The Blood Spell (Ravenspire, #4)(109)
The queen’s brows collided. “If you have a sister, it’s the first I’ve heard of it. Nobody plotted anything against you. If you were using the wraith sixteen years ago to bargain for power for yourself, then I’m glad we took it away from you.”
“Are you?” Dinah’s smile sent a shudder over Kellan’s skin as he leaned against the force of his father’s weight. His palms were getting clammy, his grip starting to slip.
“Father,” he whispered, hoping the flicker of life he saw in the king’s dull eyes was real. Terrified that if it was, that meant he truly would be killing his father all over again.
The queen’s spine grew ramrod straight, and she glared at Dinah. “The wraith is an abomination who feeds on the blood of children to gain its power. It deserved to be imprisoned—”
“Actually, it deserved to be destroyed,” Blue said, the wild, reckless light back in her eyes as she left the king’s side and walked toward the wraith. The creature jerked its face toward hers and lifted its bony nose as if trying to identify Blue by scent.
Kellan could barely breathe. She was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it. “Father, please. Lower your sword.”
The queen met Blue’s eyes for a long moment, and whatever she saw there had her lifting her chin and staring Dinah down. “Yes, the wraith deserved to be destroyed.”
“You can’t destroy the wraith,” Dinah mocked. “You can’t even destroy the remnant we dragged out of the sea to hunt you down and kill you. I’m going to enjoy watching you beg for your life, Adelene. I know I begged for mine.”
“You’ve never begged for anything in all the years I’ve known you, but now you will have that chance.” The queen’s voice filled the room. “Dinah Chauveau, I charge you with treason against the crown. You are hereby sentenced to death. Guards!”
Dinah threw her arms out, and the wraith spun into the air. Its mouth opened wide, and it screamed, an undulating howl that swelled to fill the room, climbing in volume and pitch until Kellan thought he would burst from the power of it. The floor shuddered, sending several people to their knees, and a spider web of cracks spread along the walls. People screamed and sobbed, grabbing on to those around them for support.
“You can’t kill me.” Dinah laughed, cruel and feral. “You tried once before, and I almost wish you’d succeeded. At least I would have been dead instead of condemned to live without my heart.”
Blue moved closer to the wraith, candlelight dancing on the bare skin of her arms as she raised them up like an offering.
“Blue.” Kellan whispered her name, a broken prayer that sounded too much like good-bye.
“Blue.” His father repeated the name, still watching him, though Kellan was sure now that the flicker in his father’s flat expression was truly him.
“Father.” Kellan had to swallow past the grief that was choking him. Grief for the time he’d lost with his father and for what was left of the man he’d loved. For what he had to do to break the wraith’s hold on the king. And for Blue, who was now standing five lengths from the wraith. “Please put down your sword. I don’t want to have to kill you, but I can’t let you get past me, or you’ll kill your wife and daughter.”
“Arrest her!” the queen shouted.
Guards converged on Dinah, and Blue ran for the wraith. Kellan shoved against his father’s sword and felt it drop a fraction.
The wraith screamed, and the guards stumbled, blood leaking from their ears and noses. Dinah laughed. “How does it feel to be helpless now, Adelene? I’m going to take your children. Your kingdom. And your life. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
“Don’t forget about me,” Blue said, and Kellan’s heart ached at the fierce courage on her face as she approached the wraith, her arms still raised. “Don’t forget that my mother is the one who locked the wraith away in the first place.”
Dinah swung to face Blue, her lips peeling away from her teeth in a snarl. She reached up to snap a chain from around her neck. “I couldn’t possibly forget you. You’re the key to fixing everything.” She held up the chain. A small vial dangled from the silver links, and within that vial rested a single drop of blood.
“Father, lower your sword now, or the girl I love is going to die.” Kellan met his father’s gaze and begged him to be there. To fight past the wraith’s magic. Kellan didn’t know what Dinah planned to do with that drop of Blue’s blood, but it wasn’t good. And it wasn’t something Blue had planned for when she’d turned her body into poison.
The king’s sword lowered another notch.
“You’ve already won,” Blue said calmly. “You figured out the spell. You set the wraith free. You don’t need to kill anyone in this room, Dinah. You already got what you wanted.”
The wraith trembled at the sound of Blue’s voice and jerked toward her. Thrusting its face close to her, it opened its mouth, exposing a double circle of tiny sharp fangs.
“You know nothing about what I want.” Dinah uncorked the vial and tilted it until the drop of blood rolled onto her fingertip. “What I want is to hunt down everyone who hunted me. What I want is to drink the blood of my enemies’ children. What I want is to tear my dear, sweet sister in two the way she divided me sixteen years ago. And now, thanks to you, I get to have it all.”