I stared at my fragmented blade, catching my breath. My body buzzed with adrenaline, and with something else—an unfamiliar feeling of power .
Torin turned back to the Queen.
Her lips were pressed into a thin line. “You must continue. Am I clear?”
“Her blade is broken.” Torin’s voice boomed over the hall. “I cannot fight her like this. That is not a fight.”
She stood, her lip curling and her dark wings spread out behind her. “So you concede? Are you choosing your own excruciating death? Would you prefer to be castrated and quartered?”
My breath left my lungs, and a maelstrom of red leaves lifted off the ground around us, whipping in the air. Was my own panic causing that to happen?
I whirled, searching for Morgant as fear burned through my veins.
“I have another sword,” Morgant shouted.
Surprise flickered that he would offer this to me without the queen’s approval, but he was hurrying forward anyway, handing me his own sword. This one had more supple steel and a hilt of pale gold. “Thank you,” I whispered.
He nodded once. I knew he was only giving me this because he wanted to watch Torin die, but I was grateful all the same.
I turned back to Torin, the new blade glinting in the sunlight, sharp as a viper’s fang. I breathed in, filling my lungs, trying to marshal that sense of control again.
Torin stepped forward, his eyes locked on mine, and the dance began once more, a graceful minuet of attacks and parries. The world was alive around us, a cyclone of red leaves whipping through the air .
As far as I knew, there was no plan beyond dragging this out as long as possible, beyond savoring every last breath, every last moment together, every step in this strange waltz.
At least, that’s what I thought.
But Torin had other plans.
As I attacked in a move I knew he could parry, Torin shifted his body in front of my blade.
The steel blade plunged clear through his heart.
18
AVA
Ipulled my sword from his chest, horror punching me in the gut as I stared at Torin’s blood dripping off my blade. Faltering, I staggered back again. Torin lay flat on the stones, bleeding out, and I felt the world go dark.
The hall that moments ago had been alive with excitement fell silent with a horrible hush, and I no longer felt as if I had a mind to think with.
Torin’s blood spilled onto the moss, pouring from his chest. I stared down at my own sword, my mind refusing to believe what was before me.
It must be a trick. My thoughts went horribly silent. No words could explain my mind-shattering horror as I stared at his blood.
A scream pierced the silence, someone asking him why he’d done that. A distant scream, muddled under the hush.
He couldn’t answer.
At last, the reality of it smashed through, and I rushed to his side, frantically pressing my hands against his chest to stanch the blood, but the sword had gone through his heart, and he did not move. There was no heartbeat. My hands shook uncontrollably.
He’d done that on purpose. I’d seen the look in his eyes for a fraction of a moment, the intent behind that movement. My sword had gone into his chest, but I’d felt it in my own heart, a sharp blade that made it impossible to breathe or think.
Only then did I realize it was me screaming at him, asking him why the fuck he’d jumped in front of my sword. Tears blurred my vision.
But I knew, didn’t I? He’d told me. He’d lived with crushing guilt because he’d killed someone he loved.
It was just…
Now he wanted me to suffer the same curse? His blood covered my hands. I didn’t think his heart was beating anymore, as the flow of blood was starting to slow.
“Love is a forge in the fiery depths of Mount Tienen,” Queen Mab’s melodious voice floated over the hall. “It makes us stronger, but the pain is excruciating. Isn’t that true, little wretch?”
When I looked up at Queen Mab, at the smug little smile on her face, wrath spilled through me like hot blood. I gritted my teeth, fingers tightening around the sword. Around me, the leaves lifted from the stones and flitted into the air. My body vibrated with hot fury.
Queen Mab’s expression was exhilarated, glowing. She was delighting in this horror. Her enemy, the Seelie king, had been slain by the hand of his lover. What a victory for the Queen of Sorrows.
A dark power slid through me, charged from the stones beneath my feet. How dare she end his beautiful life.
From the stones around us, vegetation came to life, snaking toward the queen. I didn’t know if that was my magic or hers, only that I wanted to choke her to death.