The woman’s hands wilted, falling limply into her lap, and her eyes became guarded. “If Irina is against you, there is nothing anyone can do.”
“Oh I think you can do a lot for me, Duchess. Let’s start with this. You know who I am and what I can do.”
“You’re the princess—”
“I’m a mardushka, and I am your true queen.” Lorelai’s voice was as unforgiving as the floor beneath her boots. “Irina is a usurper who murdered my father and tried to murder his children.”
She clenched her fist as Leo’s face blazed across her memory, and her power sparked, wreathing her hand in brilliant white fire. The duchess shrank against her yellow bedspread as Lorelai locked gazes with her.
“I didn’t know. None of us . . . we had to take her word for it. We had to do whatever it took to survive.”
“And yet many of the nobles across Ravenspire quietly defied the queen. Paying a measure of their peasants’ taxes to alleviate the burden. Hiding those Irina’s spies would condemn to death. Doing their best to keep their people safe and refusing to give their loyalty to one who used her power like a bludgeon.” Lorelai took a step closer to the bed. “But not you, Duchess Waldina. You curried Irina’s favor at the expense of everyone else. And look what it got you. Your land is dying just like everyone else’s. You have a skeletal staff, and I’m sure if I go into the villages on your land, I’ll find people who are desperate and starving, who imagine breaking into this mansion with its tiny staff and stealing anything they might use to pay their way out of the kingdom. I’ll find people who curse your name and wish death or worse for you.”
“What could be worse than death?” The woman laughed feebly, but then scrambled toward the middle of the bed as Lorelai lunged forward, her bare hand raised.
“I am. I’ve lost my mother, my father, my brother, and my kingdom. The only thing left to lose is my own life, and that doesn’t scare me.” The truth of her words was a burning stone in her chest. “All that matters to me now is saving Ravenspire from Irina and people who support her. People like you.”
“No! I don’t . . . that is, I was just pretending.”
“Were you pretending when you sent a group of your own peasants to Irina’s dungeon for the crime of begging you for help? Were you pretending when you housed known spies and then invited your fellow nobility for a week-long house party that ended in nine of them being arrested for treasonous words against the queen? Were you pretending when—”
“How do you know about any of that?” The duchess demanded, her tone full of bravado as thin as the mattress on the maid’s bed.
“I listen—and I know how to be unseen when I need to be. You’d be surprised what I’ve seen.” The memory of the woman who’d killed her children to spare their suffering sent a flood of anger through Lorelai, and she clenched her jaw so hard it hurt. “Your crimes against Ravenspire are many, Duchess, and in a few short weeks, I will be your new queen. What can you tell me about my enemy that will convince me to spare your life?”
The duchess swallowed hard, and sweat gleamed on her brow, reflected in the brilliant light that wreathed Lorelai’s hand. “Irina is in love with Viktor, her castle steward.”
“What else?”
The woman took a deep, shuddering breath. “She never visits the castle gardens where your parents are buried.”
Lorelai’s heart ached, and she sharpened her voice. “None of this is helpful, Duchess. You have one last chance before I unleash my magic on you.”
The duchess hesitated, and Lorelai snapped, “So be it.”
The princess reached toward the sturdy wooden bedposts with her bare palm, and the duchess yelled, “No, wait! Wait. There’s one more thing. Irina is sick. Her heart. Whenever she does magic, especially a big spell, she has to take to her bed for days. That’s all I know, I swear on my life.”
Lorelai paused, magic burning her palm, her eyes locked on the duchess while her mind raced.
Finally, something she could use against Irina. All those years of forcing the land and its inhabitants to submit to her magic had cost both the land and the queen. A vicious sense of triumph welled inside Lorelai, and her smile made the duchess shudder.
If Irina weakened every time she used magic, if her heart was giving out, then Lorelai finally had a way to beat her. She could provoke the queen to use spells—huge spells. A weakened Irina would call on her army and her spies to help her defeat the princess, so the best way to incite Irina to use magic would be to work her way toward the capital, destroying anything Irina could use against her. She’d isolate her from her allies, tear apart the bridges, roads, and defensive positions that led to the capital so that no help would come for the queen, and provoke Irina to retaliate with magic at every turn. By the time Lorelai reached the capital, she’d be facing a queen too weak to put up much of a fight.
Without another word to the duchess, Lorelai left the bedroom, hurried out of the mansion, and raced to meet Gabril. They had two days’ worth of ground to cover to get to Lorelai’s first target.
TWENTY-ONE