The Glass Queen (The Forest of Good and Evil #2) - Gena Showalter Page 0,79
loved like a brother. “I haven’t spoken to the oracle today, so I don’t know what information I’m supposed to relay.”
Everly humphed. “This is going to be a head-scratcher, then.”
“Did Noel tell you why she put us in the same heat?” I asked.
Roth nodded with the usual clipped jerk of his chin. “Apparently, she has a new job for me. What, she wouldn’t say.”
Flaky oracles.
Everly patted my shoulder. “Noel did say she was absolutely, positively right about Ashleigh being a reincarnate, and that she was also absolutely, positively right about Ashleigh not being a reincarnate. After dropping that gem, she told me to tell you that you shouldn’t distrust a girl just because she has Anticollaborative Disorder and, dude, I have to agree. Come on.”
Anticollaborative Disorder? Two objects unable to collaborate? Ashleigh and Leonora fit together like a corner and center piece of a puzzle, so, it fit. And I thought I finally understood how she could be a reincarnate and also not a reincarnate.
Ashleigh and Leonora were not the same person. They couldn’t be—their pasts were different. Until recently, Ashleigh had been a blank slate. She hadn’t recalled her past lives, making her the nonreincarnate. Leonora contained all the memories of her past lives, making her the reincarnate.
One didn’t have to be the other. We just had to keep them separated permanently.
Speaking of Ashleigh. “I think she can be saved. I think her past memories can be suppressed, Leonora kept at bay.” I would send notes to Noel and Ophelia, asking for an audience to present this very thought.
Everly cocked a brow. “So...this has turned into a revenge with benefits situation, I’m guessing.”
Revenge with benefits?
Roth, who knew more about my situation than Everly, blinked at me. “That you even want to save her...”
“It’s shocking, yes.” But here we were. “I will be asking Ophelia for a spell.”
“And if there isn’t one?” Everly asked.
I...didn’t know. “Unless we find a way to suppress those memories, Ashleigh will always have the potential for great evil.”
“But don’t we all?” The Evil Queen drummed her fingers together. With metal claws anchored to the end of each finger, every motion clinked. “Can I be honest? I don’t get an evil vibe from her,” Everly admitted. “She reminds me of my Hartly. She’s all nice and crap.”
I flinched. Hartly, the girl I’d killed. Everly’s beloved cousin, the two raised as sisters.
“Just, keep hiding mirrors in the palace for me. Even though your plans have maybe, maybe not changed for the princess, we still have a kingdom to reclaim. I’ll continue growing my plants all over the campground and palace courtyard so I can spy through my army of foliage. And yes, I got to hear six days’ worth of conversations with your mother and sister, Saxon. Make them stop. I’m tempted to cut off my ears and give them to the women. Do you think they would regift?”
Roth cast me a sympathetic look. “Victory draws nigh. When the time comes, we will publicly dethrone Philipp, no matter what we decide to do about his daughter. You will take the avian throne, and your mother will be pacified. All will be well.”
“I don’t care if she’s pacified. If she goes after Ashleigh again, she will be banished.”
And what of Ashleigh, if she became Leonora before I could have her memories suppressed? I scrubbed a hand down my face, pressure rising.
No matter how I felt about her, no matter how much I wanted her, no matter how much I would agonize afterward, Leonora must be neutralized. So, if I had any chance of saving the princess—Did I? Could I?—I had to work fast.
14
He is like frost, and she is like flame.
One preserves and one burns, but both maim.
Ashleigh
Oh, how quickly my life had changed.
Six days ago, I’d planned to search out books about Leonora and Craven, phantoms in general, and maybe even magic potions, just in case I could re-create the one made by Milo’s father. Time permitting, I’d hoped to read over a few different interpretations of “The Little Cinder Girl.” An extravaganza of knowledge.
I’d done none of that.
I spent the bulk of my time listening to the tournament battles that took place outside while corralling my new baby dragons.
That’s right. I was a mother now, and it was a role I adored. One glance into the dark, fathomless eyes of my twins, and I’d adopted both darlings as my own.
I wanted my other two babies, as well. Where were they?