spot and dug in three of her fingers. Then she went up to the witch’s neck, walked her fingers down her spine until she stopped at a spot between shoulder and neck. She pushed her fingers in again, waited a moment, stepped back.
“How do you feel now?” she asked.
“That’s it?” Delora asked. “That’s all you’re do . . .” She moved her head, then her shoulders, then her ass. She took a few steps. Smiled. “By the gods, I feel fabulous!” She faced Keeley. “Thank you!”
“Welcome.” Keeley shrugged at Beatrix. “See? It didn’t take long at all.”
Keeley went back to Caid’s side and Delora continued to walk around in circles and move her shoulders.
Five, four, three, two—
“Can we just finish this?” Beatrix snapped, fed up that her future as a queen should be held up for even a moment because of someone else’s discomfort.
“Delora,” the Witch Queen barked, “stop shaking your ass and just do this thing already.”
“Calm down. All of you. So emotional.”
Delora stood in front of Beatrix. “Your hands, dear.”
Beatrix placed her hands in Delora’s. Gemma was expecting some moaning and swaying as she’d seen other seers do. But Delora’s technique was much more . . . straightforward. And blunt.
She scrutinized Beatrix’s face for a very long moment. When she finally pulled away, she casually announced, “Yes, Beatrix. You will be queen.”
Gemma watched as a small smile formed at the corner of Beatrix’s mouth, and that’s when Gemma felt a real sense of panic. A real sense that all she’d hoped for was about to—
“Of course,” Delora added, “so will she.” And she pointed at Keeley.
As one, they all looked back at Keeley. Even the witches looked away from their precious scrolls to focus on Gemma’s elder sister. When the silence went on and on, Keeley—who’d been staring at the floor, probably sad at the prospect of losing her younger sister to a life of royal privilege—lifted her head and saw everyone gawking at her. When that went on for more than a second or two, she quickly looked behind her, didn’t see anyone, looked at them all again, then behind her once more. And this look felt more than just confused but desperate. Like she was praying there was someone—anyone—behind her.
Keeley pointed at herself. “You’re not speaking to me.”
“Of course I am.”
The Witch Queen pushed away the scroll in front of her. “The blacksmith? Are you sure?”
Delora scowled. “Are you questioning me?”
“Always.”
“I’m not wrong.”
“But I don’t want to be queen,” Keeley argued. “I want to go back to my shop. I have orders to fill!”
The Witch Queen waved that objection away and added, “Well, that won’t be happening anyway.”
“Why?”
“I guess you haven’t heard. Your shop has been destroyed by the Devourer and all the men who worked there have been killed.”
Her hands over her mouth, eyes wide in horror, Keeley gawked at the queen.
“They’re all dead?” Gemma asked.
“I believe the younger boys you had working there as apprentices were able to escape. But that’s because the men protected them; they died in the process. The Devourer burned down the entire town, but based on the tally I received of deaths, most of the residents were able to escape.”
Because of her size, it was often easy to forget how fast Keeley could be. Especially when she was angry. And she was angry now.
That’s why, when Keeley was suddenly running toward the Witch Queen, her hammer out, Gemma didn’t even think about stopping her sister. It didn’t even occur to her. It might have occurred to Keran, but she was half-asleep, leaning against a wall. Oblivious as always.
But just as Keeley got close to the throne, Caid swooped in behind her and wrapped his arms around her, picking her up off the ground. He held her and took her back across the chamber.
“You bitch!” Keeley hissed at the Witch Queen. “You talk of people’s deaths and the destruction of their lives as if it’s nothing!”
The Witch Queen stood. “I have done no such thing! I was simply being direct. Explaining how you can’t go back to your old life, no matter how much you may want to.”
Keeley pulled herself out of Caid’s arms but she didn’t advance on the queen again.
“I don’t care if my old life is gone. I will not be queen.”
“Woman, I have no idea if you’re supposed to be queen or not. Delora is our seer. So your decision to be queen may not be your own. It may be the will of the gods.”
“Don’t