Page 28 of The Witch Queen

Carex looks the weapons rack over, confusion lining his features. “I could have sworn there was one there,” he says. “Of course, Your Majesty. I’ll be backshortly.” He emphasizes the word, giving Hawthorne and Fionn a hard stare as if to warn them off trying anything, then walks briskly from the room.

Prince Hawthorne’s eyes twinkle, while Silene’s stare at me with an assessing expression. “I too could have sworn I saw a dagger on that rack, Your Majesty,” the Prince says smoothly, teasingly, his eyes bright and locked on mine. Suddenly, the weapon hurls away from me. It flies through the room and ends up in Fionn’s outstretched hand. He stares at me, challenging me to react. I grin, hoping to put them all more at ease. Prince Hawthorne and Silene break out into laughter, and Fionn’s lips even twitch.

“You should have seen your face!” Silene tentatively says. She’s testing me, wondering how casual she can be. I widen my smile, and she returns it, bright and beaming. Warmth spreads through my body at being part of their endless teasing of one another, and I find myself laughing with them.

“I asked Carex to leave so I could speak with you,” I tell them. “The ball will be in two weeks’ time. Two nights before the ball, I’ll walk you through the full plan for the escape. Prince Hawthorne, you’ll need to attend meetings with myself and the Council to plan the welcome ball.”

“I look forward to party planning with you, witchling. I’m told I have an affinity for throwing a raging celebration,” he says with a wink.

“Is that right? It doesn’t seem likeplanningwould be part of your skill set.” Silene snorts and Fionn whistles. I honestly didn’t even know what words were coming out of my mouth before I spoke them. The Prince grins wide, clearly enjoying this back and forth between us.

“When it comes to havingfun, I know a thing or two.” The innuendo he laces into the words has me breathing heavy.

“So I’ve heard, princeling. Just remember you have a job to do. It’s not a party, it’s a distraction.” With that, I aerstep from the room, trying to ignore the fluttering in my stomach.

Hawthorne

The reputation of the Witch Queen is nothing compared to the reality of her practices. She uses her blackened vines to trap you in a gory and oozing web of treachery. Once she has you pinned down and immobilized, she goes in for the killing blow. She’ll slice your throat, then divide your blood in half. One part she drinks to maintain eternal youth, the other she uses to cast spells that advance her infernal cause.

The Witch Queen and Her Treachery

When Laurel leaves the training room, Fionn instantly goes into sparring mode. Throwing me a sword, he advances before I can catch it. Silene finds a table and chairs in the corner, eyes showing she’s lost in thought. I barely notice her before Fionn slams the hilt of his sword into my gut, knocking the breath from my lungs. The whoosh of blades are the only sounds as we clash against one another in the underground recess, Fionn’s blows growing more aggressive the longer we train.

“What has you so on edge?” I ask. He only grunts and swings the blade again. I block his swipe, then drop my sword. “Seriously, Fionn, what’s up?”

“I don’t trust the Queen.” His shoulders and body are tense, eyes storming. “Something feels off—there’s too much secrecy. Why wouldn’t she want her advisors involved when they’re a part of every other aspect of ruling the kingdom? She’s hiding something.” He’s right about the secrecy—it’s strange. And it makes me wonder whether this is a trap intended to get us in a bad situation we can’t get out of.

“I think I know why,” Silene says before striding over to us. She places her hands on her hips. “She has a mole.” Her posture exudes confidence. She’s sure about this.

“What makes you think that?” I ask.

“Here’s what we know. The Queen told us to keep our arrangement a secret from her advisors. She tried to play it off as them being too bureaucratic and slowing things down. But letting rebel prisoners go is abigthing to keep from them, based on what we’ve seen about how she rules.” She makes a good point. While it wouldn’t be unusual for my father to keep important things from his advisors, Laurel’s different. There has to be a reason she doesn’t want them involved. “And then today, she made up an excuse to send Carex away—theCaptainof her Royal Guard, no less. Why keep the breakout secret from the Captain of the Royal Guard, unless she was afraid it might somehow get back to the rebels that we’re working together? He’d make the breakout much easier to pull off. Even if her advisors would slow something like this down, you’d think she’d at least want Carex to know what’s going on. Shehasto have a mole. It’s the only explanation.”

