“What do you want?” I asked dully. Shouting had been a bad idea—my head was now thumping painfully.
“Various things. Wonderful things… but from you? Absolutely nothing. I just want you out of my way. You know, you really shouldn’t have come back here. I was actually willing to let you go. But honestly, I can’t have someone snooping about my castle, enquiring about nymphs and the way I conduct my business. It’s so very tedious. And I do need Ash to help me with the trials. After that, who knows?”
“What are you going to do with him?”
Oh, please don’t hurt him. Please.
Queen Trina shrugged gracefully. “Well, like I said—nothing while the imperial trials are taking place. He is rather a valuable resource. But he is a rather simple creature in certain respects, rather too puritan for my tastes…I can’t imagine him faring well in my domain on a permanent basis.”
I thought how ironic it was that both the queen and I wanted Ash’s stay to be short-lived.
“And me? What are you going to do to me?” I dared ask.
“Good question. Unfortunately, I am unable to use you for the trials—it’s forbidden to have human help, and sadly the Impartial Ministers are watching me quite closely. However, a short little syphon here and there won’t be noticed. No doubt Tejus will be doing the same thing with Hazel. So you can look forward to that over the next few days, and after that, I suppose I’ll just let you starve.”
I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of seeing my fear. I nodded slowly, and then turned my eyes away from her to look at the floor. If Trina was the type who took pleasure in pain, and clearly she was, then the more resigned and indifferent I could appear, the more frustrated she would get. That would have to suffice as my revenge for the moment, before I could come up with a better plan.
She laughed again, unbothered by my attitude for now. But it wouldn’t last—she would get angry soon, and angry people made errors. I would just have to be patient, and try somehow to bear the pain of her syphoning as best as I could.
I heard her footsteps retreating, and finally looked up and around at my cell. It was impossibly small, with a hole in the ground for waste, but no water or bedding.
Great.
It was like being back in Jenus’ cellar. I had to remind myself that we’d gotten out of that mess, and so the same could be done here.
My best, and possibly only, chance rested in either Hazel or Commander Varga communicating with Ash. Once they all realized that I was missing, it wouldn’t take Commander Varga long to work out what had happened to me—he seemed to be the only one, possibly with the exception of Hazel, who was willing to recognize the true nature of Queen Trina. They would find me eventually. Hopefully it would come sooner rather than later. Each day that passed, Ash would be in greater and greater danger as the sell-by date of his usefulness to the queen drew closer.
Hazel
Night had fallen, and we were waiting by the passageway for Benedict to emerge once again. This time we weren’t taking any chances: Tejus had doubled the guards, and we had five ministers with us as well, all ready to prevent Benedict from leaving the castle once he’d entered.
The hallway was crowded, and I moved away from the entrance temporarily to get some breathing space. I was still irritated with Tejus; when Benedict had mentioned that Queen Trina was the one who had encouraged him to continue listening to the entity, I had gotten angry. I had known all along that she was bad news, but Tejus had let her off the hook time and time again. Was it because he still had feelings for the woman? I wasn’t sure. When I’d overheard them talking in the castle gardens, it seemed like any romantic involvement was in the past—but not exposing her as my kidnapper, and allowing her to continue vocally supporting Ash in the trials and then not saying anything when she participated in the imperial trials, suggested that he was still loyal to her, at least to some extent.
Yelena and Jenney stepped out from one of the doorways in the hallway. They glanced at the group of guards and ministers around the passageway warily, but when Yelena’s eyes lighted on me, they approached.
“What are you doing? You should still be in bed,” I said to Yelena. I didn’t want her here to see this—she shouldn’t be exposed to my brother under possession again. The entity clearly saw her as some kind of energy bag, and I didn’t want her getting hurt.
“I’m going back in a minute. I just wanted to see if you needed anything,” she replied.
“No, it’s okay. I spoke to Benedict today, in the Viking graveyard. He’s trapped in a temple there. But he was him, and it was…difficult. He doesn’t remember what he did to you. I think that’s probably best for now.”