30. What Needed to Be Done, Nothing More, Nothing Less
30. WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE, NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS
ELOWYN
I followed the trail of Talisa’s beckoning laughter to the Hall of Mirrors. When I entered the vast, grand room, she was already seated upon her throne, feigning ennui as she studied the blood-red ruby rings upon several of her fingers. The gems alone could have fed the entire outskirts of Embermere for weeks if not months.
The goblins’ quiet footfalls silenced behind me. Pru and Edsel pressed to the wall using their kind’s magic to fade into their surroundings. I didn’t dare glance their way to check for the blurred outline of their bodies that one could see only if they knew where to look. I strode forward before I could consider the many ways this could go wrong, how often she’d revealed her superiority, how many times she’d outmaneuvered us. I drew to a halt with at least forty feet between us. Though distance was no protection from her powers, at least I remained close enough to the doors that I could still run if I had to. It would mean she’d defeated us if I did, but regardless, I could retreat and hope she didn’t catch me with that animal-like speed no other person possessed.
Finally, she glanced up, curled her fingers like claws, then allowed them to rest too daintily atop the gossamer folds of her skirts.
“I see you’ve dispensed with the ruse of my father as equal ruler of Embermere,” I said, looking pointedly at the empty spaces to either side of her throne. There was no sign that a king had once sat beside her.
She frowned. I’d cut short her theatrics when she’d expected to speak first, the dictate of royalty. She hmmphed. “Now you’re calling him ‘father,’ are you?”
“Only for the sake of clarity.”
She laughed as several guards dressed in sky-blue emerged from the same tunnel Rush used to whisk me to safety after the death of Lady Aleeza. The guards were out of breath, their faces flushed from exertion.
Talisa glanced at them and rolled her eyes. “It is Oren who’s the disappointment. He’s too weak to rule Embermere with me. In the interest of the fae whom I serve, it was only right to remove him. The fae deserve the very strongest to sit upon this throne.”
I snorted. “Sure, yeah, of course . The needs of the fae come first.”
Her eyes hardened, glinting like stones. There were no windows in the hall, most of the wall space covered by enormous mirrors. I felt the sky darken. Thunder rumbled so suddenly and so loudly that it clapped even inside the room .
The queen’s perfectly red lips curved into a snarl of disgust. “I don’t know why I even bother with you. You’re so”—her lips curled more—“common.”
I smiled with exaggerated pleasure, showing teeth. “Why, thank you! The common fae I’ve met have been lovely. The royals I’ve met, however, have been, well … you and my father…”
“How dare you?” she bellowed, half rising from her throne, her fingers clutching the armrests carved with dragons.
“Aye, how dare … you treat my … queen this … way?”
I spun to find a very winded Braque staggering across the glass floor, beneath which snakes writhed continuously, climbing over each other as if trying to escape. He wore silly heeled shoes with buckles on the front, breeches that exposed stockings and voluminous calves, and his omnipresent potions satchel hanging below his ample gut. Every patch of skin on display was such a deep shade of pink I wondered if his heart might fail him and save me the trouble of killing him.
When his tippy-tap steps delivered him close enough, he dipped into a deep bow—to drag his sleeve across his sweaty brow without notice—and his legs nearly buckled when he rose out of it. Regardless, his stare was accusing as he passed me, giving me wide berth and a haughty look that suggested my impudence was contagious.
An abrupt, mirror-rattling roar made his little steps falter before he continued onward to his queen . It was an enraged Einar. I used the moment to glance over my shoulder: still no Rush or Xeno or any of the others. By sunshine, I prayed they were faring well against the pygmy ogres and guards—plus, there were still the undead dragons to consider if Einar hadn’t dealt with them yet.
“I tire of this disrespect,” Talisa said as she lowered herself back onto her throne and crossed her legs beneath her long, fluffy skirts. “I intended to toy with you. But there will be plenty chance for that later. Once you’re dead .” With a theatrical air, she paused, perhaps waiting for me to quake in my boots. When I didn’t, she scoffed. “I’m immortal now, silly girl. Haven’t you heard? You’ll serve me forever.”
“No. I won’t.” I brought both hands to the grips of my holstered sais but didn’t draw them. Physical weapons had little chance of hurting her. I wanted to settle the slight shake running along my arms before she noticed I was actually terrified I would fail.
