Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“My granddaughter, Emma, has the power of my bloodline and the strength to rule the Summer Court when she comes of age,” she said. “I know she will rule wisely and well—”
“In that case, she should also have the power to rule the Winter Court,” a cold, feminine voice rang through the hall.
Everyone gasped and looked around for the source of the voice. They didn’t have to look far. Right in front of the cake table, a portal was appearing. It wasn’t lit by silvery light like the one Chrisanther had made for us to get to the Summer Court, however.
The portal appearing now seemed to be made of green and purple smoke and dark shadows. Red streaks of lightning flashed inside it and thunder rumbled ominously, as though some horrible storm was happening on the other side of it.
And then a woman with long black hair, black eyes, and pale-white skin stepped through the portal. Her lips were a red slash—the only spot of color on her face—and they curved up as she looked at the queen.
“Hello, Elia dear,” she said, smirking at my grandmother. “How is our granddaughter today? You’ve had your turn with her—I think it’s high time she visited the other court she is heir to.”
84
The queen seemed to be at a loss for words at first. She stared at the woman—whose age was impossible to say—her mouth open in shock. Finally she exclaimed,
“Mab! How dare you invade the Summer Court in this manner when you know you are not welcome here?”
“I dare because you have something which belongs to me—or should I say, belongs to both of us. Our granddaughter.”
Mab, the queen of the Winter Court, turned to stare right at me and I saw something awful about her eyes. It wasn’t just the pupils and irises that were black. It looked as though the blackness had bled outwards, so that it covered even the whites of her eyes. Her entire eye socket was filled with a pool of ebony which just looked…wrong.
When she looked at me, I felt like a cold wind was blowing through my clothes. Chills ran down my spine and my heart began to pound.
“Hello, granddaughter,” she said, her perfectly painted red lips curving up into a cruel smile. “Are you ready to come and see the Winter Court?”
“You cannot take her!” Queen Elia exclaimed, throwing an arm in front of me like she was trying to save me from a traffic accident. “Emma belongs to the Summer Court! She came here first—I have claimed her!”
“Ah, but you cannot claim her—she must choose,” Mab said, giving me that cruel, slightly mad smile again. “And she cannot choose until she has seen all the delights we of the Winter Court have to offer.”
“I…I don’t understand,” I said, finding my voice at last—though it came out sounding extremely shaky. “How can I be your granddaughter and Queen Elia’s too?”
“Why, because my daughter, Princess Lorella, was your mother! Surely your new grandmother told you that?” Mab raised her expertly shaped eyebrows at me in a questioning gesture. They looked like insects crawling on her perfectly white face.
“No…” I turned to Queen Elia who had a look of agony on her face. “Grandmother, is that true?”
For a moment, the queen looked like Morganna had looked while she was under the truth spell back at Nocturne Academy—like she wanted to lie but couldn’t. Finally she nodded.
“It’s true,” she said sadly. “Tarren came to me and said that he had fallen in love with the princess of the Winter Court. I rejected the match and told him he must choose from among the girls of the Summer Court. But his heart was already given and so he…he ran from me.” She stifled a sob. “He ran and I never saw him again!” Turning to me, she gripped my hand tightly. Her eyes were full of tears. “You are all I have left of him now, Emma! You are the only heir to my throne! Please—choose the Summer Court and not the Winter!”
“She cannot choose until she has seen both courts. The prophecy says as much—she is a child of both Realms with the power to rule either,” Mab said. “Oh yes,” she added, smiling maliciously. “I know about the prophecy! Did you think I did not, my dear Elia?”
“What prophecy?” I demanded in a voice that was slightly stronger. Queen Elia had mentioned a prophecy in the scrying room, but though everyone was using it as a justification for putting me in this tug-of-war of royal succession, nobody had told me what the damn thing said!
Slowly, Queen Mab began to chant. The prophecy didn’t rhyme, exactly, but there was a kind of sing-song quality to it and the words seemed to echo and hang in the air long after she had spoken them.