Chapter 13

My mother's eyes were glossy, her face pale. But her hand was steady as she held the short blade to my throat.

"You want me to let the demon go, the one that took your throne from you?" I didn't dare move. My mother was lightning fast—or she had been. I couldn't be sure now, and I did not need my neck opened from side to side.

"He is helping me keep my throne from you!" She screamed and I threw myself backward. She slashed out at me, catching me down the line of my jaw. My skin split, and the warmth of blood trickled down my neck—but the wound wouldn't kill me.

"No one took your throne." Lorz followed her in. "My queen, no one took your throne. Prince Carag is your son. He is the rightful heir. I can feel the magic singing for him, as it once did for you."

She spun and threw the knife at the old guard.

I snapped my hand up, my magic reaching out and plucking the knife from the air before it could land its fatal blow. "No more killing. There has been enough."

Lorz went to his knees, pale.

She turned to me. "You think you can just be king? That my people will accept you?"

I didn't dare take my eyes off her to look at the Scourge. But I had no doubt he was manipulating her, making her speak.

"You are not the queen anymore. The demon said it…you've been dead a long time. So, a demon speaks through your mouth, and rules your actions. And to be clear, my people will not be ruled by a demon."

Her mouth opened wide; her jaw nearly cracking as she began to laugh. "You truly don't care if I die, do you? You do not care if the woman who birthed you dies in front of you."

I did care, I cared very much. Because she was the last hope that I had of finding Bree in the time allotted to me.

Her body began to snap, folding in on itself until there was nothing but a puddle of her skirts covering a skeleton that had no more flesh on it than Robert.

"Now, you deal with me," said the Scourge. "I thought your love for her would trump all."

The hope I'd hung onto when I'd ventured here fled. I took a step back, then another and another until I was outside.

Lorz followed me. "Your highness?—"

"Just Carag will do," I said. "Make sure no one goes into the throne room."

I didn't want to say that I needed a few minutes, but that was exactly what I needed.

Making my way out of the courtyard, I headed for a set of stairs that took me up to the top floor. My mother's personal rooms.

The air around me was cold, almost frosted as I entered her space. The smell of the room told me that no one had been inside for a very long time. Musty and rotten…the curtains around her bed and in front of the windows were partially ripped off, mold growing up the edges of the deep blue velvet.

"What are we doing here?" Nancy asked.

"Having a conversation where the Scourge can't hear us." I still found myself speaking in low tones.

"Yeah, but…why not your room?"

I barked a laugh. "I swore I'd never go back to those dungeons, Nancy. I keep my word."

He sighed. "You aren't going to make me feel bad for you."

"Fine."

I laid the blade across my thigh. "Could the Scourge have kept the queen's abilities?"

The blade shivered.

"It's possible," Nancy said. "Demons often absorb skill sets. It's how we mimic those you love, so we can fool you."

That had been my thought. There was a tap at the door, and I looked up to see a rather concerned Lorz standing there. "I've secured the castle my…Carag. Is there anything else?"

I nodded slowly. "Do you know of anyone who might have the sight? Like my mother?"

Lorz shook his head. "No. She was the last. If you don't have the sight, then…"

Then the gift had died with her. "Thank you, Lorz. You may go."

He bowed at the waist. "Of course. If there is anything else?—"

"I will call for you," I said.

Lorz left me alone—well, as alone as I could be with Nancy there.

I ran my hand over my head. How do I find you, Bree?

As if thinking of her in the quiet moment had brought her to me, I saw her across from me. Sitting on a bed, bars around her. Ivan to her right. Robert standing outside her cage.

Hope flared in my heart, and then she was gone before I could tell her one more time that I loved her. That I loved her beyond reason and sense.

She'd take a demon into herself, to find me.

Could I do any less?

I scooped Nancy up and slid him back into the sheath at my side.

"What are you going to do?"

"What I need to. What Bree would do. She took you on to find her way to me, I cannot do any less."

Nancy groaned. "Dude, I am not like the Scourge…that's like…he's a top tier demon. Crème de la crème. Worst of the worst. You can't…you saw what he did to your mother. Bree could handle me too, because of what she is…you ain't her, kid."

"What does it matter if I fail or succeed?" I asked as I started down the steps. "I don't believe that you're suddenly looking out for me."

"I need to get back to Bree," Nancy said. "I'm bound to her too. She dies…I don't know what happens to me. Well, I think I do, and I don't like it."

I paused partway down. "That's what I'm doing, getting us both back to Bree. Whatever it takes."

I made my way back to the throne room—sunlight still streamed in through the windows, light I hadn't seen in all my life in the realm of the dark fae. Another time I would have wondered at it, tried to understand the change. But I had only one thing on my mind.

Finding Bree. Saving her.

The Scourge had curled up into a tight ball, almost like a small cat, wrapping its tails around its head and body so it was hidden. One eye peered at me over the coils, and through the flaming bars of the cage.

"What do you want?"

I thought about how to play this. I couldn't tip my hand, or the Scourge would never give me what I needed.

I snapped my fingers, and two pieces of stone that had fallen dragged their way across the floor to me, screeching until I released them. Another snap of my fingers and the two shattered stones set up on top of one another, a jagged and ugly throne.

But I would not sit on a throne made of my father's bones. When all this was done, I would bury him, finally, and put him to rest.

I sat and leaned back on the throne I'd created. "How many of my mother's abilities do you still have? Can you call down storms? Can you read the minds of lesser fae? Can you find lost souls? What of her many gifts do you still carry with you?"

The Scourge uncurled a little, its mouth still bloodied from my shield. It laughed, black blood splattering the flames, sizzling. It stunk of rotten meat. "All of them, young prince."

"Hmm." I tapped my fingers on the stone edge, feeling the rough bits under me. I didn't have long to decide, time was ticking, sliding away from me second by second.

I knew the choice I had to make. And so did the Scourge.

The Scourge moved closer to the edge of its cage, eyes flaring with malevolence and glee. "I see you are in need of her skillset, so the question is not if you need me, but what are you willing to give me, for the use of her abilities?"

I thought of Bree sitting in a cage. I would not fail her. I would not let her face the horrors of Evangeline and her vampire horde alone. No matter what came, I would be by her side—to the very end.

I leaned forward. "What exactly are you proposing?"

The Scourge bared its teeth, long tongue flicking out. "A bargain, bottom of the barrel discount."

"Careful," Nancy whispered. "It's going to be a doozy."

He wasn't wrong.

The Scourge settled again into its coils, scales catching at the light. "Your mother's powers, all of them. I will hand them over to you."

"Just like that?" I tipped my head. "What is the price?"

"A small thing. I want your soul."

I looked at the Scourge and knew there was only one answer. "Done."