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“What do you want?” I ask. “I’ll give you anything.”
The queen frowns, and there’s a moment I think she’s pondering granting my request. That there’s something I can give her she actually longs for.
But then the queen sighs, because even she must know I’ll never be her son, not even if I wanted to be. “I expect you to find a way to extract the magic from the girl. Let’s hope the time constraint will provide you with the spur of motivation you need. Ring the bell should you find anything,” she says, gesturing to a rope in the corner of the room that Gunter and I use to request food from the kitchens.
And with that, the queen stands, brushes the dust off the skirts of her nightgown, and ascends the steps.
Leaving me alone with my prey.
CHAPTER28
NOX: AGE TWENTY
I’ve done it.
I’ve found a way out.
It’s taken me nine years, but I’d gladly sacrifice that time just to see my family once more.
Once the queen understands what I’ve discovered, she’ll grant me so much more than one last time. Because I’ve uncovered the solution to the gaping hole in the queen’s cold, dead heart. The price of my freedom is cheap compared to what I’m prepared to offer her.
The antidote swirls in the corked vial. It has the look of the steam that drifts off ice after it’s been soaked in boiling water, except there’s a purplish glint to it. I suppose that’s from the bat I ground up as a life sacrifice.
There are plenty of them down here in the dungeons, so it was either the horrifying winged creatures or the rats that scurry against the stone floor at all hours of the night.
I would have preferred to kill the rats, but I thought the bats more fitting.
They have wings to fly, yet they’re bound to the night, just as I am bound to this castle.
The shimmer in the antidote comes from the shards of mirror I ground to a fine dust and sprinkled into the mixture, combined with the liquid moonlight I procured from one of my and Gunter’s seedier contacts.
Gunter doesn’t know of course, about the liquid moonlight. My mentor might be a male of science, but he’s the superstitious sort, prone to believing the legends of old, which would have us believe the silky substance is Fates-cursed.
Perhaps it is, but plenty of antidotes are made with ingredients that if consumed in isolation are lethal.
And if Gunter and I have learned anything from dissecting the queen’s concoctions, it’s that any negative property of a substance can be counteracted.
My formula is missing one ingredient still—one I’ll have to procure from the queen—but she’ll hand it over readily if I only ask.
Because I made this antidote with her in mind, and she won’t be able to resist it.
I decideto present my discovery over dinner. It’s a nightly occurrence that the queen has forced upon me ever since I was a child, but tonight I don’t mind it. It affords me council with the queen without having to ask. She won’t be expecting the deal I wish to make either, so her answer will depend upon emotion, and for once, the queen’s emotions will work in my favor.
The dinner she has prepared for me is hearty—roasted quail with spiced beets and smashed potatoes on the side. Normally I can’t get enough of Simeon’s cooking and often sneak extras after dinner, but tonight my fork taps against my barely touched plate.
“Farin, dear. You’re fidgeting, child.”
I fight the urge to crane my neck and shake off the name that oozes through my bones. Just a few more days, I remind myself. Then I’ll be rid of that name for good.
And the termchild.
And all the unwanted terms and notions of endearment I receive from the queen.
She leans across the table and places the back of her cold hand on my forehead. “You don’t appear feverish,” she says, and I swallow the urge to cringe at her touch.
“Just excited, is all,” I say, grateful when she rescinds her hand.
A pleased smile balances precariously on the queen’s face. She’s not used to me being cordial, let alone enthusiastic around her.
