At least not until Angelina was escorted inside.

XXIV

The look on Angelina’s face terrified me almost as much as her presence in this room. She was far too calm for what she must have witnessed.

Xander’s screams were primal as he clawed his way to Eden’s discarded body. There were several guards around him, yet no one moved to stop him. The sob that escaped his lips, as he lifted Eden’s head, was heartbreaking, and I was unable to look away, even when Angelina silently found her way to my side, her hand clasping mine.

I searched the room, feeling the air for something—that tangible charge that Eden always carried with her, the energy that would tell me she was still with us. But the space around me was empty, devoid of any indication that Eden was alive. It was a terrifying sensation.

Xander clutched Eden to his chest and shrieked at the elderly woman atop the throne. “How could you? Why would you do this to her?”

She looked at no one in particular when she said, “You think you’re the only one with spies, Alexander? Did you think I wouldn’t find your underground hideaway eventually? You can’t defeat a queen.” Her voice was so majestic, so filled with self-assurance, that it was hard to imagine anyone else ever taking her place on the throne. And then her gaze fell to Xander as she ordered, “Get him away from her.”

It took five of her guards to separate him from Eden, and he was spared no brutality as he fought to stay by her side. He was struck in the ribs, the stomach, the face, the back, yet he still struggled when the queen’s men dragged him away.

And Max shouted after them. “Get your hands off of him! Leave him be!” His voice was chilling, filled with menace and the guarantee of retribution. I feared for those he’d set his sights on.

Khei

From somewhere outside, on the vast lawns of the palace, there was the distant sounds of popping. Gunfire, I thought, although I barely had time to consider it, to wonder what was happening outside these walls. Not when there was a war waging within this very room.

But the queen heard it too, and her head snapped up as she gestured—an unspoken command—to the st

out man at her side. He rushed out of the room, eager to do her bidding.

Yet it was Angelina who drew my attention as she knelt down to the woman at my feet. I worried that someone else might see her, might notice what she was doing as she brushed her small hand, ever so lightly, across Eden’s bloodied forehead. Just the whisper of a touch, and over so quickly that I doubted anyone else had even seen it.

I waited, my eyes wide, for something to happen.

And then I heard it. Just the barest rattle of breath escaping Eden’s mouth, the sole indicator that she wasn’t yet dead. It was quite possibly the sweetest sound imaginable. I wished with all my heart that Xander could have heard it too.

“Well, well, well.” The cutting voice of the queen interrupted my moment of satisfaction. “It seems we have not one princess . . . but two.” Her milky eyes looked from me to Angelina, who moved back to my side. “And I certainly don’t have need for the both of you.”

I would have expected Angelina to cower in the presence of the powerful woman, but she remained where she was, watching the queen through untroubled, crystalline eyes.

But I was worried. And I woul

d never take a chance that any harm would come to my little sister. Not ever. I couldn’t risk the queen taking possession of Angelina.

“You win,” I breathed at last, stepping into the path of her gaze and forcing her to take her eyes away from my sister. “Take me instead.”

THE QUEEN

Anticipation coursed through Sabara, invigorating her with renewed energy, making her feel more alive than she had in years. Possibly decades.

Everything she wanted was within her grasp.

She had found the girl’s weakness when she’d discovered the child. Charlaina would do anything to protect her sister. And without even realizing it, she’d spoken the words. She’d inadvertently started the process.

She could hear Maxmillian yelling at the girl to change her mind as he struggled to be released, but his words were in vain. Still, he’d overstepped his bounds, and family or not, he would have to die for his transgressions. Not now, of course. She would bide her time, find a way to make his death appear accidental.

For now she had other matters to attend to.

Sabara concentrated on shutting out the sounds around her as she moved deeper into herself, calling forth her life force—her Essence—in preparation to make the transfer.

Soon she would have a new body. A beautiful, young body.

XXV

“No, Charlie! No!” I heard Max shouting over and over again. His voice was loud and clear and inescapable.

But already my skin tingled with an energy that wasn’t my own. The pattern of my breathing felt off, and the rhythm of my heartbeat no longer belonged to me.

I glanced down at Angelina, relieved that she would be spared in all of this. She was the reason I’d made this unholy pact, and she would remain untouched by the darkness that I could already feel spilling into my veins.

In her blue eyes I could read her unspoken plea as she begged me not to do this. I had always understood my little sister’s silent language.

I turned away, unable to bear the pain I was about to cause her.

My head began to swell with memories that were not my own. There were lovers and battles and births and deaths. Faces, names, and places, none of which I recognized. Everything inside of me faded to black, as joy and love were conquered, and hate and sin burgeoned anew. Malevolence became my very nature.