The king glared at her. “Hennen Vostemur understood what a threat the witches could be. He knew what would happen if their leashes grew too long.” He waved a hand to one of the fae behind him and they stepped forward with a goblet in their hand. It was a beautiful, gilded cup, so strange-looking in the sore-addled hand of the ailing witch hunter. “There’s an order to this world, one in which the fae are meant to be at the top. King Vostemur cemented that legacy for generations to come. The five crowns of Okrith will always be controlled by the fae. Queen Thorne understood that too. It’s why she let us hunt.”

He took a long sip, watching Lina stew. This king had completely lost his grip on reality if he believed the lies he spewed. The red witches never showed any ambition toward ruling a court. They respected the High Mountain fae and the High Mountain fae respected them, ruling congruently for the betterment of their kingdom. That was what Hennen Vostemur couldn’t handle—a world where he didn’t have complete power. He hoarded it like a little boy hoarding his toys, throwing a tantrum at any sign that he couldn’t keep them all for himself. He would stand on the corpses of an entire coven to make himself feel even an inch taller.

A log cracked in the fireplace and they all turned toward the sound, so loud in the looming silence.

“If it wasn’t you who attacked the palace, then who?” Lina asked.

“I’m sure some of my men who’ve deserted over the years were pulled into Norwood’s cause,” he muttered. “But they aren’t true witch hunters, not anymore. I believed in making a better world for the fae. The future dominion of our kind was won by my men and their blades, but not all of them were true to the cause. Some of them were only in it for the coin. I wouldn’t be surprised if Norwood has his claws in quite a few of them by now.” He looked between the three of them. “But that has nothing to do with me.”

“Whoever started the attacks,” Lina asked, “are they still in the West?”

“Your guards did a good job knocking them out from what I hear,” he replied, taking another sip from his goblet. “Though it’s impossible to know if you’ve stamped them out once they’ve taken root.”

“If you help us find who killed my mother,” Lina said carefully, “we can give you more money than Augustus Norwood would offer you.”

He guffawed, clutching his belly. “Do you think I have a death wish?”