Her smile was colder than the ossuary at Midwinter as she paused out of his reach, full of confidence in her power. “I thought it would work,” she said. “You are a mere child, after all. And now, boy, you will die, but not until I have had my full revenge.”

Kieri waited. Elves liked to talk; she would likely spend time taunting him; he could attack any time, but better she thought he was held by her power. She would relax; she would come close.

Sure enough, she paced back and forth, admitting what he already surmised. “I hate you. I hated you from before your conception.” She turned back. “I hated you when you lay in your mother’s arms…”

It was not hard to make his voice sound strained. “Why? You were her friend—”

“Friend?” Her laugh rang out jaggedly; she flung out her arms as gracelessly as he had ever seen an elf move. “She was no friend to me. I hated her long before you. She had everything—the Lady’s daughter, the elvenhome gift. She would have ruled us later … I wanted to be queen of something, and my one chance was your father … but she charmed him. I begged her—she had so much—but she would not relent. He would have married me, but she stole him! And swore she would not use the elvenhome gift, but pass it to you—”

“But if you were not given it, you could not benefit by killing her—or me.”

“Oh, but I shall,” she said, taking a step toward him. “Those things you wear, that you saw rise from the ground—when I take them off your living body, they will be mine, and with these—” Her heart-hand touched the jewels in her hair. “—I can command the rest: the sword, the dagger, and most of all that spark deep in your heart no mortal should have. My will is strong; in the old days, that is how elvenhomes were made, not only by gift. I shall rule and rule alone. Humankind will be gone from here, forever.”

Kieri felt the pressure of her power again. It must be the jewels she had taken—surely not been given—from the Lady’s body. He flexed his fingers; nothing held him but his curiosity. He wanted to know more—most of all, he wanted to know if other traitors existed, if they were allied with her.

“I lured her here in the first place, you know,” she said, her voice languid again. “And you as well.”

“How?” Kieri said, making his voice harsh.