Braque, now standing at her side, tsked with a shake of his head. His curls were tight with his sweat. “The insolence…”
“What, you idiotic sycophant?” I barked, finally able to say exactly what I wanted without consequence—or no additional consequence anyhow. “Do you really expect me to kiss the ass of the evil cunt of a queen”—Braque sucked in a sharp wheeze—“who’s ruined the lives of everyone she’s supposed to protect?”
Braque blinked at me with evident shock. Talisa grew dangerously still .
“Well?” I snapped. “Do you? No, of course not. Because why the fuck would I? I’m here to kill her and you, because the Mirror World needs me to. Because it will be a far better place without either of you to ruin it for everyone else.”
Talisa jumped to her feet. “That’s enough,” she roared.
“You’re right. That’s enough posturing. Let’s get to it.” Even I was stunned to hear how calm I sounded, how ready to face down the female I still didn’t know how to defeat.
“Foolish, stupid, silly girl.” Talisa shook her head. Her crown didn’t so much as shiver even as her long, loose, dark hair glided across her bare shoulders like swaths of silk. “I warned Oren you were a mistake.”
That stung though it shouldn’t have. “The only mistake here is you. Oren and my mother were in love, at least.”
Talisa’s cheek twitched, noticeable even as far apart as we stood. She glowered. “Love has nothing to do with ruling and power. If you were meant for either, you’d know that. No more talking from you.”
She raised both hands and, with a smug tilt of her lips, snapped her fingers.
Her magic pushed against me with the force of a battering, pounding waterfall—but didn’t take hold. Yet I stood immobile as if she had succeeded in overcoming my will.
Her smile became predatory. She rose, descended the steps slowly, the train of her skirts trailing elegantly behind her. She prowled toward me with measured, intentional steps.
“You will die. Then so will your little friends. All of them. Every single one. You brought so many here for me. I should thank you for that.” She chuckled. “But I won’t.”
“That’s right, my queen,” Braque interjected. “She should be thanking you .”
What this moron might think I needed to thank her for, I couldn’t fathom.
Talisa’s deliberate footfalls rang out against the thick glass floor. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. “You’ve revealed precisely who the traitors are. I’ll punish you, then them, and with all your essences I’ll live longer than anyone else. I’ll outlive you all.”
Braque remained dutifully next to her throne, like a good pet, as did the guards. Talisa stopped a single body’s length in front of me. She made a show of dragging her gaze up and down my body before shaking her head.
“How could you have ever believed you were meant to rule this kingdom?”
“Because the land chose me.”
She chuffed a dark laugh. “As if the land would ever choose someone like you. If you’re going to lie, at least make it more convincing.”
I resisted the urge to tip up my chin in defiance and held steady so she could believe I was under her thrall. Oh shit . Maybe I was giving myself away by talking. But then Talisa hadn’t reacted. Perhaps her magic had meant to leave me capable of this little self-indulgent chat of hers.
“It’s true,” I insisted.
She tutted. “Know your facts, girl. The land can’t choose another ruler unless they’re more powerful than I am. No one ever will be. And you certainly aren’t.”
“The land apparently can do whatever it wants.”
A smidgen of doubt finally flickered across her gaze. “No. I’d know.”
It was then that I felt my senses want to dull again, much as they had after we crossed the moat, and I realized what must be happening. Talisa was trying to breach my mind to read my thoughts or memories or something that would inform her.
In my mind’s eye, I pictured myself expelling her with a hard shove.
She grunted and physically slid back several feet. Her eyes were wide.
My lips itched to smile at my small victory, but I wouldn’t risk betraying the meager advantage I currently had.
She was quick to hide her dismay. “Someone’s been teaching you some tricks, I see. Ivar, I’m certain.”
Yeah, sure … ‘cause it was impossible to believe I might figure something out on my own.
“Ivar, my queen?” Braque asked.
Talisa’s nostrils flared delicately in irritation at being interrupted. “Yes, Braque,” she answered without turning. “Ivar has betrayed me.”
“I always knew he wasn’t to be trusted,” Braque said with a triumphant smirk Talisa missed. The plump alchemist was probably already fantasizing about becoming his queen’s one and only bestie.
“Ivar betrayed you only because he found out you’d betrayed him.” And why was I defending Ivar? A few days of good behavior didn’t make up for his long list of wrongs, including standing by while Talisa forced Rush to her bed. Damn , now I wished I could take what I said back.
