I'm still reeling.
I don't want to see Zale, or anyone, after hearing them spit on common folk for an entire hour, so I get out of there fast, eager to get to the square.
The crowd is still thick, celebrating leaders who don't care about them at all. Today was only about protecting their own interests.
I approach a food stand. "I'll have a meat bun, if you please."
"What lovely manner, miss."
I wince at seeing a common old man treat me like one of them.
I suppose in these fancy clothes of mine, I'm costumed into a lady.
I don't think I like the thought.
I overpay him with a gold instead of a copper and savor my bun as I wander around the square, stopping to watch every stand.
I smile at a magician hiding cards in his sleeve with the speed of a true sorcerer, when a thundering sound makes my heart drop to my stomach. I scream, along with the rest of the square. They scatter in every direction, panicked, the mob crushing this way and that.
