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And I need to kill him.
"Our mother is a woodland hag. Lovely people, her family. See, we come from a long line that has a very specific set of traditions."
I know what he's going to say. In fact, I'm so certain, I don't wait for Loch to finish his sentence. "We must kill someone from our own bloodline to step into our power."
"Bingo!"
The utterly human expression should have surprised me, but of course, he knows it.
He's very well versed in the human realm.
He's been there, hundreds of times. Thousands of times, watching me, talking to me.
"I killed my father," Loch admits. "Long story. But unfortunately for me, Rina's daddy's long gone, and well, she'll never find our dear mother, so. Here I am."
He walks to me, pulling a knife strapped to his belt, hilt first.
I don't move to take it.
"It'll take the lords hours at best to realize the castle's open. They'll come for you. If you don't have your power, you're dead. You can kill me, or you can die. It's that simple."
He's matter-of-fact, resigned, and so unbearably relaxed.
"No," is all I say. Because it's that simple. I'm not killing my brother.
My brother.
Loch sighs. "I was born for this, Rina. The moment your dear old dad died, Mom popped out another kid so you could do this."
"She raised you to be slaughtered by her other child?" Ryther sneers.
Loch laughs. "If that surprises you, you didn't know our mother very well. When I was seven, she made me swear to never covet the crown. When I came of age, she told me about my sister and made me vow to do everything in my power to help her. Here I am."
Cursed by promises demanded by his mother. Someone he should have trusted to love him unconditionally. But she only was using him as a tool.
To make me queen.
Why me? Why not him? He's certainly better suited for the job. A true fae, with all their trickery, an understanding of how this world works. And power. He radiates power, even more so than Ryther.
"You don't have to die. If I need to murder someone from my family, we should find her. However long it takes."
"Darina, as long as one of us is alive, the other is in danger," Loch says. "The lords might have been blind to what I am for a long time, but they won't be once they see us together."
His eyes flash, and I recognize mine. Then, before my widening eyes, I watch his pale hair shift to a deep dark blue, then to a bright pink, and gold, and silver.
"I hide what I am, and they've forgotten most of the true tales about their old queens. But they'll see. And we'll be used against each other. They can wiggle out of their vows to you, if they pretend to be serving me."
I shake my head, but Ryther's voice interrupts us for the first time."He's right. The oath of the lords is to serve the blood of the high queen. Unless they all swear a new, specific vow to Darina, their loyalty will mean nothing while he lives."
So I'll be powerless because I can't have our abilities without murdering him, and also likely to be betrayed.
The walls are closing around me, caging me in. It's all I can do to breathe.
“Oh, one last thing.” Loch smiles. “Darina Thorn, of the house of Harthorn, I name you my heir. May all present bear witness. Upon my death, all my belongings, all my bargains, all favors due to me belong to you.”
Now I’m crying.
How long has he planned this? Accumulating riches, pacts, just to pave the way for me after I killed him? No one has ever deserved this kind of devotion less than me.
