Page 34 of Blood & Roses

I clenched the dagger tighter as I remembered it was an act.

“A brazen request,” the queen purred, lifting a hand to his jaw, “when I am clearly still in mourning.”

“Just one,” Rowan insisted, lifting a hand to her waist and closing the distance between them.

I pictured myself stabbing the queen in the back. Repeatedly.

“A kiss in the place of a kingship,” the queen mused, smiling up at him, desire lighting her eyes. “A fitting prize, I think.”

Queen Amira lifted onto her toes and pressed her lips against Rowan’s.

Chapter 17

One moment the Queen of Elandor was kissing Rowan, and in the next she collapsed to the ground, her death soundless and instant.

Rowan pulled an arrow from his quiver as the guards unsheathed their swords, shouting that he had killed the queen.

I released Tristan, sending his blood pumping through him more quickly, his heart beating again. I didn’t have time to rest or catch my breath despite my dizziness as the guardsran for Rowan.

It would take a few minutes for Tristan to be able to rouse and help us, so I unsheathed a second dagger, throwing the first and hitting one of the guards in the shoulder, as Rowan shot another in the knee.

It took all of my effort not to collapse.

The fact that they came for us now confirmed that it was the mirror, not Amira, who cast the enchantment. We had agreed to injure only, not kill, since the guards were not in their right minds, but as more swarmed in to surround us, I realized this would be easier said than done.

“Now would be a great time for Sera to appear,” Rowan shouted, drawing his knife to hold off one of the guards, whose sword was angling toward Rowan’s neck. The other guards were in a panic, unsure where to aim as my daggers appeared to come out of nowhere.

“I’m here,” Sera said, dropping her illusion as I threw my second dagger and hit another guard in the thigh. “And I found the mirror, but I can’t break it.”

“What do you mean you can’t break it?” I shouted, throwing a pulse of magic into one of the guards who had grabbed my wrist and knocking him on his back.

The use of my power after almost draining myself on Tristan had my head spinning, and I blinked away the fog in my vision.

“The glass is enchanted I think,” Sera shouted over the growing din, throwing one of her own daggers and catching a guard in the shoulder.

I cursed as Rowan took on more of the guards, shooting arrow after arrow into knees and shoulders and thighs as I ran for Sera. I would have so much healing to do.

“Hurry up!” Rowan shouted after us, the guards continuing to try to fight him despite their injuries. “I’ll have to start killing soon.”

I staggered after Sera, who saw my condition and looped her arm around me. She half carried me through frosted glass hallways and up a staircase until we arrived at what I assumed to be the queen’s study. There was no furniture, not a desk or a rug or even a chair. Just a huge silver mirror attached to the wall, the glass swirling as if liquid.

“Careful, Iz,” Sera warned, approaching the mirror with me. “It feels wrong, somehow.”

“Is it the source of the illusion?” I asked, reaching out to run my hands over the silver frame. The glass continued to swirl oddly, and I tried not to look too hard at it.

Nightshade.

The voice sounded everywhere and nowhere, in my head and all around.

I whipped my head to Sera. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” she whispered, frowning at me.

Isolde Nightshade.

I frowned, pressing my hand to the glass.

The voice again was in my head and everywhere all at once, and I sank to my knees.