just wanted to go home. I was done.
The guards deposited us at a large door without a word, and then fanned out, blocking any path except through the archway. Falin glanced at me, and for a moment the ice in his eyes thawed enough for me to see his concern. For me. Not himself. I reached out and squeezed his hand.
He looked like he wanted to say something, but there were too many eyes around us, watching. He didn’t need to say anything. While my mouth sometimes got ahead of me, I was determined to keep it in check and get this over with as fast as possible. I wouldn’t mention my suspicions of the queen’s beloved sister, and we could honestly report that those directly involved in the murders were dead. We stepped through the large archway.
I recognized the space as soon as we stepped into the Winter Queen’s throne room. Unlike when we’d visited the court of light, this throne room was empty aside from the queen sitting alone on her huge throne. Her head snapped up as soon as we entered, her cold glare bearing down on us like an iceberg.
“What have you done?” she asked, pushing out of her chair.
“My queen?” Falin asked, falling to his customary kneeling bow.
I curtsied this time. With the way she was glaring at me, I didn’t want to risk irritating her more with what she considered unladylike behavior.
“I sent you to deliver a body to foster goodwill. Instead you accused my sister’s people of crimes, challenged my nephew to a duel that cost my sister one of her courtiers, and then made demands on her.”
I cringed. It sounded a lot worse when said that way. Of course, the truth was a lot more complicated, but somehow I didn’t think it would help to interject that the Queen of Light was an egomaniac who was more than happy to step over her younger sister to gain more power.
“We found who murdered your noble,” Falin said, still kneeling. “All three who committed the crime are dead.”
All who committed it. Not all who were involved. A very fine line of truth to walk.
“At what cost, Knight?” Her words were glacial, her gaze filled with a mad storm waiting to break free. “She is my one ally in all of Faerie. And you”—she lifted a hand tipped with sharpened nails and pointed it at me—“have soured her opinion of me.”
She wasn’t her ally. The Queen of Light was no friend to winter, sister or not, but I wasn’t foolish enough to say as much.
“Now I have to find a way to make amends. To soothe this wound you’ve caused,” she hissed. “I offered her you, and she said you were more trouble than you’re worth.”
I said nothing, simply held my curtsy and my tongue. I could feel Falin’s tension building beside me despite the fact that he also hadn’t moved a muscle.
“My sister’s was the only court in Faerie that did not send challengers to my throne during my . . . illness. Did you know that? She proved her loyalty and her love. And now I’ve repaid her poorly.”
The queen was deluding herself. The only reason the Queen of Light hadn’t sent any challengers for the winter throne had been because she already had her ringer inside the court, orchestrating the whole fiasco and ready to step into the throne. Her son.
“Ryese—” I started, but the queen took a step toward me, off the dais and her throne. Her icy blade materialized in her hand. She pointed it at me, and I swallowed any further words despite the fact that she was still several feet away.
“Don’t you say his name. Your lips are not worthy of uttering his name.” The storm in her eyes had raged into a full-blown blizzard. There was madness in those icy depths, the sanity she usually tried to maintain washed away by her fury. “On top of everything else, I am told you are betrothed to the Prince of Shadows.” The queen gritted her teeth in a scowl. “I should have known. Look at you, covered in blood and wearing all black. Has this whole investigation been a sham? Are you a spy for shadow?”
“No, Your Majesty. And I am no longer be—”
She didn’t let me finish.
“Here is what you didn’t consider, dear Lexi.” She ground out the nickname she’d given me as if it were a curse. “I’d rather see you dead than in the hands of