Iron Crowned Page 0,84

slightly on Jasmine beside me. Imanuelle had dropped all our disguises.

"Eugenie - " Jasmine tried to speak, but I didn't want to listen.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" I demanded of Katrice. Each word was harsh, almost impossible to get out. I was changing my mind about the lightning. I was remembering how I'd killed Aeson, literally blowing him apart by ripping the water from his body. There were so many ways to kill her, so many ways to bring about humiliation.

Katrice gave a small shrug, and despite that smug attitude, I saw a pang of regret in her eyes. "I have a feeling I'll die one way or another today. I just want everyone to know the truth about you before I do."

I froze. I'd told Kiyo to give me another option, and he'd had none. But there was one other.

"The truth," I said slowly, reaching toward my backpack, "is that you aren't going to die today. But you'll wish you had."

I can only assume what happened next was born out of pure emotion, out of the anger and despair her words about me and Jasmine had evoked. Situational adrenaline probably played a role too, and ... well, maybe there was something in my genes after all.

I pulled the Iron Crown from my backpack. Katrice turned white, all cockiness gone. Those who recognized the crown displayed similar fear, audible and visible. Others just stared curiously.

"No," she gasped. "No. Please don't."

I think until that moment, she hadn't truly believed I had the crown. I also think that had I demanded it, she would've named whatever terms of surrender I wanted. But I didn't want simple surrender. I wanted suffering. I wanted her to suffer, just as I had.

So many ways to bring about humiliation ...

I placed the crown on my head, and somehow - maybe it was part of its magic - I knew exactly what to do. The iron athame was still in my hand, and I crouched down with it. Katrice dropped to her knees too, but it was in supplication.

"Please," she begged again, tears in her eyes. "Anything. I'll do anything you want."

"You're right," I said. "You will."

I slammed the blade down - and pierced the land's heart.

Chapter 18

It really felt like that, like I was killing a living thing. And in a way, I was. I was destroying the land's connection to Katrice. The land and its monarch are one. Kind of an esoteric concept ... but, well, the truth. I'd certainly felt it in the Thorn Land. It was why I couldn't ever stay away from that kingdom for very long. It called to me. It was part of me.

And so, I was essentially cutting a living thing in two. White-hot power burned through me as I did, the crown's magic connecting with my own and pouring into the dirt below. I had little sense of my surroundings, save Katrice screaming. Below me, in a spiritual sort of way, I could feel the land resisting at first. It didn't want to break its ties. In the end, it had no choice. The crown's magic was too strong. Seconds, minutes, hours ... I don't know how long it took, probably hardly any time at all. But suddenly, it was done. The crown's power faded from me, and the land lay there open and unclaimed. Raw and wounded.

As the magic's haze wore off, the rest of the world slowly shifted back into focus for me. I stared around at the gaping faces and at Katrice, huddled and sobbing. I thought she'd aged before, but it was nothing compared to now. Being ripped from the land had devastated her. Her dark hair was almost all gray now, her face gaunt and lined.

And all around ... all around, the land was restless. I could feel its energy, calling out ... reaching out ... yearning for a new master. Hardly any of the people gathered showed any recognition of this. They were still watching the drama of me and Katrice. A few spectators had puzzled looks on their faces, as though they too could hear the land.

It was because they were powerful enough to take it, I realized. The land was already seeking those who possessed the strength to join with it, and looking up, I saw from Cassius's face that he could sense that. Katrice's son hadn't had the power to claim a kingdom, but her nephew did.

So, for my next impulsive act of the day, I