Page 155 of Treasured
I was on the brink of death. It was freezing, unforgiving, and remarkably horrible. As a vampire, I was already not truly alive, but I knew the next time I died, it would be final. There would be no coming back from whatever the queen had planned for me.
All I could do was blink. Queen Marguerite stared down at me. I was looking death in the face, and I was frozen. The ground beneath me was cold. Something wet was on my hands. My lungs burned, and I couldn’t make them work no matter how much I tried.
The Binding Mark burned on my wrist. Flames licked my arm and burned me from the inside out.
Isvana’s words echoed in my mind, urging me to rise. To get up. To fight. I couldn’t die here. This couldn’t be the end. And yet, what could I do?
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Sebastian. His crumpled body lay against one of the tombs.
No.
How could this be happening?
A hot tear ran down my face. I gasped, trying to breathe as my heart was cleaved in two.
Queen Marguerite laughed at my pain. “Are you scared? You should be.” She caressed the ruby. Leaning in close, as though she was sharing a secret, she whispered, “I’m going to make you pray for death’s release from the torment and misery I will put you through. You will wish you were never born.”
My palms sickened, and my heart raced in my chest. A mewl, barely louder than that of a kitten, slipped from my lips.
I tried to move, but nothing worked.
The sneering, vicious queen continued regaling me with all the ways she would torture me. Her words were a symphony of cruelty and malice and utter destruction. There was no question in my mind she spoke the truth.
If I didn’t do something, I would be tortured for the rest of my life. Get up, I told myself. I couldn’t stay here. This couldn’t be the way I died.
Sebastian needed me. Marius needed me. There was too much left to do. Too much we hadn’t yet done.
It didn’t seem to matter. No matter how much I tried, my body wouldn’t move. Even vampiric healing was no match for falling from the skies.
I couldn’t move yet, so I did the one thing I could think of. I looked at the queen in those deep, lifeless pits that were her eyes, and I forced words out of my mouth. It was an excruciating, extended process, but eventually, I heard myself ask, “What is wrong with you?”
Absolute ire flashed across her face. “Me?”
Shadows gathered around her, and fury radiated off her, but I was still alive. Still breathing. There was still time.
If I could get her talking, maybe I could… figure something out. Maybe I could gather enough strength to open the Tether. Maybe this wouldn’t be it.
“Yes.” I nodded, the movement barely there. “Why are you so cruel?”
“Cruel?” She picked up the ruby and spoke to it. “Did you hear that? She thinks we’re cruel.”
If I hadn’t already known the queen was mad, that would have solidified it for me. “Little girl, you do not know the extent of my cruelty. Do you think this country runs itself? That the laws that govern the vampires and humans alike just exist? Is your nose so deep in those books you adore that you haven’t noticed there are real-life events and people living outside those pages?”
“No, I—”
She continued speaking right over me. “Who do you think keeps everyone in line? Who do you think makes sure that Eleyta is the strongest of the Four Kingdoms?”
She stepped closer to me, kneeling in the snow where my blood pooled.
I forced my head up. It took everything I had, but my limbs slowly responded to my call once more. I met her gaze. “I’m assuming it’s you?”
Queen Marguerite slapped me. My cheek stung, but I didn’t cry out. Instead, I reached inside for my magic. It was sluggish, muted, and covered in a black fog. But it was there. Growing. Slowly.
I needed more time.
“Yes, it’s me, you idiot. Do you think Eleyta would be anywhere without me? I gave everything to this country. I sold my soul for it!” The queen gripped her ruby, her eyes flashing with promises of torture. “Do you think I do not know about loss? I had it all! A lover. The promise of a future. I had someone who cared.”
There was so much pain and sorrow in her voice that, for one singular moment, I felt sorry for her. What must have happened to turn her into such a hateful person?