The Twiceborn Queen (The Proving Book 2) (32 page)

“What about us?” one asked. “Will you kill us too?”

“They could be useful,” Luce said in an undertone.

That wall of weapons was coming down first chance I got. I was sick of killing. Sick of hard decisions too. I would be a new sort of queen. The adrenalin rush had worn off, leaving me feeling limper than a wet rag.

“Take them to the dungeons,” I said to Garth. “You’d better take Bear and the other shifters too.” My compulsions wouldn’t last forever, and I wanted them safely under lock and key—not to mention silver—before they wore off. “I’ll decide tomorrow. Oh, and give Thorne the good news while you’re there.”

Was there any hope of gaining Thorne’s support now I was the last one standing? Probably not, given his views on “abominations”. Something else to think about tomorrow.

“Sure.” He detailed a couple of thralls to help and left the room with a procession of shifters.

“This calls for a drink,” Luce said, watching them go with a smile. “I can’t believe you did it.”

“And cake!” said Mac. Trust a werewolf to think of food. “We should celebrate.”

Personally I felt more like hitting the sack, exhausted from the stress, but Mac was trying, so I nodded and tried to look enthusiastic. She probably had no more real desire to celebrate than I did. Jerry had only been dead a week.

“Have you got the old crew back together?” Luce asked as we headed, inevitably, for the kitchen. “Steve and Thommo? What about Eric?”

“We’ve lost a lot of people.” All the bad news I’d have to deliver sat like a weight on my chest, suffocating me.

As we entered the kitchen a small form streaked across the room and wrapped his arms around me. “You won! Good job, Mum.”

His little face glowed, reminding me of the good news. My spirits lifted. “And we gained one, too. This is my son, Lachie. Lachie, this is Luce. She’s a wyvern.”

Her eyes widened. Nope, definitely not the Leandra she was used to. “I didn’t know you had a son! Hello, Lachie.”

“What’s a wyvern?” he asked.

I had to laugh. “Don’t answer too many of his questions. He’s got a million.”

Dave popped a bottle of champagne and offered me the first glass.

“Not to be a party pooper, but if I don’t get a coffee in the next thirty seconds I’m going to fall asleep on the floor.”

“Whatever Her Majesty commands.” He bowed in a very over-the-top way, unable to keep the grin off his face. Glad to see someone was happy, at least. I flopped into the nearest chair. Wonder where Ben was now? If only he would walk in I could stop worrying. And then we could go to bed and sleep for at least a week. Among other things.

So … I was queen. Finally. For me it had only been a couple of weeks, but Leandra had been working towards this day her whole life. And no, it didn’t feel anywhere near as good as she’d expected. The price was too high.

Mac snagged my champagne and sat down next to me. “If you’re not going to drink that …”

“Be my guest.”

She stared at the stream of bubbles rising through the glass, then tossed it off in one gulp. “I think I’ll dye my hair pink. In honour of Jerry.”

What did you say to that? Dave set a steaming coffee in front of me, and refilled Mac’s glass. I raised my coffee in a toast.

“To Jerry.”

Mac lifted her glass, her blue eyes meeting mine. “To all our absent friends.”

I could drink to that.

The coffee burned my lips, strong and hot. I inhaled that glorious coffee smell and waited for the blessed caffeine to hit.

Garth stormed in, his eyes sparking yellow and his aura roiling like a thundercloud, dragging Bear by the arm. “Thorne has escaped!”

“What?” I slammed my cup down in the saucer. Coffee sloshed over the sides. “How?”

He’d been chained in silver. Escape wasn’t possible—unless he’d had outside help. And why had Garth dragged Bear back here? My tired brain took a long moment to put it together.

“Ask this piece of scum. That thrall he took with him when he got the combination from Thorne was chained up in Thorne’s place. Dead.”

A contemptuous shove sent the leshy sprawling across the tiles at my feet, narrowly missing bashing his head on the solid wooden legs of the table. He gazed adoringly up at me, but made no move to rise.

“How did that thrall end up chained in Thorne’s cell?”

“I put him there, my lady.”

“Did you kill him?”

He nodded eagerly. “Yes, my lady.”

How the hell did that work? I scrubbed at my face wearily. “You’d better start at the beginning. What happened when you went to get the combination from Thorne?”

“I sent the thrall in before me. I told him to check the chains were still secure. While he had his back turned I killed him.”

