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Because my mother had been in charge of freezing her aging, and she must have tied the spell to the teeth as a failsafe.
Reid takes a step away from his mother, then another, but instead of a horrified look as he watches her wither away to wrinkles and bones, then ash and dust, his expression is entirely calm, cold.
When it’s over and the room falls into silence again, Reid meets my eyes, then scans the rest of me, stilling at the mess of blood at my throat.
Tentatively, I lower my hand from the wound. Before either of us can say anything, the door bursts open.
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
“Two estate headsdead in the same night,” mutters King Auclair as he paces behind his desk.
A hysterical laugh gets caught in the back of my throat. A rather regrettable choice of words seeing as the king of Locklear’s head was just used as decor in the hallway.
Or maybe the hysteria is coming from the blood all over my hands. The blood of the queen. Who I just killed. Who also happens to be the mother of my boyfriend.
Who I just killed.
“He’s picking us off one by one. A simple glamour or mind compulsion spell never would’ve been enough to overpower her,” he continues, mostly talking to himself. “The security breach alone…”
At least he believed us about the glamour, otherwise I doubt we’d be sitting so cordially in his office chairs, at least not without handcuffs. But that isn’t much of a relief, at least not enough to quench the nausea churching in my stomach as I peek at Reid out of the corner of my eye.
He hasn’t said a word since it happened, and now he sits with his back straight, hands tightly gripping the arms of the chair, gaze leveled on the king. It took me a moment to realize what this would mean for him, but he must have known right away.
He’s the crown prince. Next in line for the throne.
I know he’s never wanted the crown, but especially now, when the estate heads are Westcott’s targets…
What have I done?
Maybe I should have tried harder to subdue her, to get some answers, to figure out who had influenced her to go after Reid. She could have been more useful to us alive.
I startle as Reid’s hand slides into my lap, linking my fingers with his and giving them a reassuring squeeze. A similar sensation registers through the bond next, and I realize how tightly it’s strung between us.
I guess it’s not worth agonizing over. I can’t very well bring her back from a pile of ash.
I just reduced my boyfriend’s mother to a pile of ash.
“I’ll have my Marionettes see if they can glean anything from her…remains. Would you like to keep them?”
I blink back to the room. King Auclair is focused on Reid, his expression almost remorseful.
“No,” Reid says simply.
King Auclair gives a single nod. “A team just left, and we have our strongest Marionettes working on a boundary for the estate for extra protection. The other estate heads have all agreed to get involved at this point.”
“That won’t be enough,” a voice singsongs.
I stiffen in my chair, but no one else in the room reacts.
Because no one else can hear her.
V paces to the desk, stopping directly beside the king. She smiles, but there’s nothing warm about it, just sick amusement in watching me squirm.
“You could stop this,” she says. “Or maybe you don’t want to. Maybe you want to see Daddy Dearest’s plans succeed? But in that case, why not take him up on his offer and switch sides?”
I grit my teeth to keep from responding and catch Reid looking at me out of the corner of my eye.
“It’s not too late to get ahead of this,” she continues. “We can take him out now, or you can come crying to meafteryou find your boyfriend’s head somewhere other than his body. If it’s the ingredients of that particular spell you’re so worried about, I’m sure we could find another that would do the trick. I can even pick out who we sacrifice so you don’t have to choose.”
