A River of Golden Bones (The Golden Court, #1)(109)

“In the stories . . .” I took another shuddering breath. “They said on the night of our birth you demanded our father bow to you. He said you’d never be queen.”

Sawyn smiled. “He was obviously wrong.”

“Why didn’t you kill Briar in Damrienn?” The image of her splayed red hair across that tomb flashed in my mind—the same red hair as the sorceress who cursed her.

“Because mine will be a long life, and I wouldn’t want to deprive it of entertainment. No, I wanted to see Nero mourn all he had lost and scramble for a way to fix it. I wanted him to come crawling to my kingdom begging for the Crimson Princess’s mate and see me on my throne and know he’d never have it.” Her eyes flashed as lightning crackled. “That is the thing with these arrogant kings. More will just keep coming to take their place. Lessons must be learned. New rules written. I make them understand in the only language they know: through power, through blood, through taking.” The hair on my arms lifted in the charged air. “But then you came along.”

“Apologies for ruining your revenge,” I said. “I was trying to get mine.”

She cackled a sharp laugh. “We are not so different, you and I.”

“We are nothing alike,” I hissed.

“It would make it easier to believe that, wouldn’t it, niece?” She peered at me under her arched brow. “We are wild-hearted and sure-footed and bound to this land, more Queen than Wolf.” Her cheeks dimpled as the blow of her words landed. “Laces itch and ribbons grate. We are not frail or simpering like your sister. We are not the puppets for a king’s glory. We shall know our own glory.”

The air crackled, vibrant bolts of green brightening the room, almost as if she couldn’t contain her magic in her own excitement.

“Is it glorious to know your people are fleeing and dying?” I pushed back. “That they’d risk that quick death to not slowly starve? What of the gold mines?”

“They flee because they don’t trust me as queen,” she hissed.

“I wonder why? Maybe it’s because you’re a murderer!”

“Ah.” She grinned. “But you’re a murderer, too, aren’t you, niece? I saw you in the markets, cutting down my Rooks without batting an eye. The only thing that separates you and me is that you think you’re right.”

“The difference is I feel remorse,” I panted, feeling her magic zap across my skin as if being summoned by my words. “I feel the horror of what I did and feel sorry for it, rather than succumb to it. I deny the darkness’s pull. I push it away and you turn toward it.”

“Such speeches for such a young Wolf. But you don’t know what you’re talking about, yet again. Dark magic saved me,” she said. “And it will save many more Wolf daughters still.”

“Like Queen Ingrid?”

“Ingrid broke the system.” Sawyn’s eyes crinkled. “She risked war with Valta to stand her ground and fight for her rightful crown. It’s worked for now, but it will only be so long before another king—or even a Wolf in her own court—turns on her. I’ve been nudging her toward dark magic for years. One day she’ll see it’s the only way to a different, better world.”

“I, too, want a different world,” I whispered, shaking my head. “A world beyond everything we’ve been told we had to be.”

“Exactly!” she exclaimed, as if we had somehow found common ground. “It is a pity you are mated to the Prince of Damrienn.” Sawyn adjusted her crown. “I would’ve liked to keep you around.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Because Damrienn is poison, just like the rest of them. And I will not have it in Olmdere.” Her eyes narrowed. “And more, Nero needs to learn. After all he’s done, this is a lesson he will remember. I won’t rest until every Wolf kingdom is ruled by their rightful heirs.”

“Grae is not like his father,” I pleaded. “I’d gut King Nero myself if given half the chance.”

“If we are so in agreement, what makes you think you have more right to Olmdere than me?” Sawyn hummed.

“Because you aren’t doing your duty as Queen.”

“Excuse me? I am fully in control—”

“You let your people starve,” I growled. “Our people. You let them die, pitted them against each other, threatened and tortured them. You may have had a claim to be heir, but you squandered it when you abdicated your responsibility to your people.”

“Humans,” she spat.

I yanked against my chains, snarling at her. “So you pity the daughters of kings, but have no sympathy for the people who actually make up your kingdom?”

“Wolves are the natural-born leaders. Humans are weak in both mind and body, nothing more than ants under our boots,” she hissed. “They knelt before the Wolf kings because they couldn’t drive out the monsters themselves. They are barely worth the grain to feed them. They let this world be what it is, and they wouldn’t lift a finger to save you.”

“You’re wrong.”

She cocked her head. “Then where are your precious humans now, hm?”

“They’re waiting.”

Sawyn snorted. “Just as they’ve waited for hundreds of years. Because nothing changes!”