Poor bastard. I didn’t even know his name. I could barely remember what he looked like. Was he the tall guy with blond hair, or the shorter muscly one?

“Then I freed Thorne and asked him for the combination.”

“But you were under a compulsion.” I frowned down into that eager face. In this condition he’d do almost anything for me. It ought to be physically impossible to actively work against me.

“No, I wasn’t. It had worn off by then, only I pretended it hadn’t, and waited for an opportunity. I could hardly believe my luck when you sent me to the dungeon.”

And then I’d renewed his compulsion just before Alicia arrived, leaving him all puppy-dog eager to serve again. Or I thought I’d been renewing it. Actually I’d been setting it afresh, which I might have noticed if only I hadn’t been so damn tired and distracted. I looked into his smiling face and had to fight the urge to drive my fist into it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why hadn’t I locked the little bastard up earlier? I knew the damn compulsion wouldn’t last forever. I looked up at Garth. His aura flared bright with anger.

“What about the selkie and the goblins? Didn’t their compulsions wear off too?”

He nodded happily. “Yes, but I told them to play along. Mr Thorne was very pleased with me.”

I bet he was.

“But why did he give you the combination?” Mac looked as puzzled as I felt.

“Oh, he didn’t want to at first. But when I told him you needed it to defeat Alicia he realised what a good idea it was.”

“I don’t understand,” said Luce.

Well, that made two of us.

“If he didn’t want me to be queen, why on earth would he want me to defeat Alicia? Shouldn’t he be supporting her?”

“It appealed to his sense of fun to let you kill her and think you’d won. It made your defeat even more crushing when it came.” His sense of fun. Right. Sick dragon bastard. “And he needed her dead anyway.”

“But then there’d be
no
queen,” said Luce.

“Oh, no,” said the leshy. “The first proving would be over, but the second could begin.”

“The second proving?” I must be more tired than I thought. I was having trouble following.

“Yes. Elizabeth’s little insurance policy. She’s kept it very secret over the years; only a handful of us know.”

Were the rumours of a sixth sister true after all? But who would she be fighting if I killed Alicia and Thorne killed me? I rubbed my forehead, where the mother of all headaches loomed.

“Five years after she laid the first queen clutch, she laid another.” He smiled at me as if he’d just given me a great gift. “You have seven other sisters.”

Holy crap. That was
not
what I was expecting. Judging by the stunned looks on the faces around the room, nobody else was either.

My heart sank. Seven more sisters to kill.

“Of course,” he went on, in that jaunty tone that made me want to punch him, “if a legitimate daughter had won the proving, they would all have been killed. She always thought Valeria would win. The second clutch was only a back-up plan. She and Mr Thorne were arguing about it only a few days ago. She would still have accepted Alicia, but he wanted her to initiate the second proving. He has his own favourite he’s hoping to see on the throne.”

Of course he did. “And where is he now?”

“With the young candidates. Whichever one of them manages to kill you will gain a great advantage in the second proving. They’ll all be coming for you, and they won’t stop until you’re dead.”

Lachie burst into tears. Bloody hell. I’d forgotten he was here. What a mess.

I went to him and gathered him into my arms. His little body shook with sobs. I stared out the window at the herb garden, where a perfect summer’s day was fading into a perfect evening. A lone cricket chirped somewhere nearby. How come every time I thought I was getting somewhere, things just got worse?

“It’s all right, Monster. I won’t let anybody kill me.”

“I thought we’d
won
,” he sniffed.

Yeah, me too.

“We have. I’m queen now, and nobody’s going to take that away from me.” I gestured at the grovelling leshy. “Garth, lock him up. Luce, I need a proclamation to go out tonight. Call in every herald you can find. Tell the world that the Twiceborn Queen claims the throne.”

If nothing else, that might shake the bounty hunters off Ben’s tail, wherever he was.

Several weary hours later I climbed the stairs to kiss Lachie goodnight. Guards were posted, the house secure. The heralds had been and gone and the prisoners were safely locked away in their silver-barred cells. Tomorrow I’d have to decide what to do with them. Elizabeth’s leshy would probably have to spend a considerable length of time in my dungeon, but Luce seemed to think Alicia’s two could be trusted. I hoped she was right. It would be handy to have two such powerful shifters on staff. I missed Kasumi already.

I sat on the edge of Lachie’s bed and picked pieces of Lego out of his sheets, moving them to the bedside table. “Time for sleep.”

