Page 193 of The Witch Queen

Two halves of a whole?The words ripple around the table, witches visibly flinching against them. The idea that magic and Malum could be related goes against everything the covens taught us. I share a look with Jacquetta, who seems as perplexed as I am.

“Nonsense,” Sindony scoffs. “I don’t recall Riven being plagued by disaster when the Veil was in place.”

“Because you benefitted from it,” I counter. “But there are plenty of others who didn’t. Like Shade and the others?”

My former Huntsman may have deserted me, but that doesn’t meanI’m unsympathetic to what he has endured. Not to mention Nox and the rest.

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. The Veilprotectedus from such danger.” She points at me. “From creatures like you.”

A few other witches nod their agreement. The dregs of my power buzz in my chest. Is that all I’ll ever be to these witches? A threat? A monster?

“Watch yourself,” Jacquetta warns Sindony.

She only laughs. “Still on her side? How predictable. Mother always claimed that you and Nerissa were half-Wayward.”

“Better Wayward than obsessed with a handful of magical rocks.”

Another argument flares up, but Roland heads it off.

“Stop your squabbling!” he barks. “I don’t know what happened with the princess and the…whatever it was, but I do know of another witch who is very much alive. And she’ll be coming back here before long. The king as well, likely. I, for one, would prefer to live out the rest of my days with my headonmy shoulders.”

He’s right. Mother might be licking her wounds for now, but she will certainly attack again. And Callen probably has the whole of the Hunt scouring the realm in search of me. I’m not sure which of them is more dangerous.

You will burn,Mother’s warning resonates beneath the whine of the wind.

“I don’t suppose that your good friend Millicent gave you any ideas about getting out of this mess?” Sindony asks Blodwyn.

The princess just glowers at her.

“Millicent couldn’t tell me anything specific,” she admits, earning a derisive snort. “But she did say that the balance of power needed to be restored. That the only way to save Riven is to undo the mistake the Ancients made.”

Undo.The word strikes like an arrow.

“Millicent said that?” I ask. “That exact word?”

“Yes,” Blodwyn replies. “Why?”

It must be undone.

Rhea’s words roll around in my skull. I can almost see my sister again, standing across the hall as she was on the night Ignatius brought her out of the mirror. Her cold hand clamped in mine as she urged meon.

“It’s the same thing my sister said,” I tell them. “When she crossed from beyond the Veil.”

The other witches murmur, trading furtive looks. All except Sindony, of course.

“Oh, wonderful,” she says, sniffing. “Another ghost story. How many of these do you expect me to endure?”

“It’s not a story,” I retort. “Rhea was real. And she told me thatitmust be undone. At the time, I assumed she meant the Bloodstones and the Veil. Perhaps she did. But maybe there was more to her message.”

A message from Millicent herself. And one I’ve been too stubborn to heed. I look at the princess, her dark eyes like depthless pools. I’m still not sure what to make of her story, butthismuch I know in my bones is true.

“Blodwyn is right,” I say. “We do as Millicent says. Restore the balance of power.”

Sindony just sighs. “And how do you propose we do that? There’s scarcely anything left in this realm but Malum, thanks to you.”

I can’t argue with her. For so long, that’s what I thought I wanted: a world comprised solely of Malum. The world I wasdestinedto lead.

Fairest of them all.