The door creaked open to reveal a table, a chair in front of it, and on the other side of the table, chained with gorsian shackles, an imperial hag.
The hag lifted baleful, yellow-tinged eyes to Lidia as the Hind shut the door behind her. Those eyes lowered to the bubble, the Sprite Queen glowing orange inside it.
Lidia slid into the chair across from the prisoner, setting the sprite’s crystal on the table between them as if it were no more than a handbag. “Thank you for meeting me, Hilde.”
“I had no choice in the matter,” the hag rasped, her thinning white hair glimmering like strands of wispy moonlight. A wretched, twisted creature, but one of hidden beauty. “Ever since your dogs arrested me on trumped-up charges—”
“You were found in possession of a comm-crystal known to be used by Ophion rebels.”
“I never saw that crystal in all my life,” Hilde snapped, shards of brown teeth glinting. “Someone framed me.”
“Yes, yes,” Lidia said, waving a hand. Irithys watched every movement, still that alert shade of orange. “You can plead your case before Rigelus.”
The imperial hag had the good sense to look nervous. “Then why are you here?”
Lidia smirked at Irithys. “To warm you up.”
The Sprite Queen caught her meaning, and simmered into a deep, threatening red.
But the hag let out a hacking laugh. She still wore her imperial uniform, the crest of the Republic frayed over her sagging breasts. “I’ve got nothing to tell you, Lidia.”
Lidia crossed one leg over the other. “We’ll see.”
Hilde hissed, “You think yourself so mighty, so untouchable.”
“Is this the part where you tell me you’ll have your revenge?”
“I knew your mother, girl,” the hag snapped.
Lidia had enough training and self-control to keep her face blank, tone utterly bored. “My mother was a witch-queen. Plenty of people knew her.”
“Ah, but I knew her—flew in her unit in our fighting days.”
Lidia angled her head. “Before or after you sold your soul to Flame and Shadow?”
“I swore allegiance to Flame and Shadow because of your mother. Because she was weak and spineless and had no taste for punishment.”
“I suppose my mother and I differ on that front, then.”
Hilde swept her rheumy gaze over Lidia. “Better than that disgrace of a sister who now calls herself queen.”
“Hypaxia is half Flame and Shadow—she should have your allegiance on both fronts.”
Lidia knew Irithys monitored each word. If she could remember things after seeing them only once, did it also apply to what she heard?
“Your mother was a fool to give you away,” Hilde grumbled.
Lidia arched a brow. “Is that a compliment?”
“Take it as you will.” The hag flashed her rotting teeth in a nightmare of a smile. “You’re a born killer—like any true witch. That girl on the throne is as softhearted as your mother. She’ll bring down the entire Valbaran witch-dynasty.”
“Alas, my father was a smart negotiator,” Lidia said, making a good show of admiring the ruby ring on her finger, the stone as red as Irithys’s flame. “But enough about me.” She gestured to the hag, then to the sprite. “Irithys, Queen of the Sprites. Hilde, Grand Hag of the Imperial Coven.”
“I know who you are,” Irithys said, her voice quiet with leashed rage. She now floated in the center of the orb, her body bloodred. “You put this collar on me.”
Hilde again smiled, wide enough to reveal her blackened gums. A lesser person would have cowered at that smile. “I had the honor of doing it to the little bitch who bore the crown before you, too.”
Hilde didn’t mean Irithys’s mother, who had never been queen at all. No, when the last Sprite Queen had died, the line had passed to a different branch of the family, with Irithys first to inherit.
A damned inheritance—she’d gained the title and a prison sentence in the same breath. Irithys had barely had her crown for a day before Rigelus had her brought into the dungeons.
Lidia said blandly, “Yes, Hilde. We all know how skilled you are. Athalar himself can thank you for his first halo. But let’s talk about why you chose to betray us.”
“I did no such thing.” Even with the gorsian shackles, a crackling sort of energy leaked from the hag.
Lidia sighed at the ceiling. “I do have appointments today, Hilde. Shall we speed this up?”
She gave no warning before tapping the top of Irithys’s crystal. It melted away to nothing, leaving only air between the hag and the Sprite Queen.