“Are they gone?” Jaenelle asked quietly, still staring out the window.

Daemon studied her, trying to decide if it was meant as small talk or if she had withdrawn so deep within herself she really didn’t know. “They’re gone.” He moved toward her slowly, cautiously, until he was only a few feet away and at an angle where he could see her profile.

“It was the appropriate punishment,” Jaenelle said as another tear rolled down her face. “It’s the appropriate punishment when one Queen violates another’s court to do harm.”

“You could have asked one of us to do it,” Daemon said quietly.

Jaenelle shook her head. “I’m the Queen. It was mine to do.”

Not if you’re going to eat your heart out because of it.

“There’s a traditional way to break one of the Blood, to strip away the power without doing any other harm. It’s quick and clean.” She hesitated. “I took her deep into the abyss.”

“You took her to the misty place?”

“No,” Jaenelle said too sharply, too quickly. “That’s a special place. I didn’t want it tainted—” She bit her lip.

He didn’t want to examine the relief he felt at knowing Alexandra hadn’t fouled the misty place with her presence.

As he continued to study her, it struck him with the force of a blow: she hadn’t withdrawn so far into herself because she grieved over having to break another witch; she had withdrawn in order to deal with some kind of personal pain.

“Sweetheart,” he said quietly, “what’s wrong? Please tell me. Let me help.”

When she turned to look at him, he didn’t see a grown woman or a Queen or Witch. He saw a child in agony.

“Leland…Leland cared, I think, but I never expected much from her. Philip cared, but there was nothing he could really do. Alexandra was the m-mother in the family. She was the one who had the strength. She was the one we all wanted to please. And I could never please her, could never be…I loved all of them—Leland and Alexandra and Philip and Wilhelmina.” Jaenelle’s breathing hitched on a suppressed sob. “I loved her—and she s-said I was m-monstrous.”

Daemon just stared at her, the sudden rage that engulfed him making it impossible to speak for a moment. “The bitch said what?”

Startled by the venom in his voice, she gave him a clear-eyed look before she crumbled again. “She said I was monstrous.”