“With this?” The Red Queen lifted Finn’s sapphire.
“No. Put that away.”
The Red Queen tucked the sapphire away, and Kelsea felt relieved when it was out of her sight.
“I have magic, but it’s no match for this creature,” the Red Queen admitted. “So what then?”
“Good old brute strength. You help me hold her down, and I shove this dagger in her heart.”
The Red Queen shook her head. “These are not the monsters of the pre-Crossing fiction. They are something else.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
The girl was only two feet away now, preparing to spring. Kelsea tightened her grip on the dagger, murmuring to herself, almost a prayer.
“I put my trust in fiction.”
Then the girl was upon them, and Kelsea felt her pulse jump, time losing its elasticity and snapping back into itself. She had expected the girl to attack her first, since she was armed, but the child ignored Kelsea and sprang for the Red Queen, knocking her flat. The Red Queen forced her away, but Kelsea sensed that the blow was weak; the Red Queen was faltering. Kelsea grabbed the girl’s hair, yanking her backward, but she was astounded at the strength of the child; she came, but her hands did not release the Red Queen’s shoulders and the Red Queen came with her, all three of them tumbling on the hard stone. The dagger flew from Kelsea’s hand, clattering to the floor behind her. She detached herself from the pile and scrambled after it, while behind her, the Red Queen continued to grapple with the girl, cursing in Mort.
The dagger had landed against the bars of Simon’s cell. Kelsea grabbed it and looked up to see Simon in front of her, inches away, crouching behind his bars. She had never gotten a good look at him before, and now, despite everything behind her, she froze in shock.
He was General Hall.
But no, she had left Hall in New London, while this man had been imprisoned here for a long time. Hall’s brother had gone in the shipment, long ago . . . but Kelsea got no further, for a shriek echoed behind her. The girl had dug her nails into the Red Queen’s collarbone, and her mouth was less than an inch from the Red Queen’s shoulder. The Red Queen was trying to beat her away, with no success. Her eyes rolled in desperation. Tucking her head low, Kelsea ran at the girl and tackled her, breaking her from the Red Queen and knocking her across the flagstones. The child recovered almost immediately, but Kelsea was ready; she jumped on the girl’s left arm, pinning it down, and shoved an elbow up underneath the child’s throat, holding her dangerous teeth away.
“Help me!” she shouted at the Red Queen. “Her other arm!”
The Red Queen crawled over. She was injured; Kelsea’s mind registered the fact, but there was no time to do anything about it. The girl was writhing beneath her, trying to buck her off, and her strength was unbelievable. Even with the two of them pinning her arms, Kelsea nearly lost the dagger again.
“She’s too strong!” she shouted. “Hold her, will you?”
The Red Queen nodded, and a moment later Kelsea felt some of the girl’s wild strength diminish.
“I’ve got her,” the Red Queen hissed. “But not for long. Hurry up!”
“Father!” the child screamed. “Father, help me!”
One of his, Kelsea’s mind repeated, and again she wondered how on earth the boy Rowland Finn, charming and selfish, had traveled the long road to this place. Her hands shook, but she held fast to the dagger, planting one of her knees in the girl’s rib cage to stop her wriggling.
“Stop, Majesty!” Simon shouted from his cell. “She’s a child!”
“No child,” Kelsea panted. She took a good grip on the dagger. Rogue thought—What if Carlin could see me now?—drifted through her head, but she ignored it and brought the dagger down. The blade slipped smoothly into the center of the girl’s chest.
The child screamed, a terrible sound, both human agony and the wretched squealing of an animal caught in a trap. Her body bucked and spasmed, and both Kelsea and the Red Queen were hurled backward. Kelsea heard a hollow boom as her head hit the bars of Simon’s cell, such a resounding impact that her teeth clattered together. There was no pain; Kelsea waited for it, but before it could come, she tumbled into the dark.