He shrugged. “Perhaps.”
“And gave her a blessing?”
On his side of their face, Calamité smiled.
The goddess peered down at Margaux and startled. “I remember you. You always were an appalling acolyte. Give me that.”
Margaux made an attempt to cover her necklace, but Félicité snatched at the set of pipes, breaking the chain and crushing the necklace in her balled fist.
“This is terribly off-putting,” she muttered, tossing the scrap aside.
Leopold let out a disgusted bark of laughter. “To put it mildly.”He too had gotten to his feet, but Calamité’s hand was still heavy on his shoulder, holding him in place. He studied Margaux with icy hatred. “You will pay for this, for all of this. My mother, my sister. For every death you caused throughout the kingdom, whether on the battlefield or in the sickbed. I will see you pay.”
Her eyes darted around the room as she searched, calculated. Even now, Margaux was trying to work out a way to survive this, to emerge unscathed. Her audacity was staggering.
“You know, I don’t think you will, Your Royal Highness,” she began. “Your father adores me. He trusts me. I’ve spent the last three years telling him the secrets of everyone at court: Yours. Your sisters’. Those of the entire gentry and every one of his advisors. I’ve proven my loyalty to him time and time again. He believes everything I say. All I need to do is whisper that it was Hazel who poisoned the queen, Hazel who made him sick, Hazel who—”
“Do you hear yourself?” Leopold demanded over her madness. “That doesn’t even make sense. Hazel wasn’t here for any of that.”
“Perhaps not, but she could have had help from her secret lover…you,” she murmured, her grin wide and wicked. She looked so triumphant. “That won’t be too much of a stretch for the king to believe, will it, Leopold? You’ve been plotting this together for months, years. The timing doesn’t matter; I’ll make something up as I go. The pair of you will be executed by dawn and I will still be here. Still pulling every one of his strings.” Her attention darted to Calamité and she offered him the smallest bob of her head. “I will fix this, my lord, I swear it!”
In a flash, Margaux was across the room, racing for the secret passageway. Leopold tried to go after her, but Calamité’s hold on him was still too strong.
I turned to Félicité for help, but she only stared after the false oracle’s retreating form. I felt any trace of hope within me deflate.
Calamité would never be punished. Margaux might be held accountable, but that wouldn’t undo the deaths she’d caused, the chaos she’d created.
The only way to move forward was to fix what I’d done wrong.
The answer came to me in an instant, striking as bright and certain as a bolt of lightning from the sky.
I took the goddess’s great hand in mine, drawing her attention. “Send me back to the Between.”
“What?” she questioned, studying me curiously.
“Give me the godsight and send me back. I need to put a stop to all this. I need to set everything right.”
She blinked, considering my words. “You’ll clean up the mess my brother and his reverent made?”
“Now, just a minute—” Calamité started.
“As much as I can,” I said, racing to talk over him. “I won’t be able to undo the deaths she or the king have caused, but I can stop more from happening. Starting by killing the king himself. Send me back and I will make sure the deathshead is obeyed.”
Félicité pursed her side of their lips, thinking it over with a terrifying divine stillness. “You certainly are your godfather’s child,” she murmured, then pressed one of her thumbs to my forehead, electrifying my senses and taking hold of my vision. “Perform your charge well, little mortal.” She gave a meaningful glance over my shoulder to where Euphemia thrashed on the bed. “All your charges.”
Chapter 55
When I heard the rushof the rapids plunging over the waterfall in the Between, I remembered to scrunch my eyes closed, keeping the painful godsight shut tightly away. Alone in the dark of my mind, I tried to orient myself, listening to where the falls were, hearing them echo off the back wall of the cave.
“You can do this,” I whispered. “Kill the king and save the kingdom. Kill the king and save the kingdom.”
I let out a long, calming breath, then took my first step toward Merrick’s cavern.
“Kill the—”
“Hazel, wait!” When a hand fell on me, gripping my upper arm, I let out a shriek and involuntarily opened my eyes.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Leopold, aghast. “How didyou—”
