Page 164 of The Witch Queen

At first, I’m convinced I’m dreaming. But when I stretch my body, my limbs collide with solid warmth. My eyes fly open, breath catching at the sight of the shape beside me. Gingerly, I use one crooked finger to tug down the heavy coverlet, revealing Jacquetta’s sleeping face.

Memories of last night flood my mind. The crush of Jacquetta’s mouth on mine. Her skin like warm silk beneath my hands. The way we’d rushed at each other, practically devoured each other. As if she can feel my attention, the other witch stirs. Her blue eyes flutter open and for a heartbeat, I see every emotion that lit through my own body reflected inside them: shock and disbelief and something that might be…more.

“Oh,” is all she says.

“Yes,” I say. “Oh.”

Jacquetta starts to sit up, exposing the plane of her chest. I remember what that area tasted like and fresh heat floods my veins. A thousand questions war in my mind: What is she thinking? What did last night mean? What do Iwantit to mean?

“Well,” Jacquetta says, drawing the bedclothes up around herself. “This is one place I never imagined I’d be again.”

“Do you regret it?” I ask.

A beat passes. She holds my gaze.

“No,” she replies. “You?”

I hesitate. The voice inside me is still there, insisting that this was a mistake. That I’m falling right back into the same traps that nearly killed me before. But what about the traps I’ve laid for myself? What has the crown I won really given me? Not her.

“No,” I whisper.

Jacquetta threads her fingers through mine and I revel in how natural it feels, unsure why we ever fought against it. But then she frowns.

“What is it?” I ask.

“It’s just strange to see you without the shadows,” she says. “I didn’t notice it as much before, but now…there’s something missing about you.”

Until this moment, I was quite content to forget about the events of the last day. Now they’re staring me in the face. Behind my sternum, the dregs of my power stir. Malum is still there, but impossibly weak. The same as it was before Shade and the others swore themselves to my service. But after the events of the Sanctum, it’s clear that the shadows—like my former Huntsman—have abandoned me. And their absence is crippling.

“I understand now,” I say to Jacquetta, finding it difficult to look at her. “What you said about losing your power. It’s…like a whole part of me has simply…vanished.”

“Yes,” she replies quietly. “That’s exactly what it’s like.”

Guilt winds between my bones. This time, I cannot shove it away. Cannot rationalize it. Because I’d done this to her. I wanted her, and every other witch, to experience this pain.

“I suppose it’s what I deserve,” I go on. “After spending these past years taking witches’ power. Now I’m without mine.”

“No one deserves to be without power, Ayleth,” she says.

It’s more kindness than she owes me.

“Well, I don’t have time to wallow in it now,” I reply. “Two armies are about to bear down on the palace. Not to mention the creature—and Shade, since he’s serving her.”

Jacquetta turns over on her side and props herself up on one elbow. “I still don’t understand. If Margaret or the witches didn’t summon her, what is she doing here? And what does she really want?”

All I can do is shrug, hopeless.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I reply. “But I have to assume Blodwyn is still part of it. I should wake Callen. See if he’s had any luck.”

I start to kick my way out of the bedclothes.

Jacquetta makes a face. “When all this is over, can I shatter him?”

I laugh. “Sometimes, I’d like nothing more. But he has his uses.”

She snorts, dubious. “What made you think to bind him to the mirror, anyway?”

“Honestly, it just occurred to me in the moment.” I pick up my shift and tug it over my head. “And I decided that watching me rule in his place would be a fitting fate for him.”