Cold Queen - K Webster Page 0,43

fire. And I let her. I let her because she was my sister and I couldn’t see the truth.

The Truth Seeker saw what I couldn’t see, though.

He separated us and healed me. Kept me away from my killer. Loved me when I needed it most.

“What?” Ryke asks. “Not to your tastes?” He walks over to me and strokes my hair. “Perhaps we can come up with a more creative way for you to die.”

Her eyes widen when I grab my crown and rise to my feet. He takes it from me, places it on top of my head, and then brushes his lips over mine. “Get your vengeance, wife.”

“Wife?” she sputters. “What are you talking about?”

I grin wickedly at her. “While Ryke and I were negotiating, he opened my eyes. Then, he made love to me. He slowly rid your poison from my veins.” I turn to accept a deeper kiss from him. “And after he nearly died from poison that Cavon clearly got from you, we married in a quiet ceremony yesterday because I couldn’t bear to spend another second without him.”

“You witch,” she hisses.

“Did you really think someone like him could love someone like you?” I taunt, loving to see the traitor squirm. “Tell me, sister, can you make the sky rain ice?”

I motion downward and let out a scream of rage. Ice slams from the air and into the stone around her—tall spikes caging her in.

“Tell me, sister, can you make the temperature drop at the snap of your fingers?” I cackle when I snap and the air becomes deadly cold.

Her teeth chatter together as the air clouds white at her heavy breathing. “Y-You should have d-died! C-Cavon was weak! Your k-king is weak! Our f-father was weak! I’m t-the only strong one h-here! I d-deserve to b-be queen!”

I rush forward, summoning my cold through my fist and forming a sword forged of diamondblade. Her eyes widen as I near, but she has nowhere to run to. Between the bars of her icicle prison, I slide in my diamondblade sword right into her stomach. She gasps and gapes at me as though she can’t believe I’ve stabbed her.

“I wouldn’t die because I was meant to become this,” I snarl, pulling out my blade only to send it back through her chest. “A queen, a wife, a monster.”

Yanking my arm back, I punch out again, this time right below her heart. I purposefully miss it so I can prolong her death. Blood spurts from her mouth and then runs down her chin.

I stare at her unblinking until her lids droop and I can feel the life draining away from her. The thudding of her heart that could be felt vibrating through the diamondblade slows to a stop. She takes no more breaths. The last thing she saw was the fury of a queen she thought she could destroy. The betrayer was betrayed by her own flesh and blood.

Heat wraps around me from behind. Ryke’s hand grips my fist as he summons his fires. He melts the diamondblade sword enough to disconnect me from it and then he pulls me away from the carnage I created.

“How do you feel?” he asks, his face nuzzling the side of my head as he inhales my scent.

“Like the future is here and we’re ready to embark upon it together.”

He nips at my ear. “To the Hidden Lands we go, my wife. We’ve won the Battle of The Damned, but the Moral War awaits.”

Ryke

The day before…

“You’re brooding,” Elzira says from the window, her posture stiff and her tone cold. “A man planning to leave the one he loves broods. Are you truly planning to leave me?”

Bloody, infuriating woman.

Open your damn eyes.

Some truths need to be found, not revealed as a gift. The seeker must hunt and find them alone. This is Elzira’s path, not mine to forge for her.

“If you really believed that, I’d be dead,” I state. “We both know you’d never let me leave.”

She turns and scowls at me. Her blue eyes glisten with tears. A pause as heartache flashes in her gaze. I recognize truth being discovered, whether she wants to find said truth or not. “The honnin drops…” Her bottom lip wobbles. “Are they round and yellow?”

Ahh, smart queen.

“They are. I think I’ve heard them referred to as yellowberries here.” That’s my gift to you, my queen. A hint. Although I don’t think you need hints anymore.

A tear races down her cheek and she hastily swipes it away. “Billibone