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On my other side, Elise squeezed my hand, her blue eyes held mine. “This is your birthright. A fated queen.”
Nerves were irritating. I knew the ring woke for me, but turns of being irrelevant had a way of chipping at the soul. Doubt and a bit of fear were thick and sharp. I knew the Kryv accepted me, they’d made me one of theirs.
But would a kingdom do the same? Only yesterday I’d been their enemy.
I blew out a long breath. With shadows around me and Kase at my side, I stepped into the center of the room. The walk toward Niall took ages. Whispers followed me, but I kept my gaze straight ahead.
“You do not know what you’ve done,” Niall said, voice harsh, like pebbles rattled in the back of his throat.
“I know you believe there is some dark power that wanted you on the throne, but the ring chose me. Fate chose me.”
I scanned a few curious faces of noble folk, of Alvers from across the kingdom. There were academics who’d arrived after the academy had been overthrown. Wealthy who had been pampered by Ivar. Alvers who’d emerged from their dark corners of hiding across the regions peered over shoulders curiously. All waited for their sign of proof I was who I said.
“Then kill me, Memory Thief,” Niall said. “Take your throne. You will do me a service. More battles are to come, and I shall watch them at the table of the gods while you lot bleed.”
The unquenchable fear of future battles prickled up my back. No. This was our victory—it was foretold by my mother, by sagas from centuries ago. Niall Grym had no power here. Nor did his manipulative, ominous words.
“I am not a memory thief.” I lifted my voice so all could hear. “I am Malin. Born of House Eld, the royal line of the queens of old, raised by House Strom, and vowed for the eternities to House Eriksson. I have many names, but I am not a simple memory thief. I am the fated one to hold this ring.”
I shot my hand in the air, revealing the burning glow of the rune marks. Murmurs grew louder across the room. Anticipation, fear, a new thrill gathered around us like smoke, breathing in and out of our lungs. Adding a bit of fire to the blood.
I tilted my head, grinning at Niall. “I will not kill you. What would that prove? These folk need to see the truth of my words. That is your fate, Niall Grym; you shall secure my throne.”
Raum, Lynx, and Isak were the ones who held Niall’s shoulders. They kept him from thrashing too much as I covered Niall’s face with the hand with the ring.
Kase was close. His shadows thickened like a comforting embrace. But soon, the darkness spilled from my palms. There were times I wondered what the mesmer of the last queen looked like. Was it bright and comforting? What mesmer had her lover used, what had her vows created?
Shadows were ours. Feared by some, revered by others.
I smiled as thin rivulets of dark mist slid through Niall’s nose and parted mouth. I inhaled. The cool pull of his memories was bitter on my tongue. One after the other. More breath pulled inky darkness from Niall into me. With the ring, I whispered my desire, a future I had planned for Niall Grym in my head.
Soft, eerie voices returned with direction on how it should be done.
In the early dawn, I’d fretted over the fate of our prisoners. Of Niall most of all. The thought of slitting his throat had upset my insides like a storm inside. I’d nearly vomited at the idea. Then a new thought came. One I’d taken to Kase, to Luca, even to Valen and Elise since they had been in this place not so long ago.
I would take the memories of my enemy, but with the ring, I would reshape his thoughts. Like Ivar’s mesmer, I would change who he was in his own mind. But the added power of the ring would not leave a glimmer of true memories. He would be a man in the world who wished to live a simple life and would never know the truth of his past.
Perhaps it was not the vengeful death many wanted for Niall Grym.
Some might call it merciful. They wouldn’t for long.
When the warmth from the queen’s ring had bloomed throughout my body, I knew it was the best way to prove who I was. The way to truly end the battle of the East. Even still, I’d asked the others. Luca and Dagny had the most reason to hate Niall. But they’d agreed.
Now, they stood close, hand in hand, and watched as I took Niall’s need to destroy his younger brother, as I stole the memories of Dagny, and instead made her simply a woman he would see in passing. Niall would not even know he was a Mediski.
He would be nothing to us. We would be nothing to him.
On my last draw of breath, my eyes fluttered open. Silence grew like a physical thing in the room, pressing against the walls, causing the space to shrink against us.
When Niall lifted his head, his eyes were different. They were absent his cruelty. His lips twitched in a small grin. “Hello,de hän.” Niall looked around. He stared at Luca head on. There was no recognition. “Forgive me, but I seem to . . . not know where I am exactly.”
My heart raced. I’d altered the entire truth of his being. A new history, a new life. I’d stolen the truth and replaced it fully with something else.
Unless he was lying.
She did not wait for me to wave her over. Junius was at my side in the next breath and stepped in front of Niall.
“What is your name?” she asked.
