Treachery Queen (The Callistra Chronicles #1)

THIRTY-ONE

Again and again, each collision knocking her teeth together until she was certain she had cracked something.

The chair slipped from her grip, and Pasiphae was left panting by the glass, having not made as much as a scrape.

She kicked at the balcony door, out of frustration instead.

This entire room had to be protected under some sort of magic. She was enclosed in a bubble, one so impenetrable that she wouldn't even notice if they yanked out all the oxygen inside.

Pasiphae turned away from the glass, attempting to calm herself. Seth and the others would warn Airesi, and surely Medeis would be able to hear it from there.

There was still the problem of severing the connection in Khotadi.

Pasiphae pressed her temple, cursing herself. She should have stabbed the king when she had the chance. Now how were they going to stop the Somnus?

Morgana had made it seem like the sylphs had to be sent off by someone and then received by another. First, the king had to die, or at least whatever keeping him barely alive had to be disconnected. Then, whoever was acting as the channel between two mediums in each continent had to die.

Who was the traitor in Medeis?

Pasiphae's eyes flew open, remembering that she still had her necklace. She rushed towards the bathroom door, already envisioning what she needed to say to Circe, but found that it was just as locked as the others.

"No!" she shouted, slamming her fist against it.

She drew back with a hiss. The skin on the side of her hand swelled up in a thin slit, throbbing, but it was just another injury to add to the mess on her body. She lifted the hem of her shirt. Her pale torso had become a canvas for molten etches of purples and blues, with the occasional harsh black lines slashing across her ribcage.

It was the same along her arms and legs. She peered under her loose sleeve, wincing. The gouge on her left arm had worsened, giving off a pus-like substance if she touched it. At least she couldn't see any bone.

Pasiphae slid down the door until she was sitting, drawing her knees up to her forehead. She sighed heavily into her legs, taking a moment to do nothing except sit and try to collect her racing thoughts.

Up until this moment she had been running on a whim, and now, left with nothing but herself, she truly realised the direness of the situation.

Naeyrs and Lauha, did they know she was here? Were they coming for her?

Pasiphae pressed her hand over her mouth, pushing down until she could feel her sharp teeth cutting into her gums.

She was a witch with no magic, trapped within the Unseelie Court. The queen wanted to keep her around for reasons she did not yet know and the king had died a long time ago. Her sister was halfway across the world battling with her own life to keep traitors away from power, and her only other allies were cutting through the ocean at breakneck speeds to save their kingdom.

If Pasiphae really focused, she could hear the whispering rising and rising from all the creatures around her, but they were outside and she was inside, simply awaiting death.

The walls could have closed in around her and all she would be was a caged songbird, fabric draped over her cage.

There was nothing she could do.

***

Queen Evara sat back on her throne, rolling out her neck.

"Your Majesty, there's a revolt stirring in the northern borders," one of the lords reported, kneeled below her.