Page 154 of The Witch Queen

She bolts back toward the Sanctum, where one of the trees is attacking Nerissa, its long, fingerlike branches puncturing the earth around the other witch. Nerissa is dodging as best she can, but the tree is at least a hundred times her size.

“Jacquetta!” I call. “Wait!”

Branches spear down around me as I rush after her. I weave in and out of their path, narrowly avoiding being impaled. Other witches aren’t as lucky. To my right, I spot Selene, her body crushed beneath a broken tree limb. Another witch is in pieces, her sightless eyes staring into the sky. I ignore the way my stomach roils and propel myself forward, focused on Jacquetta. When I reach her, the other witch is kneeling beside Nerissa, who is sprawled on the ground with a branch sticking out of her chest. Blood pours from the wound and pools around her. Limns her lips in sticky garnet.

“Please,” Jacquetta sobs. She turns to me, her hands gloved in red as she vainly attempts to stanch the wound. “Please—help.”

But there’s nothing I can do. Not even the strongest Blessed could make a difference now. Nerissa’s bloodshot eyes shift to Jacquetta and her lips move. But her words just gurgle, blood spurting from her mouth. And then the light drains from Nerissa’s eyes.

“No!” Jacquetta screams. “Come back! Please!”

She crumples over her mother’s lifeless form. Despite everything between us, I want to hold her. Offer some comfort. But there’s no time. An ensorcelled tree is lumbering in our direction. I’m just able topull Jacquetta away before one of its arms can cleave us in two. It lands on Nerissa instead, eliciting a sickening crack of bone.

“We have to go,” I beg Jacquetta. “We’ll die if we don’t.”

She finally obeys. We race through the battlefield and toward the forest, the sound of the creature’s haunting laughter echoing behindus.

Chapter Forty-Six

Ayleth

Thunder rolls over Riven, its low growl reverberating against the panes of the carriage windows.

By some miracle, we managed to locate our horses and then bolted back to the camp, which was far enough away from the Sanctum that Selene’s forces hadn’t yet overtaken it. I ordered the carriage to depart immediately and now we’re barreling back to the palace. After today, I’m not certain what we’ll find there. Scenes from the battle replay in my mind: The trees uprooting themselves and charging on their tentacle-like legs. Witches torn apart like rag dolls. The corpse-like creature standing in the center of it all, shadows massing around her.

Myshadows.

Not anymore, though. I may not understand all of what happened, but I’m sure of that much. I can still picture Shade, Della’s heart glowing in his hand, his crimson eyes glittering with anger and something worse…hatred. Forme.

I serve thetruequeen.

His words drum through my mind, sharp-edged and brutal. I press a hand to my chest, where the pulse of Malum is practically nonexistent. I’ve attempted to call my shadows a dozen times since leaving theSanctum, but they continue to ignore me. Their betrayal is bitter. I’ve sacrificed so much for my power and even it has rejected me.

And why wouldn’t it?that vicious voice asks.

A noise across the carriage breaks me out of my thoughts. Jacquetta, wrapped in a blanket, has folded herself into a corner. She hasn’t spoken since we fled the Sanctum. She doesn’t need to. I recognize the raw, guttural grief in her silence. The same burden I carried after Rhea died.

“Jacquetta?” I call softly.

At long last, she turns to me. She looks so lost. Sosad.

“They…used me,” she says, her voice hardly above a whisper. “Sheused me.”

I don’t have to ask who she means. And it would be easy to rub salt in her wound. Remind her that the covens used me as well. Thatshedid. But those words don’t come. After all, I know what it’s like to love someone even at their worst. To keep hoping that they’ll choose you, even when they’ve proven otherwise.

“I’m sorry,” I say instead.

“Spirits, I’m such a fool,” she mutters. “They’re exactly who you said they are. And I knew that deep down. I knew and still I…”

She trails off, clenching her blanket.

“Don’t blame yourself,” I say. “It’s not all your fault. What you said at the palace was true. I allowed the covens to control my life. Tied myself to the words of some meaningless prophecy…”

I trail off, shame knotting in my chest. All this time, I convinced myself that Malum separated me from the covens. That I was better than them—stronger and smarter. But I’m just like Selene and the others. Worse, perhaps.

Jacquetta is quiet for a long while.

“You were right as well,” she says at last, picking at her blanket. “I should have listened to you that day at Stonehaven. Should have stayed with you instead of going back.”