Once Broken Faith (October Daye #10)(103)

“Turns out the circle was pretty half-assed,” I said. “It broke, I followed. You have nowhere left to run. Come quietly and maybe the High King will be gentle with you.” That wasn’t going to happen. Whether she realized it or not, Queen Verona had signed her own conviction when she jammed an arrow into Quentin’s arm. The Sollys family might have been able to forgive her treason and insurrection, but they weren’t going to forgive a direct attack on their only son.

“I told you,” said Minna. “I didn’t have time to set the traps in that room, not with you moving around and refusing to let me mark them. The fairy rings I scattered were weak, to prevent you being snared and stuck until someone came to free you.”

“That didn’t stop you from killing my husband, you washed-out, death-born bitch,” snarled Verona. Her attention swung back to me. “You can’t arrest me. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“The Law may be the only crime that can carry a death sentence, but I’m willing to bet that between Arden and the High King and Queen, they’ll come up with something to punish you for,” I said. “That’s the trouble with having a justice system built on royal whims. Sometimes they work against you.”

Verona turned to Minna. “Kill her,” she said calmly.

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

“No,” said Minna.

“Kill her or I’ll kill your sister,” said Verona.

“I’m right here,” I said. “I have a sword.”

“You can’t threaten her anymore,” said Minna. “I know you won’t hurt her. Not as long as you want to control me. Leave my sister alone, and maybe I’ll be willing to listen to you.”

“Didn’t you just, you know, kill her husband? King Kabos of Highmountain? Remember him? He’s dead. Maybe you should move away from her, and stop letting her tell you what to do.” I’ve been attacked and I’ve been belittled. I’d never been ignored while people argued about what to do with me. Especially not when I was heavily armed and already covered in blood.

Covered in blood . . . “Minna,” I said, causing the Barrow Wight to look at me in surprise. She’d never told me her name. Kabos had done that, bleeding out his secrets under my hand. “Who stabbed Madden?”

“She did,” said Minna, indicating Verona. “He wouldn’t stop barking.”

“There’s no crime in killing a dog,” said Verona dismissively.

“There’s certainly a crime in killing the Queen’s Seneschal,” I said. Verona turned to stare at me. I smiled. “Madden is Arden’s best friend and closest confidant. More importantly, he’s Cu Sidhe. You’re not innocent anymore.”

Verona took a step backward. “Don’t touch me!”

“Now you’d run? Now you’d flee? Because your hands aren’t clean?” Minna reached out and grabbed Verona’s arm, digging in her fingers until the other woman yelped and squirmed, trying to get away. “My hands were clean! My sister’s hands were clean!” Her face was starting to distort, becoming the monstrous mask she had worn when she killed the king.

Verona wailed.

I lowered my sword. “Let her go,” I said, softly. “She deserves justice. So do you. Let her go, and I’ll take you both to Arden to stand trial. If there’s any way to go gently on you, she’ll find it.” There wasn’t. Minna was going to die. But maybe she would be the last.

“My sister’s name is Avebury,” said Minna. “She’s only fifteen. She doesn’t know what the world will do to you. She doesn’t know what the world demands. Get her out of Highmountain. Don’t let them hurt her.”

“Please, let her go.” I took a step forward. “You know that an easy death is more than she deserves. Let her stand trial.”

“Did the dog live?”

Minna’s question was so abrupt that it took me a moment to realize what she was asking. I nodded. “Yes, but—”

“Then so will she. What’s a hundred years, to a monster? That’s what she made of me. She could only do that because of what she was.” Minna’s face softened a bit. “She came to me after my mother died and said ‘do what I say and your sister will have the best of everything; refuse me, and she will have the worst.’ My mother died as her assassin. This ends only with an ending, not with a pause.”

“Please, she’s mad, please,” moaned Verona.

“This ends,” said Minna, and ran for the nearest window, dragging Verona by the arm.

I realized what was about to happen as soon as she began to move. “Minna, no!” I shouted, dropping my sword and lunging for her.

Her shoulder hit the glass. It shattered, and she fell through, dragging Verona with her. I grabbed Verona’s arm, hoping to pull them back. Minna turned to look at me, briefly arrested in her descent. There was sorrow in her eyes, deep and profound and utterly resigned.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and jerked me forward with all of her Barrow Wight’s strength. There was no time to catch myself before we were falling, all three of us, caught in the unyielding grasp of gravity.

That was all we were caught in. Minna let us both go and fell with her eyes closed and a beatific smile on her face. Verona screamed, grabbing first at the Barrow Wight and then at me, like we could somehow stop her fall. I pushed her away. I couldn’t save her, not now, not with the skills I possessed; all I could do was hope that she wouldn’t suffer overly much.