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“I beg to differ,” she spat when the noise had settled.
I pressed a hand to my side with a wince, trying to staunch the steady flow of deep red that was oozing from the wound. A rhythmical patter of blood dripped from the dagger that the Queen now held loosely in her hand as she looked down on me with a smirk. The others were fully fighting now, cursing and struggling as it took three guards on each of them to pin them down to the floor.
I looked up at her delighted, unbalanced expression, giving her a grim smile.
“I always wondered why you hated me so fiercely,” I murmured. “I didn’t realise that the problem wasn’t me. Power has corrupted you so completely that nothing else matters.”
She tittered a delicate, and somewhat unhinged, laugh. “You are but a blip in my existence, Cordelia. And a useless one at that as it turns out. Best to be over and done with.”
She leaned forward and angled the dagger across the flesh of my throat, ignoring the shouts from my mates as they helplessly looked on. I felt the sharpness of the blade nick my skin a split second before a large hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked it away, leaving me gaping up at Mikael as he held firmly onto her arm.
“No, Melania, I cannot allow this.”
A surprised guffaw of laughter burst from her mouth as she took in his hand on her, looking up at his face with incredulity.
“She is your daughter,” he continued gruffly. “You will forever regret it if…”
His words cut off as she pressed her free hand gently to his chest. I watched in horror as his face flushed, tensing with pain as she smiled serenely up at him.
“I see that you have held power in this castle for too long,” she whispered ominously. “And seem to think you can question me. Let me correct that oversight.”
She continued to smile at him as he began to shake, his skin bright red now. He attempted to cough out a plea as she pumped her power into him, a cry escaping instead as his flesh began to burn. His eyes darted frantically to mine as a tear ran down my cheek, knowing that his was about to be yet another name on the list of those who had perished in this fight.
I’m sorry, I mouthed, seeing his lips twitch up in a small, resigned smile as a spurt of blood burst from his nose and he began to choke. Bubbling blood erupted from his mouth as she finally released him, his eyes wide and vacant by the time his body hit the floor with a resounding thud.
Chapter Thirty
Cordelia
Iswallowedbackagroan as a slash of agony tore through me from the wound on my side.
Blood seeped through my fingers where they were pressed against it, but the need to reach over and gently close Mikael’s empty eyes was overwhelming. No matter how well he had tried to hide it, I couldn’t deny that he had been protecting me for as long as I could remember. He had been a good man, and my eyes streamed as I let that knowledge fuel me rather than break me.
Fury sparked back to life in my gut as I swiped the tears from my cheeks. I could sit here and break down, or I could get up and fight. This wasn’t about me anymore, not when I was the only thing standing between my mother and the suffering of so many people, and I wasn’t about to give in after everything it had taken to get here.
I stayed down on my knees as I straightened my spine and tore my eyes away from Mikael. To my irritation, the Queen was back on her throne, her eyes roaming over my mates as if they were the next bugs to be squashed.
“Exactly how old are you, anyway?” I asked insolently, grabbing her attention again.
She scoffed, apparently not bothering with her obsession with decorum at all anymore. I surged on though, needing her focus on me but also genuinely wanting answers.
“I mean, you’ve been stealing years, but for how long?”
Her eyes narrowed at me, and I could see that I had surprised her again. “Well, well, you really have been busy, haven’t you.”
It was my turn to scoff. “What? You thought I would see what you had going on downstairs and not understand? Give me some credit, Mother.”
She pursed her lips and lightly shrugged. “Well, your words have just condemned every person in this room, so fine, we can chat.”
I felt the guards around us shift uneasily at her words, realising that the information they were hearing had sentenced them to death, but she paid them no attention. Leaning back in the seat, she resumed drumming a rhythm on the gilded wood with her fingertips.
“I was here before your precious wolves even existed,” she said with a smirk. “I have been here long enough that this castle was mine from the creation of its foundations. I amtheQueen, not one of a line, and there is no one who can challenge me.”
I spat more blood onto the carpeted floor as my wounds throbbed. “You’ve corrupted this world in your obsession with power.”
She slammed to her feet, screeching with sudden anger. “There wouldn’t be a world without me!”
I laughed, wincing at the pain that darted through my side. “Bullshit. I’ve seen those tunnels, the monoliths, the portals. They’re all even older than you. There was a civilisation here before, I’ve seen the runes. I don’t know exactly what you did, but I’m guessing that you corrupted something meaningful.”
