Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
“Don’t you mean Queen Romeria?”
“Come forward, Agatha,” she seethes. “Face all those you betrayed in the light.”
I ease around the table. I should have asked for descriptions of everyone so I’d know who was who. But I wasn’t supposed to be confronting all of them together.
“How do you like the changes I’ve made so far?” The Prime waves a hand at the lanky, stern-faced man beside her. “My new Second.”
“You’ve replaced Allegra.”
“As if she would retain her position after betraying the guild!” The Prime scoffs. “She will be punished for her part in this vast web of conspiracy that we are still working to unravel.”
I guess that answers the question about how much Lorel knows about the Second’s involvement in all this.
“Caster Gaian has replaced Barra as Master Messenger.” She waves a hand at a stalky male who squirms in his chair under the attention.
Two casters I can’t trust because Lorel clearly does.
“So? After eight decades of life, your legacy will end with a tale of great deception, two realms now under attack from Nulling beasts because a key caster you nurtured and protected released the nymphs. What do you have to say for yourself, Agatha?”
“I should ask you the same. Twenty-five years ago, Queen Neilina ordered Ianca to summon Aoife, to create a weapon against Islor. Don’t tell me you didn’t have any idea—”
“I had no clue!”
“Then you’re a fool and a terrible leader.”
Anger bursts in her eyes.
In the next instant, shards of something razor-sharp pelt my body. I double over from pain as at least two dozen tiny ice daggers drop to the floor in front of me. Along with them are splatters of my blood. She attacked me without so much as a flick of her wrist.
I breathe through my nose as my affinities vibrate like a live wire, begging me to unleash them. If I look up now, I’ll give myself away. I’m also liable to incinerate her.
“Tell me, how did you convince Caster Wendeline to abduct that elemental baby and travel to Islor?”
I keep my eyes on the floor. “I didn’t need to convince her of anything. Caster Wendeline left with Margrethe of her own free will because she couldn’t murder an innocent child. She raised her as her own.”
“That innocent child summoned Malachi at Caster Gesine’s behest to bring the Princess Romeria back to life as a key caster.”
Finally, I dare look up. Satisfaction shines in the Prime’s eyes, as if she’s proud of herself for uncovering that piece. What she must have done to dig it out of Zaleria …
“The princess is an impostor, a plant by Malachi himself, bringing war to us while serving Islor.”
“That is a lie and you know it,” I force through gritted teeth. “‘When she rose again as a Daughter of Many and Queen for All, only then could there be hope for peace among the peoples.’” I recite the words Gesine first spoke, while huddled in a tent, fleeing Cirilea.
The Prime’s eyes flare. “Yes, Caster Zaleria seemed adamant that performing the ramblings of mad seers would somehow prove her salvation.”
“You mean, prophecy that has come true?”
The Prime is spinning her own story away from facts.
I look to the Masters. They can’t all be lost causes. “This is the leader you support?” Zeroing in on the new Second, I push, “Someone who has conveniently ignored everything since the day Queen Neilina killed her own husband and blamed an invisible Islorian assassin?”
Barro’s expression remains stony. The previous Master of Messengers surely knows … he knows but chases a climb in rank over truth.
Of the six remaining Masters, two avert their gazes, but four watch me closely—one, a tiny, wispy-haired woman with intense curiosity. Can she somehow see through my guise? “Did the Prime tell you about the secret nymph city that Romeria opened? Because she knew about it days before she tortured the answer out of anyone.”
“That is a lie!”
“Queen Neilina’s taillok saw it. The Prime came to A—” I falter, nearly blowing my cover—“me, asking if the seers had foretold of it—”
“And you lied to me!” The Prime’s shrill scream fills the room. “You told me you had no idea what this vision could be!”
I can’t help the smug smile that stretches across my lips. “So, you admit to believing there’s truth in what the seers see.”
Her eyes narrow, realizing she’s outed herself. “If you had informed me of what you knew then, I could have warned Her Highness. She would have known that her daughter was not hers any longer, and she would have protected herself on that bridge. It is because of you and your plotting that the Ybarisan queen is dead.”
“Queen Neilina is dead because she started a war. And besides, you’ve never believed in prophecy. You didn’t care about it even then. What would you have done with that truth?”