“I’m the queen of Embermere,” Talisa simply stated. “I do what must be done for the greater good. I don’t need to explain myself or my actions to anyone, least of all you.”
“That’s right, my queen,” purred Braque with best-friend-stars in his eyes.
“You don’t have any true friends,” I told her. “Only people and creatures who are terrified of you.”
“That is how it should be. That is how a monarch is supposed to rule. We don’t need friends. We need only power, and of that I have more than I’ll ever need, even with you cutting off some of my supply. Oh yes, I know about your little escapades. You’ve stuck your nose where it doesn’t belong, freeing my … sisters.” Her mouth contorted into sour lines. “I don’t need them anymore though.”
With annoyingly slow, artful steps, she closed the distance between us. I could feel her breath on my face, and despite my desire not to reveal my fear, my pulse bounced in my throat so that even I could feel it.
Her glinting eyes, so much like those of a predatory dragon, trailed my face and landed on the jumping vein that betrayed my flagging courage. She grinned, skimmed a finger along my collarbone, my shoulders, along my back as she circled me, then returned to stand before me. With a manicured fingertip, she tapped my collarbone hard. Despite my leathers and all the steel I wielded, I felt naked before her voracious stare.
In that moment, she was the predator.
I was her prey.
In the next, my sais were in my hands.
I sliced with one across her neck.
Her eyes bulged in shock.
With the second blade, I slashed from the other direction.
Blood spurted from the deep cut opening her throat, spraying onto my face. I held her gawping eyes as the blood pumped from her body to drip down mine.
“No,” Braque rasped.
Several of her guards gasped.
The false queen sagged, then crumpled with a crinkle of gossamer skirts. Her head slammed against the floor, her golden crown clinking against the glass. Serpents banged against its other side with their fangs bared. Their teeth deflected harmlessly off the glass. Her crown remained affixed to her head with regal perfection while bright, beautiful, vividly scarlet blood pooled under her head, gradually concealing the vipers and their stunted attacks.
She deserved a death so much more brutal, as hideous as those she’d herself delivered over and over, time and time again. But Talisa was too great a danger not to take her out however I could.
I leaned over her. “Oh. Yeah. Your magic doesn’t work on me anymore. I wasn’t lying when I said the land has chosen me to be the queen.”
“No!” Braque shrieked. His shuffling footsteps raced toward us.
I didn’t recall exactly what was said in moments of death, but I got close enough for my purposes. “May your essence burn forever in the Igneuslands. May you experience every second of pain you’ve ever caused anyone else. May you suffer until you understand exactly how evil you really are.”
I wanted to kick her, stab her, to slice her up until her body was a bloody, pulpy mess that looked nothing like my aunt, the woman who resembled me so closely.
But all I did was watch the life fade from her eyes. The blood stopped spurting and slowed to a gurgle, spreading around her head and shoulders, soaking into her bodice, then skirts. The concealed serpents kept trying to reach the woman who’d imprisoned them with sharp, pounding thuds against the glass floor.
“What have you done?” Braque demanded breathlessly with a hand blindly clutching the chest of his tunic.
“What needed to be done.”
A glance at Talisa’s guards revealed their gaping mouths and slack grips. They wouldn’t be attacking.
I turned and stalked toward the doors. My friends might need me .
As I was about to exit, Rush and Xeno barreled into me at full speed, both jerking their hands out to catch me before I could fall. Ryder, West, and Ivar raced in just moments after them. Blood splattered their faces and clothes, and coated the weapons they clutched. Otherwise, they appeared unharmed.
My shoulders drooped with relief.
Zafi piped up in an invisible squeak, “Elowyn killed the stupid, ugly, foul queen!”
The males’ stares jumped from me to the scene behind me.
“Oh no,” Zafi said on a horrified inhale.
I spun to look too.
“What the…?” I mumbled. “That’s not possible.”
With a helping hand from Braque, Talisa was very slowly and very carefully leaning up onto her elbows. She looked down at herself, seeming to take into account the blood that drenched her and her fancy dress.
While my mouth dried up so as to become its very own desert, she ran a finger along the rapidly suturing gash across her throat … brought it to her mouth … and licked it.
Her grin came next, and when it did, it was the worst sight I’d ever seen in my entire life.
“By a dragon’s essence…” Ryder uttered.
“Shit,” West whispered. “We’re so super fucked.”
“You want to play?” she called out in a creepy singsongy tune. “Then let’s fucking play. Dragons!”