The Glass Queen (The Forest of Good and Evil #2) - Gena Showalter Page 0,129

her sister felt like a betrayal to her.

“You’re right,” I admitted, without issuing an apology. I wasn’t sorry, but relieved. Perhaps my honesty would win her over. “Your stepsister has me tied in knots.”

“I thought so,” she replied with a nod. “And I understand. I do. She’s beautiful, and she’s smart. But she’s betrothed to the warlock now. According to the king, she’s too weak to ever produce an heir.”

A twitch under my eye as I motioned for Dior to feed herself. She selected her meal from a smorgasbord of fruit, nuts, and different cuts of roasted meat.

The girl had said nothing untrue, but I longed to snap at her for disparaging Ashleigh. “That engagement will end with the next battle. And there are different kinds of strength, just as there are other ways to make a family.” Ways I’d learned firsthand when Roth and Farrah had taken me in as a child.

“But don’t you hate Ashleigh?” Dior asked, her brow crinkled.

“I feel many things for her, but hate isn’t one of them.” Not any longer.

“You have no interest in wedding me, then?”

“I do...not.” Again, I wouldn’t apologize. I didn’t owe her my affections, and I couldn’t make myself desire her. “I don’t tell you this to hurt you. I think you’re a lovely girl, and I know you’ll make someone very happy one day. But that someone isn’t meant to be me.”

“I... I understand,” she replied, surprising me.

Before I could respond, I experienced a sudden spike of foreboding. For no reason. I frowned and gazed about. Did I sense an impending attack?

The foreboding increased, scraping my nerve endings. I stood to search out the windows. No one approached.

“I cannot be mad at you for being open and honest about your feelings, rather than leaving me to wonder,” Dior told me. “In my experience, courage is a rare quality among royals.”

“Among anyone.”

The princess offered me a wry smile. “By the way, I didn’t like saying mean things about Ashleigh, and I know you didn’t like hearing them. I just had to be certain you wanted her for the right reasons, not just to punish her.”

I jolted. “She told you about the punishments?” What else had she said?

“No, she’s very private. But I might have heard a little palace gossip.”

I bowed my head, shamed. People were talking about my abysmal treatment of Ashleigh. It was no less than I deserved. I’d blamed her for a terrible act she hadn’t actually committed. I’d hurt an innocent. There was no chastisement great enough.

“Ashleigh is a lucky girl, to have such a devoted suitor,” Dior said. “There’s no way you’ll let yourself get killed in the tournament, especially if it means Milo gets to wed her.”

“He will never touch her.”

“There’s got to be a way you can receive the same boon as the warlock and wed Ashleigh instead.”

An idea occurred to me, a possible solution to this courtship problem. “Help me survive this portion of the tournament. Vote for me. When I win, I will choose Ashleigh. The king won’t be able to stop me.” Because he would no longer possess the throne. Would I dare to wed her, though? “Then I will introduce you to my friend Vikander. He’s a powerful fae prince and—”

“I know who Vikander is,” she rushed out, her cheeks flushing.

Had a bit of a soft spot for the incorrigible fae, hmm? Everyone did.

In a rush, my foreboding reached a shattering crescendo. I felt as if I would bleed out at any moment. My chest was so tight, my lungs couldn’t fill properly. I’d never experienced anything like this, as if...as if some kind of spell had just shattered. But, the only spell currently working inside me was—

The tracker spell that linked me to Ashleigh.

I shot to my feet even as I searched for her location inside my head. But...the map wasn’t there. Had something happened? “I’m sorry, but we must go. Now. I think there’s something very wrong with Ashleigh.”

I didn’t give Dior a chance to ask questions. I yanked her against me, sprinted out of the tent, and took flight. The ten-minute journey took an eternity. At the palace, I set a pale Dior in front of the entrance and flew off without a word.

Where to go, where to go? Just as I found a shard of the tracker spell buried deep inside my head, gleaning a possible location for Ashleigh, glass shattered above me. The dragons darted across the sky. I gave chase, quickly catching up. They’d