“Can’t I read for five more minutes?”

“Honey, your eyes are nearly falling out of your head already. It’s late.”

He didn’t argue, which meant he really was tired. He put the book next to the Lego and snuggled down into the pillow. He seemed calm again.

It was good to be a kid. If the grown-ups told you everything would work out it must be true. How nice to have that faith.

“Where’d you get the book?”

“From Mac.” He yawned fit to crack his jaw. “She’s nice.”

“She certainly is.” I looked up at movement in the doorway. “And speak of the devil—here she is. Come to say goodnight too, Mac?”

I stood up to get out of her way.

“Yes.” She gave me a strange look. “Goodnight.”

Then she plunged a dagger into my heart.

I staggered, then fell heavily, striking my head on the corner of the bedside table. Lachie’s shrill screams pierced the air as Lego and books scattered. My head exploded with pain. I should get up. I should protect him … from
Mac
? What the hell? The room spun and my vision darkened.

No! Get up, get up! I tried, but my legs were jelly and I couldn’t draw a breath. My chest burned like fire. I expected every moment to feel the bite of the knife again.

“Mum! Mum!” I felt, a long way away, Lachie’s hands tugging at me. “You killed her!”

His voice was shrill and panicked. I struggled to move, to reassure him. I’d be all right. My body could recover even from a blow like that, given time. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

“Mum! Wake up!” Little hands pulled, desperate. “Don’t die!”

Then bigger hands replaced them, and I heard Garth’s voice, hoarse with shock.

“What the hell happened?”

He lifted me onto the bed and shoved something against the pulsing wound in my breast.

“She killed her, she killed her,” Lachie shrieked.

“Mac, what’s going on?”

“It was Kasumi. She attacked and then escaped out the window before I could stop her. She said … she said it was bane leaf.”

“Oh, God. Kate! Kate, can you hear me?”

I could barely hear anything over Lachie’s hysterical screams. I’d missed a piece of Lego; I could feel it digging into my back.

“Get the kid out of here,” he snarled at Mac.

No! It wasn’t Mac. I groped for his hand, tried to explain, but my voice came out in a croak. I could barely make out his shape looming over me. His big hand caught mine.

“Easy, Kate. I’ve got you.”

“Mum! Muuum!”

Don’t let her take him.

The door slammed and Lachie’s shrieks cut off abruptly. Had she killed him? I struggled to get off the bed, but Garth’s heavy hands held me down.

“Don’t move.”

“Lachie …”

“He’s all right. Mac’ll look after him.”

“Wasn’t … Mac.”

“What?” He bent closer.

My vision was clearing. I could make out his face hovering over me. Were those tears? I tried again.

“Not … Mac.” My breath was coming a little easier. The pain in my chest eased as the edges of the wound slowly began to knit. “Kasumi. Betrayed us.”

“I know. She stabbed you.”

As he dashed a tear away Luce burst in. “What’s all the screa—oh, my God.”

“It’s bane leaf,” he said, a catch in his voice.

Luce’s hand flew to her mouth. Bane leaf poisoning had killed Leandra once before, and started this whole thing. The agonising stomach cramps, the spastic tremors, the gradual collapse of the whole system, starting with the extremities—been there, done that. I knew exactly what it felt like.

And this wasn’t it.

I squeezed Garth’s hand.
Come on, Garth, focus
.

“Kasumi disguised as Mac.” I gazed up at him imploringly. “Save Lachie.”

I knew the minute he caught on—his face was a picture of horror when he realised he’d just sent Lachie away in the care of an enemy.

“Shit! Luce, that wasn’t Mac, it was Kasumi. Get after her!”

“Bloody kitsune.” Luce skidded out of the room.

“Go,” I urged him.

“No.” He tightened his grip on my hand. His grey eyes were bright with tears. “I’m not leaving you here alone.”

He thought I was dying. I tried to push him, but he wouldn’t budge. I may as well have pushed a brick wall.

“Not dying.”

He rocked back, a cautious hope dawning in his eyes. “But … bane leaf.”

I felt much stronger. “She must’ve been lying.”

He picked up the dagger from where it had fallen and gave it a cautious sniff. All I could smell was the iron tang of my blood, but werewolves specialised in scent. To anyone else the infamous poison was odourless, but his sensitive nose wrinkled in distaste.