Page 30 of The Myths of Ophelia
“What do you think the cause of the fae-human war was all those centuries ago?” Ritalia asked.
“You mean the human annihilation at the hands of your kind,” Rina corrected.
Ritalia tilted her head. “That is the story as you know it.”
“It’s no story,” Santorina said. “Fae slaughtered humans. My people had to flee Vercuella.”
“The warriors took them in,” I added.
“Fae slaughtered humans,” Ritalia repeated, grimacing. “And humans slaughtered fae.”
I blinked at her. “How is that possible? The fae?—”
“Are stronger? Faster? More cunning?” Ritalia suggested. I sneered at the queen’s words. Rina’s hands tightened on the dagger she’d removed from its sheath. “All of those things are correct of theaveragehuman.”
“And the non-average?” Tolek asked, noticing that specific word.
“The Bounties are not average humans,” Ritalia said. And again, her stare sharpened on Santorina. “The Bounties are a race of humans born with a specific instinct and ability: to kill fae. It is because of the Bounties that the war began at all. We did not want to kill innocent humans; we wanted to exterminate those who sought to killus.”
Tolek and I exchanged a glance. In it, that one fact burned:she cannot outright lie. And, truthfully, this story was the least riddled Ritalia had ever sounded.
“Why wouldn’t we have known this?” Jezebel growled.
“Because, Mistress Death”—Ritalia sighed—“we did not make the truth of the Bounties known. Not with how susceptible it made us.”
And I almost asked then why she would tell us now, but it was clear Ritalia wanted something, I just hadn’t worked outwhatyet.
“What does this have to do with me?” Rina finally asked. Her heated stare was locked on the queen, knuckles white. “Why did you use that title for me? Why didheattack me?” She nodded once more toward where Lancaster had been standing.
“You humans are so slow,” Ritalia mumbled, and Brystin’s smile gleamed in answer. At his side, silver blades shone, etched with markings. “I scented it on you the moment you arrived, Miss Cordelian. You are the last of a great line of Bounties. A descendent from one who got away from our hunts. Their last true queen.”
The declaration sank like a rock in my chest. Santorina…a queen? Of a race of humans born to kill fae? I looked to my friend, but her expression was unreadable.
She argued, “My family is from Gallantia.”
“With how short mortal lifespans are, do you truly know the history back thousands of years?”
Rina’s gaze shuttered. “You killed the Bounties.”
“We killed all we found. Some fled, the cowards they were.” Ritalia scoffed. “Some came here. Some to the Sorcia Isles. Some established their own homesteads in other parts of the world.”
“And why did you tell Lancaster to attack her?” I asked, gaze flicking to the door he’d disappeared through.
“Lancaster was born long after the Bounty crisis, but he was bred for one thing in particular. Certainly his status as a crete is beneficial, but he was created tohunt.”
Lancaster’s snarl from minutes ago echoed through the room, my palms warming again with Angellight. I shoved it down, remaining focused on Ritalia.
“Did my hunter not seek you out as soon as he set foot on this continent?” she asked Rina. “He was bred to do such a thing. His senses set to destroy that which can kill our kind. You likely only still stand here because of those warriors around you.”
It was the last thing Santorina wanted, to be at the mercy of warriors. But as she spoke next, voice loud and true, I realized the queen was wrong. Santorina Cordelian was her own force, her own will. She wasn’t warrior; she wasn’t human. She was a bounty of power.
“Does this mean I am your natural enemy? Will my head be on the floor of this throne room?”Or will yours, she didn’t add. But every warrior shifted in anticipation of it.
Ritalia sneered. “I shall wake the hunter if you wish.”
“You wake his instincts,” I spat, my anger coiled and ready to strike, “and you say goodbye to whatever reason you wanted me here.”
My threat crept across the room like a slow frost, and Ritalia grinned in return.
