Immortality did that, distorting the meaning of life, creating endless, endless days until only the most outrageous broke through the boredom.
“Are you finished?” I snapped, unable to believe I’d allowed Metis to intimidate me. The same with Aine.
Both women glared, and it was probably wise to remember who they were. “I asked you here because—”
“What was that rubbish you sent, anyway?” Metis picked a small, long-legged ocean crab from her gown, tossed it back into the fresh water. I doubted it would survive long.
“Nothing more than a child’s drawing,” Aine added with a snort.
“Runes,” I said. “Surely you recognize a rune?”
“Not that rune.”
“Funny, because Amal kept a journal after the vampires turned her. When she still recalled the details.” I wasn’t sure how much they knew, but neither female acted surprised. “She drew that rune pattern. Wrote in code.”
“Fascinating,” Metis drawled.
“We had it decoded. Twenty pages where she wrote: the nymph queen knows.”
“Well, of course we know things.” Aine swiped at the wet petal sticking to her cheek. “We’re queens.”
I focused on the Queen of the Forest. The butterflies had disappeared from around her head. Her hair was dry and perfect after Metis’s deluge, but the pink flowers had washed away, leaving that one petal she’d brushed off like a bug.
I waited until she’d settled. “Then tell me how the kings destroyed the queens.”
Silence.
“You’re all demigods. You possess druid magic. The kind of magic needed for something as life-altering as stripping away a queen’s wolf.”
Aine blinked, her black nymph eyes glittering. “Is it a confession you’re expecting?”
“Do you value anything beyond your rivalries? Because Amal is up in the Cariboo right now, trying to discover the magic. She’s capturing alphas, cutting away their tattoos. Killing them. And if she duplicates what the kings did, she’ll destroy the only power standing between you and her vengeance. A wolf can kill a vampire. But a man without a wolf is no more threatening to Amal than a sprite.”
“She won’t be able to do it,” Metis said.
“But if she does? Amal won’t stop with destroying the packs. Her revenge extends to a nymph queen, and I believe that’s because one of you—maybe all of you—were involved in what the kings did.” I paused, then added, “So which one of you gave the kings the magic?”
Aine sputtered, “It was centuries ago. Longer. Everyone had magic back then—no one cared where the kings got it. The queens were burning everything in their path and we were all grateful when it stopped.”
I turned my gaze toward the Queen of the Forest; her expression tightened as I raised my hands. An instant later, a tree burst into flames. The next target was near the waterfall. With a zapping sound, a section of rock crumbled, then caved away, disrupting the water with enough force to push waves around the Lady of the Lake’s feet.
“I have all day.”
“Bitch,” Metis hissed, but not at me. She glared at her sister. “What did you do?”
“You left me in charge,” Aine said as if she was bored. “Don’t complain about it now.”
“You used that witch, didn’t you—the soul stealer? The one they call La Loba.”
I refused to shudder. They were talking about the effigy I’d seen in the Farmer’s Market. The mythical woman who stole wolf bones and tried to resurrect them.
“I used what was available,” Aine spat.
I challenged her. “For what reason?”
“The queens were destructive.”
“I’m descended from the queens. I can be destructive, Aine. And vindictive.”
