Page 59 of The Crimson Throne
How long can I hold out this time?
Alyth’s standing just below me, hatred pure and raw on her face.
“Tell me,” she demands, “what you are.”
The force releases enough for me to suck in a breath. The black spots clear, but I’m still held up.
“I’m Samson Calthorpe,” I croak. “I was sent here by Cecil—William Cecil, Baron Burghley. My rat bastard of a father—” The pressure on my throat tightens threateningly. “He suspected Mary of storing away fae magic items to attack Elizabeth. I was sent to pose asLatimer’s man, infiltrate the court, find out what’s what. That’s it, that’s the truth—”
I garble, sputtering when the force closes over my windpipe.
“I don’t give a shite about Elizabeth and her spies,” Alyth snarls. “Tell me what you are. Tell me what you’re doing here—with this.”
She holds up the necklace.
“Cecil really did give me that before I got here. Told me it was protection from fae magic and a way for others loyal to Elizabeth to recognize me. I wasn’t to take it off. I only did what he asked on account of Mary’s got something in her magic stores that cursed me, and I need to break this curse. I have to. I don’t care about politicking or any of this shit, I swear, and I don’t—I don’t have the slightest bloody idea what’s going on!”
Alyth steps toward me. Those odd little creatures close in around her, all set on me.
My God.
She’s going to kill me.
Blackness surges in, a harsh wave that I blink frantically to clear.
No, no, don’t slip, don’t pass out—
I won’t hurt her. I WILL NOT HURT HER.
I try to kick, try tofight, but I’m held good bynothing.
The knife she raised lowers to her side.
“There is no plot to kill Elizabeth from Mary,” Alyth tells me, but her voice is deadened. “Mary does not have a store of fae magic items, as you called them. Darnley, however, is the threat, and if you are part of how he has been getting Red Cap weapons into this country, I will kill you both.”
“You shouldn’t wait to kill him,” I gasp against the tightening force on my neck. “Off the bastard.”
One of the creatures squeals. “This one can’t be so bad, can he, Lady Alyth? He’s smart. Can we release him?”
“No, Kitty,” Alyth snaps. Her eyes don’t leave mine.
She lifts the necklace higher, as if I haven’t seen it.
“This necklace was given to you, down the line, by Darnley’s mother,” she says. “Obviously, it must dampen magic. That’s why I couldn’t see you were fae when you were wearing it. What kind of Leth are you?”
“I was cursed, I told you—maybe that’s what you’re seeing? I came into contact with a fae item when I was younger, and it got its magic in me, and I hurt people sometimes when the curse takes me over. I gotta stop it. That’s why I’m here.” My heart sinks, remembering what she said. “But Mary doesn’t have fae magic stored up? Darnley—Darnley’s got the magic items?”
I have to shift my investigation to him.
If Alyth lets me live.
“Cecil is your father?” Alyth ignores my babbling. “Is he fae? Or did you get it from your mother’s line?” She squints at me. “You’re strong. Maybe…”
I laugh, pitchy and frantic. Cecil’s not magic; if he were, he’d have used it for something awful by now, not just been content to obey Elizabeth like a lapdog. And my mother’s dead, a lady’s maid and then a working girl, and if she’d been magic, she’d have used it to save herself, to save us. Right?
“Whatever you are, you brought this necklace here. Is that what Lady Lennox wants from you? To carry Red Cap weapons across the border for Darnley?”
“What the hell is a Red Cap? Is that what the fae-magic items are—Red Cap weapons?”
