Page 179 of The Witch Queen

“Don’t call me that,” I say through gritted teeth. “Don’t expect me to believe a word that comes out of your mouth after you’ve been deceiving me for, what…years?”

“Does it matter?” she asks. “You and I both know that if I’d returned to the palace, you would have tossed me on a pyre. Would have wrung my raven’s neck, should I have sent one. I needed to let you witness my abilities for yourself. The dead princess provided an excellent guise.”

Aguise.She says it so simply. Like she was choosing a gown.

“So all this was a game to you?” I throw back. “You could have killed me. Youdidkill so many others.”

Another memory rises: Mother tearing the Follower’s heart out and eating it raw. What onearthhas she become?

“And?” Mother asks with a shrug. “You don’t care about any of them. Not even Nerissa’s brat, much as you’ve convinced yourself otherwise. I’ve seen inside your heart, Daughter. And there’s only one thing you’ve everreallydesired.”

She motions to Shade, who withdraws something from the folds of his body: the crimson crown. The broken Bloodstones glimmer in the light and that old yearning kicks up, urging me to reach.Take.

“You’re wrong,” I say, fighting the impulse. “And so was I. Nothing good ever came from that crown.”

“Nothing?” Mother clicks her tongue. “You destroyed the Veil. Defeated the covens. The king himself. Youarethe queen from the prophecy, Daughter. Thetruequeen.”

Again, that injured part of my soul pulses. How long have I waited for her to finally see me? To judge me as good—as worthy—as Rhea? The mark on my palm prickles.

“If this is how you felt, then why did you walk away from me before?”

When Ineededher?

“I didn’t see your full potential,” she says. “None of them did. But sending me away was the best thing you could have done for me. It forced me to recognize Selene and the others for what they were:arrogant and stubborn andwrong.Butyou,Ayleth. You could become the most powerful witch living. So much stronger than you were before. Even stronger than the Ancients. Let me show you how.Trustme. Just one more time. You will not regret it.”

Yes,my Huntsman rasps.Come back to us.

His shadows brush against me and I can’t help but lean into their touch. The loss of my power is like the loss of a limb. It would be so easy to agree. To take it back. Feel whole again.

But I don’t get the chance to do anything.

A roar echoes across the yard as a blur of black bounds out of the trees.

Instantly, I register the gleam of a single crimson eye.Nox?Another beast charges out of the forest alongside him: a massive white stag sporting a broken antler. It’s the same beast from the hunt. But what onearthare they doing here—and together?

There’s no time to puzzle it out. Mother manages to use the shadows to deflect the stag, but she isn’t fast enough to avoid Nox. The Nevenwolf barrels into her, pinning her to the ground. Shade reacts at once, sending his shadows against the beast. Nox howls and leaps away from Mother, who summons her own power and begins to retaliate in earnest.

Do something,my mind screams.

But what? The knife in my hand is about as effective as a needle and—

My hand pauses at my pocket, feeling the shard of glass.Margaret.

An idea lights in my mind and I fumble the piece of mirror free.

“Margaret!” I call, tapping furiously at the glass. “Wake up!Now!”

The duchess’s face finally appears. “Stop screaming at me! What do you want?”

“Summon the crows. Hurry!”

“How am I supposed to—”

“Justdo it!” I yell.

She scowls at me but huffs a sigh and concentrates. Across the yard,Nox is still battling Mother, but it isn’t going well. The stag roars at Shade’s next attack. If it wasn’t a killing blow, it was close enough. Mother advances and I’m sure that I’m too late.

And then a cloud darkens the sky. Not a storm, but a flock ofcrows.