Hisa was the first to move, dropping to a knee, one hand pressed over her heart, the other flattened to the floor. The other guards followed, as did Sven. Gregori remained standing, his eyes wide.

“Try me,” I whispered, and those two words echoed throughout the room.

A tremor coursed through Gregori as he slowly lowered himself to one knee, bowing his head. “I’m sorry,” he uttered, placing a hand to his chest and the other to the floor. “Please forgive me.”

In the hidden, darkest corners of my being, the urge to lash out was a tempting force. To unleash all the sorrow and anger I felt, and let it flay open Gregori’s skin and rip out each bone. I could—with just a thought, a single will. He would be no more, and he would be the last to speak to me in such a way.

Isbeth would do it.

But I wasn’t her.

I reined in the eather, and pulled the power deep within me. The radiance retreated, seeping back into my skin. “Leave,” I ordered the Elder. “Now.”

He rose, stumbling around me and the wolven. I heard Naill’s soft snicker as the Elder rushed past him. My gaze flicked to Sven. “You should leave, too,” I said. “And the guards. Leave.”

Sven nodded, exiting the room with far more grace than his predecessor. A few of the Crown Guards lingered, obviously still loyal to Eloana—or afraid for her. I turned to where I saw that she had lowered herself to the floor.

I fought a cruel smile, stopping it from reaching my lips as she looked up at me. “I do not believe you want many to hear what I have to say.”

The skin around the corners of her eyes puckered as she closed them. “Listen to your Queen,” she whispered hoarsely. “Leave.”

Vonetta and Kieran tracked the guards’ progress. It wasn’t until Naill and Hisa had closed the door that I said, “You may rise.”

Eloana rose, collapsing onto the settee, her glistening amber eyes fixed on me as I strode forward, gripping the back of a chair. The legs scraped against the floor as I dragged it so it was before her.

Slowly, I lowered myself to the chair, my eyes meeting hers as Kieran and Vonetta moved so they crouched on either side of me. Naill and Hisa remained at the door. “Ask me whose blood stains my clothing.”

Eloana’s lips trembled. “Whose blood—?” Her voice cracked as she glanced at the wolven. “Whose blood stains your clothing?”

“My brother’s.” I flattened my palms against my knees. “He was slaughtered when I refused to join the Blood Crown, uniting the kingdoms under the sovereignty of Solis. He didn’t even see it coming. They cut his head from his shoulders, and he did nothing to deserve that. Nothing. She did it because she could.” My fingers curled into my knees, where the material was stiff with dried blood. “Now ask me where your son is.”