Page 59 of The Witch Queen

“Then whatwereyou doing there?” I ask. “I know about the Follower groups—that Rycinthia is paying them. I know about their new leader, supposedly Meira come to life.”

She shrugs. “Sounds like you know everything, then.”

“Don’t toy with me,” I reply, my voice low and lethal. “Was it one of you? An Heir?”

“You think I’d tell you if it was?”

I huff out a short breath. “So you’ll protectthem? That surprises me, given how much you despised the covens. Tell me, are you aSecondnow?”

Jacquetta’s cheeks pink. But she doesn’t deny the accusation.

“And after you were so haughty and self-righteous,” I say, clicking my tongue. “Insisting that the covens should fall. You turned around and ran right to them. Abandoned all your precious principles. All for—what did you call them—magical rocks? That’s what they want, isn’t it? My crown. Is that why they sent you here?”

Her gaze flits up to the Bloodstones again. But I don’t detect greed or desire in her expression. Instead, she glares at the crown like she wants to grind it to dust.

“No one sent me here,” she says, annoyed. “And what else was I supposed to do but go to them? You broke the Veil.Stolefrom us. Your own—”

“Family?” I interrupt. “That’s not what we are. You proved that when you told me to…what was it, again? Find another life? Well, this is the one I chose.”

“A pretend throne?” Jacquetta asks with a mocking laugh. “A husband?”

“I prefer him over you.”

Something flashes in Jacquetta’s eyes. Guilt? Shame? Whatever it is, it just as quickly vanishes. “Go back to him, then. Enjoy your palace and your hideous crown.”

“Not quite yet,” I reply, ignoring the twinge in my own chest. “Not until you tell me what happened out there today. Which one of you cast those spells?”

Jacquetta scoffs, stubborn as ever. “None of us, probably. Not if anything like Malum was involved. No other witch would stoop so low.”

My patience finally sputters out. One of my shadows lashes at Jacquetta like a whip. She gasps and jerks back, clutching her arm where it struck her. It should feel good to retaliate. To be the source of Jacquetta’s fear. But a deep grief-like feeling pulls at me instead. Because she used to look at me with such softness. Used to tell me I was beautiful. Wanted. And now…

She does not matter,the shadows insist.

“So I’m supposed to believe that you just happened to run into that Follower group today?” I continue, distracting myself. “This close to the palace? Out for a stroll, were you?”

“You should know what I was doing,” she spits at me.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Jacquetta approaches the cell door.

“Where’s mymother,Ayleth?”

“Nerissa?” I ask, genuinely taken aback. “How would I know? I’ve not seen her since the day the two of you left Stonehaven.”

Jacquetta laughs, low in her throat. “Please. She’s been missing since the attack on the Mines. I don’t sense that she’s dead, so she must be here.Youtook her.”

Is that what she believes? Is that what she was doing out in the forest? The reason Shade found her alone? Beneath Jacquetta’s simmering rage, I sense something else. Sadness, perhaps.

She lies,the shadows hiss.Do not trust her.

“Well, Nerissa isn’t here,” I say, drawing my shoulders back. “If you were even looking for her at all. What did you assume was going tohappen? That you would spout some tragic story about your mother and I would release you? Is this all part of the Heirs’ strategy?”

A muscle in her jaw works. “I’m not lying.”

I laugh. “Yes, yourwordis enough to convince me of that.”

“Ayleth, please.” Jacquetta presses herself against the bars, so near that I can smell the hint of juniper clinging to her skin. “I need to find my mother. Something is wrong.”