Cylan fell to his knees in front of Sterling, his face contorted in agony. After his initial scream, he seemed unable to make any other sounds. Called to the surface by her magic, little droplets of blood rolled off him and dripped onto the sand.

  Seeing those droplets reminded Sterling of another time—another murder.

  Without warning, she felt a warm stickiness sliding over her skin. Sterling dropped her gaze to her hands, looking for the source. There was nothing to see. No trace of the blood that had bathed her hands and buried itself beneath her nails after she had murdered that man.

  But still, the sensation wouldn’t leave her.

  Yes, yes, the voices continued shrieking in her head. He deserves this.

  Sterling wanted to blame them for the scene before her, but she couldn’t. She had full control over her body and her magic. The voices hadn’t done this.

  She had.

  “Please,” Cylan choked out, lifting one hand toward her. There were grains of sand stuck to his fingers, his blood turning them from pristine white to deep red. “Please,” he tried again.

  “Please what?” she taunted, giving another pull on the magic and bringing a fresh wave of red to the surface.

  It felt good, and she didn’t want to stop.

  Let him suffer.

  Cylan groaned. His hand fell back to the sand, digging into it as he rode out another wave of pain.

  “Stop,” he whispered, a desperate edge to his voice. “Please stop. You will kill me.”

  “And what a great loss that would be for everyone.” She stared down at him, the ocean waves lapping at her ankles. Eventually, if she left him here long enough, the waves might pull him off the sand and swallow him into the deep, erasing any sign of his existence.

  “I can help you,” he panted. “Let me help you.”

  Sterling tipped her head to the side as she regarded him. “It’s going to be a bit hard for you to help me after you lose all of your blood.”

  “I can tell you who Gavaran meets with. His plans. I can tell you everything.”

  “I’m listening. Don’t take too long now.” She gave another tug. “You don’t have an infinite supply, you know.”

  “He was speaking with the Winter Queen today,” Cylan blurted. “She is the one who ordered him to put you back on the throne.”

  Sterling raised one brow as she regarded him. She wasn’t sure she trusted anything he had to say. He could be making it up to get the pain to stop. She’d never heard of this Winter Queen, but she’d heard plenty from Seraiah about the Summer King. It wasn’t impossible there was another fae ruler and the voice she’d heard Gavaran speaking to was female. He’d also addressed her as “my queen”.

  She let go of the magic.

  Nooo. Don’t stop.

  I don’t have much of a choice. I know you can feel as well as I that I have barely anything left. Do you want him to see that? Do you want us to appear weak?

  The voices said nothing.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  As soon as he was released, Cylan collapsed into the sand. “Thank you, Your Highness,” he said, the words muffled. “Thank you.” Then he was silent.

  When he didn’t move after a few moments, Sterling realized he must be unconscious. Using the last dregs of her power, she summoned water from the ocean and drenched him with it.

  The icy water was both effective at waking him and rinsing away a good portion of the blood.

  “Such a terrible accident you have suffered, Cylan,” Sterling said. “You should be more careful. When I return to the city, I will have someone sent back for you. Once you are healed, I expect to see you back in my service.”

  “Yes, my Queen,” he mumbled, eyes on the sand. “It was a terrible accident. I will make sure nothing keeps me from your service again.”

  Sterling smiled, pleased that he’d understood the threat in her words.

  Without a backward glance, she returned to her horse and headed for the city. She had no intention of reporting to Gavaran as he’d wanted. Let him wait. Let him come to her.

  Upon reaching the gates, Sterling was met by a group of guards who seemed to be returning from somewhere. She slowed her mount, falling in behind them as they passed beneath the twinned dragons’ flames. None of them seemed to notice her as they chattered away to each other.

  “First thing I’m going to do when I’m released is bathe,” one of them said. “Wash off the gods-awful stink of that hellhole.”

  His companion guffawed. “Even a bath isn’t going to get rid of that stink. It lives in your head. You’ll need a strong drink if you want to forget it.”

  The others around them agreed.

  “I have to see about getting reassigned,” the first one went on. “Why are we the ones sent out to watch the humans? We’ve been loyal to the king.”

  “Should send the traitors out there. They should be the ones to suffer with the stinking humans.”

  Sterling filed this information away to ask Cylan about later. Wherever these guards had been, they must not have been informed of her return, and that’s why they ignored her.

  Before she could hear any more of their conversation, they turned off on a side street. She was tempted to follow them to see what else she could learn, but the tremor in her hands made her change her mind. She was exhausted from her magic use. Who knows how much longer she’d be able to stay upright?

  She left her horse with a stable boy and told him to have someone sent for Cylan.

  “You’ll find him on the beach. He had an unfortunate accident and will need assistance making his way back.”

  The stable boy didn’t ask what had befallen Cylan, only bowed to her and promised to send someone right away.

  With that taken care of, Sterling returned to the castle, dreading the stairs she would need to climb to reach her rooms. Her legs were already unsteady, and she’d needed help to dismount from her horse.

  She made it two floors up before a servant intercepted her.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, Your Highness,” the man said, bowing low.

  Sterling was too tired to formulate a smart response and simply waited for him to spit out his message.

  “Your presence is requested immediately by—”

  She didn’t let him finish. “No.”

  The man stared at her. “Excuse me? Your Highness,” he added belatedly.

  “I said no.”

  “But—”

  “Do you not understand the meaning of the word? It’s fine if you don’t. All you have to do is say it when you deliver the message. Repeat after me. No,” she said the word slowly, like she was speaking to a young child.

  “I can’t—”

  “You can and you will. Stop arguing with your Queen and do as you're told.” She scraped up a bit of magic, hoping this would not be what pushed her into complete exhaustion, and shoved it at the elf.

  It wasn’t much, but his eyes still widened. “R-right away, Your Highness,” he stammered before disappearing down the stairs.

  Sterling leaned against the railing for a moment, willing the trembling to stop. When it finally abated, she forged onward.

  By the time Sterling made it to her door, her legs were shaking again, threatening to give way beneath her. She was more than ready to fall into bed. However, the sight that greeted her when she entered her rooms stopped her in her tracks.

  The servant girl from earlier was waiting for her.

  “Your Highness,” she said, jumping to attention at the sight of Sterling.

  “What happened to all the furniture?” Sterling asked. Her voice bounced off the walls now that the space was empty.

  “It has been removed, as you asked.”

  Sterling balled her hands into fists at her side to hide their trembling. “And the bed?”

  “Also removed, Your Highness.”

  “Where exactly do you suppose I shall sleep?”

  “But you said—”

  “I know what I said. I also expected you to have some common sense. I see that I was mistaken. Have the furniture returned. Now. Before I have something of yours removed.”

  The girl’s face had gone ashen. “Yes, Your Highness,” she mumbled before fleeing the room.

  Seconds after she disappeared, the last of Sterling’s strength left her and her legs gave way, sending her tumbling to the floor. Her last thought before unconsciousness took her was to hope the servant took her time returning. No one could see her like this.