The Glass Queen (The Forest of Good and Evil #2) - Gena Showalter Page 0,35

your soldiers. Your turn to tell me about our time apart. Did you smile when they returned with reports of my screams?”

What? “You lie.” I had never ordered anyone to seek her out. Instead, I’d waited, building my strength against her magic and fortifying my resistance to her undeniable charms, so that I could be the honored one who took her out.

“Ask the dryads how many times I crawled to my room, then later had to mop up the trail of blood I’d left behind.” Water splashed. “Why didn’t you inflict the damage yourself? Were you too afraid of the girl who’d burned your wittle wings?” Not so happy anymore.

That. That was all Leonora. With a snarl, I shoved to my feet and stalked to the other side of the screen to find Ashleigh’s eyes flecked with bright blue.

A second later, though, those flecks faded and she yelped, sinking chin-deep in the water, draping one arm over her breasts and the other between her legs. “You said you wouldn’t watch,” she shouted.

I froze, then I spun. Though my back was to her, I knew her cheeks were red, her skin damp. I knew the ends of her hair were clinging to different parts of her. Knew I would never forget the sight of those magnificent curves.

I knew no other girl would ever compare.

The second I remembered I stood in the presence of an enemy, I shot around, facing her again. I jutted my chin. More than anyone else in Enchantia, I knew the devastation this girl could cause. I knew the cruelties that lived in her heart.

“I do not want you behind me. Ever.” I kept my gaze above her head. “An avian soldier wouldn’t attack you without orders from a sovereign. I sent no one, and my mother and sister sent no one. They prefer to do any damage themselves. So take heed, Ashleigh. If you lie to me again—”

“You’ll make me regret it. Trust me, I know.”

Glass Princess, indeed. She looked ready to shatter—and I knew because I’d dropped my gaze. I cursed.

She moaned, adding, “But I’m not lying.”

Trust was not something I would give her. “Describe to me what the avian did to you at the Temple.”

“Why should I bother? You won’t believe me.”

“Try me, anyway.”

Silence stretched between us, and it was as fragile as she was. Finally, she whispered, “Sometimes a single avian would come. Sometimes five. Mostly, they threw rocks at me as I gathered food and pulled weeds. But every so often, they landed.”

I bit my tongue to silence another curse and tasted blood. If someone had truly hit her... I would rage.

My war. My enemy.

Mine to strike at—in ways of my choosing. No one else had the right.

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me,” she said, slamming a fist into the water. Droplets flung in every direction. “Why would I lie about this, though?”

Because...because... I scrubbed a hand down my face. Her word meant nothing to me, but her misery was so real. Maybe she had been harmed. Maybe the avian who’d attacked her had been banished from the Avian Mountains and had no king or queen to corral them?

“I don’t not believe you,” I grated. “I just need a moment to pick through the details. What you describe goes against everything I know about my people. What’s more, there is a reason you would lie now, just as you lied about other things in the past—to rouse my sympathies and set me against my people.”

“I have a feeling you own just as many sympathies as mercies. You—” She gasped. “My heart...it’s beating so fast. I think... I...” Splash.

Ashleigh had just slumped over in the tub...was slipping underwater even now. I rushed over to grab her before she drowned. As I raised her head, the water pouring off her, her eyes popped open.

Electric-blue irises with no hint of green peered up at me.

My own heart erupted in a staccato beat, and I reared back, severing contact. The sense of connection I’d lamented was now gone without a trace.

Finally. The girl had Leonora’s eyes for more than a couple seconds. I had the undeniable proof I’d sought. Ashleigh was the witch, and the witch was Ashleigh. So why wasn’t I rejoicing? I could now gain full reparation with a clear conscience.

She stood and—my thoughts dulled. Water droplets sluiced down her bare skin, hypnotizing me. Or maybe Ashleigh wasn’t Leonora, after all. Maybe I’d made a mistake. I’d never wanted like this.

Inner slap. Focus or lose.