Page 41 of The Beautiful Blade

“Charlotte, what are you doing here? You're getting coronated in the morning.”

“Where is he?” I strode toward her, my dagger clutched tightly in my hand.

"You need to get back before he realizes you're gone. You don't want to upset the Beast."

"His name is Adom—King Adom—and he sent me here to find his second in command. You know him as Jorge."

Queen Indira arched an elegant brow, as if I were a petulant child throwing a tantrum. “Why should I know where your little human pet is?”

"Do not play games with me, Mother. The blood of the last person who tried to play me is still on my blade. The Lioness Queen told Belle she gave him to you."

"That bitch. She won't renege on our deal."

"That's truly all you care about, isn't it? The money. Your status."

"What else is there?"

"Love."

"Don't be childish, girl. Try eating love."

"Where is he?" I shouted.

"He's not here."

"Tell me where he is." I pressed the dagger against her mute lips. "I won't let you kill Jorge because he dared to love me.”

"Wrong tense, darling. I'm not going to kill Jorge."

My heart lightened. I lowered the blade.

"He's already dead."

It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. My heart still beat. So he was still in this world. But just to be sure, I pressed my dagger to my mother's throat.

“You’ve been lying to me my entire life. You said I was chosen by the moon, that my marriage to the Beast Prince would save Evergrove. But it was the moon that cursed him. And it was the suns that blessed Belle and Adom. Lyra blessed them because they love each other, and she prized that. Which means the moon no longer has an interest in me. Which means I can have my love, finally. So you tell me where he is.”

I raised the dagger, my aim true. The blade caught the moonlight streaming through the windows. Gasps echoed from the gathered servants and courtiers whohad crept into the edges of the room to watch the confrontation unfold. The fear in my mother’s eyes was palpable, and for the first time in my life, I felt like I had power over her.

“Give him back to me.”

The queen's lips trembled, and for a moment, I thought she might beg. More the fool was I.

Queen Indira straightened, her chin lifting. “It’s too late. He’s gone.”

"He's not gone. I would feel it. I would know."

My chest heaved, my thoughts a whirlwind of rage and despair. I could kill her. It would be so easy. One quick thrust, and all her lies, all her manipulations, would die with her.

"I told them to make him suffer and put the body where the trolls would find him."

A sob escaped my lips. A trickle of blood escaped a thin cut at my mother's neck. I stared at the red. It entranced me. I wanted more of it.

"Take her," called my mother. "Take her."

People burst into the room. But these weren’t the Moonkeepers. These were the fae servants who had remained—those who had endured years of my mother's mistreatment and watched as she squandered their lands and lives. One by one, they moved to stand behind me. Their allegiance was clear. This wasn’t just my rebellion—it was theirs, too.

"You wish us to take her to the dowager house, Your Grace?"

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