Page 136 of The Witch Queen

“Fine,” Warbeck grumbles, crossing his arms. His son, Gavin, waits just behind him, observing the scene in stunned silence.

“Go on, then,” Margaret prods Jacquetta. “Tell them what you told me.”

Shadows slither from the corners of the room. I brace myself for whatever Jacquetta will say next. For the fight ahead if I have to battle myself free of this throne room. I lock eyes with the other witch, but Jacquetta’s expression gives nothing away.

“I am a witch,” Jacquetta confirms, eliciting a storm of nervous chatter. The court presses closer together. “But I wasn’t responsible for the attack at the hunt and I didn’t summon the creature. No witch could.”

Warbeck scoffs. “So you claim.”

“It’s true,” Jacquetta insists. “We lost most of our power when the Veil fell. We want the world rid of Malum as much as you do.”

Sothisis why she involved Margaret, I realize. Because I wouldn’t give her what she wanted. Anger and terror churn inside me.

Failed,that awful voice.You have failed.

“If that’s how the covens feel, then why did you instigate the war?” Warbeck demands.

Several others in the crowd voice their agreement. My shadows draw even tighter. This is when she’ll tell them it’s my fault. What I am. Jacquetta’s gaze finds mine again. For an instant, it’s as though there are only the two of us in the room.

“What would you do,” she starts at last, addressing the court, “if you’d been hunted for decades? Punished for merely existing? Whyshouldwe have run back here, trusted you, after everything the White Kings did to us?”

Some of the tension in my chest loosens. She didn’t reveal me. Why not? There’s no time to puzzle it out now. The court absorbs her words with mixed reactions. A few shout rebuttals, claiming that the witches deserved their fate. Others appear more sympathetic, frowning or whispering behind their hands.

“And what do you propose,witch?” Warbeck asks.

Jacquetta’s jaw sets at his tone, but she doesn’t rise to his bait.

“A meeting with the coven leaders,” she says. “We sit down together.Discuss a way to contain Malum. To banish this creature. And to end the conflict between us once and for all.”

To end you,that voice goads.

Because that’s what will happen if Malum is contained. That’s what Jacquetta wants—what she’s always wanted.

“Banish the creature?” Warbeck echoes. “You just said the witches lost their power when the Veil fell. How will they face such a force without it?”

“We’ll find a way,” she says, ignoring the derisive laughter that follows. “But not if we continue down this current path. I’m tired of war. Of losing people I care about.”

She glances in my direction and that ancient part of my heart pulses, but Ismotherit. Jacquetta doesn’t care about me. Not if she’s donethis.

“No,” I say, the word like an arrow through the hall.

Thick silence descends.

“No?” Margaret echoes, tilting her head at me. “But surely we can all agree that this is the most beneficial course for everyone.”

“I agree with my aunt,” Blodwyn chimes in. “The covens might be the only ones who can help. We should call on them. Hear them out.”

Soshe’lltake Jacquetta’s side as well? Was she party to this plan? I grit my teeth, Malum straining beneath my skin.

“Consider what the witches did to the Dwarves,” I say. “Their Mines are all but demolished. And then there are our own losses. We cannot afford to offer the covens our sympathy. Or our trust.”

“We can.” This time, it’s Gavin who speaks. I should have set Nox on him at the hunt. “Malum has plagued this realm long enough. If there’s a way to contain it, we should seek whatever assistance we can get.”

Yet more of the court is beginning to agree, nodding their heads or shouting out their approval. I can feel the threads of this situation slipping out of my hands. Anger smolders in my chest. How has Jacquetta, in mere minutes, managed to sway this fickle court to her side? It took meyearsto establish my place and she will snatch it out from under me. I will not let her.

Shadows leap and dive around me. An idea cobbles itself together inmy mind: But no, not mine. Shade’s. If Jacquetta is so keen to summon the Heirs, then that’s what we’ll do.

“Fine,” I say, raising my voice to be heard. “We will arrange this meeting. But not to ally with the witches. To capture them.”