Page 7 of Kill the Queens

THREE

Ace

Blood soaked through her clothes. It stained her skin. It was on Shelby and was left behind on everything they touched. Red fingerprints. Red footprints.

Red.

Red.

Red.

The color was starting to make her sick.

Ace worked to wipe away the fingerprints she left on Ishaan’s, the bakery owner, gate as she fiddled with the lock with what little fabric of her shirt was dry. Shelby was behind her, hunched forward so his towering height wasn’t quite as noticeable.

The streets had been oddly quiet. No one knew. No one acted as if they’d even heard the thundering booms that had destroyed the castle. No one in Maipeg understood that the Fae were here. The Fae had finally returned. A tremble coursed through her as she tried not to think about it.

Shelby closed the gate behind him as he followed Ace to the lattice. He didn’t speak as he hoisted himself up to the cracked window that she thrust open. Ace tumbled in and rolled over to allow room for Shelby to fall in next to her.He thudded to a stop. There were no prayers from Ishaan which meant he wasn’t here. Ace had been in too much of a hurry to look and see if the shop was actually open.

Shelby didn’t move from the ground next to Ace. Neitherof them spoke for several long minutes as they breathed heavily. Ace held her hand up to the light, staring at the blood that had worked its way into the cracks of her dry fingers and underneath her nails. Shelby’s blood. She stretched her other arm out and placed her hand on Shelby’s forearm just to be sure that he was still real. His skin was still hot from coming through the holy fire.

“Don’t touch me,” he sneered, pulling his arm away.

Carefully, she let him go and settled her hands on her stomach. She turned her head, her dark unruly hair scattered all around her. The longest bits had stretched toward Shelby and brushed against his shoulders. She tried to distract herself for a moment and wiggled her toes in her thin socks. The pair had kicked off their blood stained boots outside the castle gates to avoid tracking more blood.

He twisted and sunlight fell across his dark features. Orange split across his iris. One single streak. She knew if she let her gaze fall to his broad chest she’d find a star shaped scar there.

What did you do?

That’s what he’d asked her when he’d awoken. Guilt made the butterflies that had once been in her stomach turn to lead. Relief was there too. Relief that he was alive. That she wasn’t alone. Yet that felt so far away now as Shelby’s expression looked pained.

Ace was never truly alone. Not with the gods that spoke inside her head at every hour of the day. They’d been quiet all morning but after the Fae had run through the castle they’d begun to stir. Their voices had risen, one by one, until they all blurred together as they worked themselves into a tizzy.

The queen is dead.

Dead.

She’s finally dead.

One queen is dead.

Three more queens to kill.

Biting her lip, Ace inhaled slowly trying to release the fear that was gripping her. She hadn’t killed Queen Sienna.Who had? The Fae? That orange eyed man?She couldn’t quit thinking about him, but thinking about him made her think about Shelby, who’d been dying when she saw the stranger.

Shelby hadn’t been breathing. He’d been there saving her one moment and then he’d been laying on the floor, whispering Ace’s name. Part of her heart was still tattered from the memory. Shelby was here but that didn’t change the fact that he could be gone just as easily.

How could she tell Shelby about the man who was just like her? Them? Shelby was like her now, dead and brought back to life. Ace remembered how terrible it had felt to return to the living. Mina, the goddess of love, was right. Shelby was going to hate her forever now.

Shelby stared up at the ceiling. His eyes were glassy, the shine of tears gathering along his eyelids. He didn’t blink. Not a single tear fell across his cheek. Ace tried to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat as she examined him.

“Everything hurts,” Shelby whispered. “Everything is hot. My chest, my skin, my throat...” He took a shuddering breath. “All of me feels raw.”

“It’ll go awa—”

“You did it,” he bit out.

Ace closed her eyes, wishing it had been her and not him. She would have died a thousand times over again.