The Blood Spell (Ravenspire, #4)(78)
She’d done it.
She’d removed every obstacle. Every roadblock that had tried to sabotage her plans. She’d taken over the de la Cours’ shop and their talented and useful daughter. She’d caused confusion in several quarters with her fire spell to keep attention on something other than why she’d moved herself and her girls to a farmhouse. And she’d found the spell that Valeraine had used sixteen years ago to seal the wraith into the Wilds out of Dinah’s reach. She didn’t even need the betrothal anymore. Power—the kind that sent others to their knees regardless of their rank—was so close she could almost touch it.
Now she simply had to take a walk in the garden with the queen, something she’d done hundreds of times over the years, and harvest a bit of the volshkyn bush, and she could do what she’d longed to do every moment since the wraith had first been imprisoned: open the gate.
Footsteps sounded on the stone corridor outside the receiving parlor as Dinah went over the spell’s ingredients. She’d been off on her guesses about what formed the wraith’s lock, but not by much, and that could easily be attributed to the burned smell and the strange, bittersweet scent she hadn’t been able to identify as volshkyn. The other ingredients were stocked in the de la Cours’ shop, so once she had the volshkyn, she could head to the Wilds. She’d have to go at night. Until she had the wraith by her side again, it wouldn’t do to be seen going so far west by herself. Should anything go wrong with her plan, there would be no explaining why she’d gone to the Wilds, and she’d lose any chance at the betrothal.
Not that she’d need to put one of her daughters on the throne once she had the wraith. She could put herself on the throne and punish everyone who’d had a role in destroying what she’d secretly worked so hard to gain so many years ago.
She’d start with the queen.
“Dinah,” the queen said as she swept into the room, leaving her guards posted on either side of the doorway. Adelene’s expression was smooth and regal, but there was something in her eyes that raised the hair on the back of Dinah’s neck.
“Your Majesty.” Dinah swept into an elaborate curtsy while her mind raced.
The queen knew she was staying at the de la Cour house. Kellan would have informed her of that. Perhaps the strange look in her eyes was because she wanted to discuss Blue’s situation without overstepping the legal bounds that gave Dinah guardianship.
Or perhaps she wanted to talk about why Kellan had stationed royal guards at the farmhouse to protect Jacinthe and Halette in the absence of Chauveau staff. The parchment in her chemise rustled against her bosom as she rose from her curtsy, and her thoughts steadied. It didn’t matter if the queen knew about the debts. Soon, all that would matter would be those whom the wraith killed and those she chose to spare.
“We have much to discuss,” the queen said as Dinah moved toward her.
“Shall we walk in the garden?” she asked Adelene. “It would be nice to get some air before the storm hits, and it would give us some privacy for our conversation.”
The queen nodded, and together they left the castle and moved to the crushed-seashell path that wound through the royal garden. The sky was a dark blue streaked with gray, and a damp wind slapped at their faces. They’d only gone a few paces past the flowering hedges that bordered the garden when the queen said softly, “I thought we were friends.”
Dinah drew back in surprise, and said quickly, “Of course we are, Your Majesty.”
“Then why did I have to find out from my son that creditors are going to take your mansion and much of your business interests once the estate review is finished?” The queen’s tone was gentle.
When Dinah was quiet, the queen asked, “It was James’s gambling, wasn’t it?”
Dinah sighed as if weary beyond words. “I tried to stop him. I took over the accounts. Had everything transferred to my name so he couldn’t do anything more than lose the coin I allowed to be kept in our coffers at home.”
“And he agreed to that?” She sounded surprised.
“I didn’t give him a choice.” Anger threaded through Dinah’s words. “He was going to destroy us. Destroy the entire Chauveau family if given half the chance. My solicitor copied his signature on the documents. I had to. It was the only way to save my daughters and my quarter.”
“But it didn’t work?”
Dinah took another three steps into the garden, scanning the plants for the dark blue diamond-shaped leaves that marked the volshkyn bush. “He must have copied my signature on documents as well, and he pledged everything we owned to his creditor. When James couldn’t pay, his creditor had him killed and served me notice that they would be taking everything owed to them. Including marriage to one of my daughters.”
The volshkyn bush wasn’t here. She pulled on Adelene’s arm to guide her farther into the garden.
The queen brushed past a stone bench with tendrils of ivy snaking up its back. “Of course you couldn’t let the other families know, or they’d have tried to buy it out from underneath you. But you could’ve come to me.”
“I know,” Dinah said. “But the betrothal period had just begun, and—”
“And you thought you’d trick me into thinking your family would make the strongest alliance to the crown?” Adelene’s voice sharpened.