Page 111 of The Witch Queen

She will destroy you,that voice warns.

And yet she hadn’t.

“You’ll want to be careful,” I tell Jacquetta, nodding at where Nettle has Fitz cornered on the other side of the room. “Joan never lets him out of her sight for very long.”

“Joan is the least of our worries,” Jacquetta replies. “We need to talk about…whateverthat was.”

She gestures vaguely in the direction of the Great Hall.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I say, stoking up the fire. “The council is convinced it was Rycinthia. The witches.”

“It wasn’t us,” she retorts, annoyed. “What witch can do that? Even before the Veil fell? It’s something else.”

Something stronger than you,that voice again.Thetruequeen.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say, as much to myself as to Jacquetta. “Whatever it is, we need to fight against it. And Margaret, predictably, has found a way to use this situation to her advantage. Which means we need to keep investigating her.”

“Investigateher?” Jacquetta asks, incredulous. “You’re still obsessing over the duchess? After everything you witnessed tonight?”

“I’m not obsessing.” I set down the poker and cross my arms. “You heard what the creature promised. It’s coming back. We need Margaret’s army to—”

“Weneed,” she interrupts, “to involve the others.”

“TheHeirs?” I scoff. “I’m not running back to them like a frightened witchling.”

“Maybe you should be frightened,” she counters. “This is bigger than the two of us. Bigger than a mortal army.”

“And what are the Heirs going to do?” I press. “You said it yourself: They don’t have the power to stop the creature. Not unless they reforge the Veil.”

Jacquetta goes quiet. An ember in the fire pops.

“So we’re back to this again,” I say, bitter. “Maybe youdidhave a hand in the attack tonight. Was this the scheme all along? Summon some creature to goad me into—”

“This isn’t about you!” Jacquetta all but shouts. “An actual corpse just split the palace open and ripped out a man’s heart. If the Veil is the only way to stop thatthing,then so be it!”

“And what about the harm your preciousVeilcaused?” I challenge. “The pain it inflicted on Shade and the others? Onme?”

A muscle in her jaw works. “That’s not—”

“What? Important?”

BecauseI’mnot important.

A long moment passes. I brace myself for her reply. To know once and for all that she truly doesn’t care about me.

But then athumpfrom the next room startles us both.

Fitz flattens his ears and growls in the direction of the noise. I throw a questioning look to Jacquetta, who only shakes her head.

“Is someone there?” I call.

The patter of retreating footsteps answers. Malum buzzes a warning in my chest. Damn everything. Had I forgotten to bolt the door? Is it Margaret? One of the servants? Thatcreature? My pulse speeds up and I hurl my shadows out. They swarm into the next room. An instant later,I hear a muffled cry and the sound of a body hitting the floor as they find their target. Jacquetta and I hurry after them.

“Let go!” Someone shouts. “Let mego!”

Panic rings high and tinny in my mind. Because Iknowthat voice. And I know the pair of dark eyes glaring back at me, hard as flint.

Blodwyn.