As usual, Silene has guessed all the players and plays before most of us even knew there was a game afoot. Queen Laurel keeping this information from us stings a bit. I understand she doesn’t trust us, but this is critical information to share with potential allies. It’s a good reminder of how far we have to go to truly earn her trust, much less become friendly.

“It has to be Carex,” Fionn grunts while inspecting the weapons rack. “He’s always snooping around. I heard him tell the Queen he ran into us while leaving the training room, but that wasn’t true. I clocked him following us from our rooms.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask, incredulous.

Fionn only shrugs. “Wanted to see what he was up to before I revealed we knew he was there.” And just as Silene knows how to play the game, Fionn knows when to watch and learn. My friends are both too intelligent and good at what they do. I’m just a bloke with a crown and a handsome face. I’d be nothing without them.

Silene scrunches her nose and looks away, uncertainty written across her features. “I agree the Captain seems dodgy, but I’m not so sure it’s him. Or if it is him, he’s doing a terrible job hiding his interest in what we’re doing. He’s always around—that seems too obvious.” I nod my agreement, while Fionn only huffs. The Captain has found many excuses to follow us around since we’ve been here, often showing up to sub-committee meetings uninvited with the excuse he just wants to “sit in.” Even the other advisors have seemed put off by his presence.

“What do we do now?” Fionn asks. “This ruse has only gotten more dangerous. It was one thing to risk being exposed accidentally through rebel intel, but now that we know there’s someone informing them? It makes our situation even more precarious. We could walk into a trap at any point. It would be prudent to abandon this plan.” His gruff voice is all commander, a sign of how worried he is, and I don’t blame him. We’re playing a dangerous game. My eyes dart to Silene, wanting her opinion as well.

“We’re trying to trick a lot of people,” Silene admits, amber eyes bright and wide as they bore into me. “Your father, the rebels, even the Queen to some extent—we haven’t exactly been honest about our motivations for wanting to make her an ally. Someone is bound to find us out.”

Nervousness builds in my stomach, but I have no choice but to push it away.

“We’re in too deep now to pull out of anything,” I admit, my voice somber. “If we tell the Queen we don’t want to aid her anymore, I fear what she may do in her suspicion. And it’s not like I can write to my father and tell him we’ve gotten ourselves wrapped up in a scheme we need to get out of. Moving forward is the only option we have.” Four eyes stare back at me, concern storming in their gazes. To lighten the mood, I add, “How dangerous can these rebels be, anyway? Against Fionn and me? We’ll be just fine.” The words are hollow in the cavernous space, but none of us contradict them.

“What do you think the plan will be to get the prisoners out of the castle?” Silene asks. “I don’t like that we won’t know until a few days before.”

“Another reason I don’t trust her,” Fionn grumbles quietly.

“I don’t know, but if I trust anything, it’s that the Queen knows how to make a plan. That’s enough worrying for one day.” I give them a grin. “Let’s train. We need to be ready for anything. You too, Silene.” She tries to hide her excited smile but doesn’t fool Fionn and me. We know better than anyone her desire to be a great warrior, to use her skill with a blade to make up for the average magic most Velmaran nobles have.

We spend the next few hours running through drills with Fionn. The deep tenor of his voice is gentle as he models moves for Silene or corrects my form. Despite the blustering warrior exterior, Fionn is a patient teacher. Without his guidance, I never would have mastered my magic. Silene takes his direction with the dedication of an apprentice, mastering several moves in our short session. My lips can’t help the smile that spreads across my face as I watch my two best friends deep in concentration on their training. We’re in an enemy kingdom a thousand miles from Velmara, deep underground in the home of the most notoriously dangerous fae to ever live. And yet, it feels like home.

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