What made the Iron Crown so deadly was that it broke the bond between a monarch and his or her land. As I was constantly reminded, that bond ran deep. It was tied into my life and being, and short of death or a monarch inexplicably losing power, there was no way to end that bond or pass it on. If there had been, I likely would’ve given the Thorn Land away when I first won it. Then, the discovery of the Iron Crown had changed everything. With the Iron Crown, I’d ripped away Katrice’s connection to the Rowan Land. Left unclaimed, the land had then been ripe for me to bond with it and take control.

My earlier joke had been right to a certain extent: Varia could just kill off all those monarchs. But that wasn’t easy, seeing as monarchs, by their nature, were usually among the most powerful magic users in their kingdoms. It would make for long, taxing battles, and no matter how badass Varia wanted to seem, I knew she wasn’t all-powerful. Magic for magic, whatever hers was, I doubted she was stronger than me. What made her remarkable was that she had a league of magic users to work with, creating the kind of power that had led to the blight. Organizing a group for a passive enchantment was one thing. Getting them all together to go hunt down monarchs in outside kingdoms was an entirely different matter.

“No. There is nothing you can do that would get me to give you the Iron Crown—not that I could if I wanted to,” I added. “It can only be used by the person who won it.”

“So I hear,” she said. “But that’s fine. I’d only need you to shatter the bonds. I’d take care of the rest.”

I thought about all the kingdoms near me and the many I’d heard about under her control. “You can’t bond with that many. It’s not possible. No one’s that strong, not even you. Two is taxing enough.”

Varia looked at me like I was crazy, which was saying something. “Well, of course I wouldn’t bond them all! That’s absurd. I’d simply make sure they were claimed by those I could trust. My daughters, for example, would make excellent queens. If you stayed on my good side—and I must admit, you aren’t endearing yourself very much right now—I might give you a couple.”

“No,” I repeated. “I’m not using it on your behalf. I’m never using it again, and I’m not telling you where it’s at. You want it? Kill me off so it’ll return to its resting place. Then you can go get it and do whatever you want.”