“Don’t you dare throw that knife,” Meira shrieked.
“I have no choice,” Will said tightly. “He’ll kill you if I don’t.”
“So you’d rather kill me yourself?” Meira wailed.
“You have a better chance with me.” His lips wobbled in an imitation of a smug grin. “Don’t worry. I’m the best.”
Then he raised the knife and Meira sobbed, squeezing her eyes shut. I did the same as he flung the blade.
Robin’s groan of relief harmonizing with Agnë’s keening sprang my eyes open again.
Meira continued spinning and sobbing, with the knife stuck an inch away from her left ankle.
Will expelled the breath he’d been holding. “There—now let her go.”
King Theseus only grinned. “You still have five knives to go.”
“You can’t be serious!” Will bellowed. “You really want me to kill her for you, don’t you?”
The king shrugged. “I want you to prove yourself worthy of vital information. It’s only fair.”
“You wouldn’t know fair if it bit you in the…!”
“Willoughby!” Jon’s rumble cut Will off. “Not a good time to be mouthy.”
“Just throw the knives,” Robin urged. “You know you can do it. You are the best.”
Gritting his teeth, Will picked up two more knives. Meira’s struggles became frantic, making the wheel spin faster.
Will tilted his head, listening for the wheel’s rotation, then bit off, “Stop moving! You’re making this harder on us both.”
“I’m the one getting skewered here!”
“Meira. Merope.” Will raised his hands with the knives. “You’re not getting skewered.”
“You don’t know that!” Her shriek distorted in the wheel’s zooming spin.
“Just trust me, all right?”
And wonder of wonders, at Will’s firm yet pleading order, she gradually ceased her struggles.
The spinning slowed, and Will seemed to be listening for the right moment, before he flung the second knife, then the third. They landed at both her sides, each missing her by mere inches. The fourth and fifth knives stuck by her ears.
When he picked up the final knife, the wheel suddenly spun faster than it ever had before, making Meira blur.
“What are you doing?” Will shouted at the king.
King Theseus flicked a nail. “Those could have been lucky misses. I need to make certain you’re actually that good.”
Will looked aghast, voicing my furious frustration with this demented king. “Who misses, and that accurately, five times in a row?”
“Stranger things have happened.” The king winked at me. “Like the half-dead princess who’s here for my hand in marriage.”
Groaning loudly, Will sounded at his wits’ end.
Meira’s voice vibrated through her spins. “What are you waiting for?”
“Oh, now you don’t think I’ll skewer you?” Will scoffed.
“You told me to give you my trust, and now you have it,” she wailed. “Throw that blasted knife!”
Will only nodded and tilted his head, listening for the rotations. Then he breathed deeply, chest expanding. He tossed the knife with his exhale.
The wheel came to a harsh stop, wrenching Meira violently against her restraints, before jerking her back to the center. The last knife was an inch beside her right cheek, buried in her disheveled hair.
The blindfold slipped down Will’s face, and Meira’s restraints faded, dropping her from the wheel. She slumped on her side, making no attempt to get up, nauseated moans trailing out of her.
Agnë and I tried to rush to her, but the intangible ropes of light between us kept even me in my place.
Will kneeled by her side, trying to help her sit up. “Are you all right? I didn’t nick you anywhere?”
She moaned, her face almost green. “The world won’t stop spinning, I think I need to—” She lurched to the side and threw up.
“You’ve had your fun!” Will scowled up at the king as he tried to soothe Meira. “I’ve done what you asked, now tell me what I want to know.”
“Oh, you only earned one answer: the location of the Wild Hunt,” Theseus said smugly. “But that will mean nothing without your sister’s location, which might not be with them, not to mention her condition. Then there’s my decision regarding Princess Fairuza’s offer. Those still need to be earned. But—great job!”
Will looked ready to launch himself at him and stab him come what may, but the king only clapped, and the floor beneath us moved with the force of an earthquake.
“You’ve entertained me. And now, you’ll rid me of a problem. A big one.”
At Theseus’s booming announcement, the platform beneath us plummeted, unbalancing everyone except for me. Then the throne room blinked out.
Chapter Twenty
Next blink, we were somewhere blindingly bright, platform and thrones and all.