The Born Queen - J. Gregory Keyes [15]
But only for a moment. Then she felt him, as she had another time when in this place. All of her blood seemed to gather on one side of her body, and all of the branches of the forest yearned toward his invisible presence.
“Well, there you are, little queen,” the voice said. “It’s been too long.”
“Stay back,” she said. “You remember last time.”
“Last time, I was weaker and you had help,” the voice replied. “This is not last time.”
“What do you want?”
“Your company, sweet queen. Your hand in marriage.”
“Who are you?”
“Your king.”
“I have no king,” Anne bristled. “I am queen, regent in my own right.”
“Look deeper in your heart,” the voice purred.
“Who are you?”
“You want my name? What do names matter when one is as we are?”
“There is no ‘we,’” Anne protested. But her belly tingled, as it had when Roderick had kissed her there.
The presence moved closer, and though she could not see him, she felt as if the shadow wore a wicked smile.
“Why did you kill the Faiths?”
A deep chuckle rustled through the branches, and the water stirred into circles all about.
Then a ruddy light fell on the broken surface of the fen, and Anne felt heat behind her. With a shriek, she turned to confront him.
But it was no male thing that stood behind her; there was no mistaking that. The body that shone like a white flame was willowy but certainly female, dressed only in locks that billowed and curled like strands of liquid, living fire. Her face was so terrible in its beauty that Anne felt as if icicles had been driven through her eyes and deep into her brain. She screamed so loudly, she felt her throat was tearing.
“Hush,” the woman said, and Anne felt her larynx instantly close. Then the horrible gaze went through and beyond her.
“Leave,” she commanded.
“You only delay the inevitable,” the male voice muttered.
“Leave,” the woman repeated.
Anne felt the weight of him lessen.
“I didn’t kill your friends,” he said, and was gone.
Anne felt the woman’s gaze on her but could not look up.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
“The Kept gave you my true name,” the woman replied. “He gave you some of my old epithets—Queen of Demons, and so on.”
“Yes. But I don’t…” She trailed off in confusion.
“You wonder rather what I am. What I want. Why I’ve helped you.”
“I guess so,” Anne said weakly, feeling suddenly presumptuous.
“Am I demon or saint?” the woman sighed, so close that Anne could feel her breath.
“Yes,” Anne barely managed.
“If there were a difference, perhaps I could tell you,” she replied.
“And the man…”
“He’s quite right, you know,” the woman went on. “He didn’t kill the Faiths. I did. For you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You led me to them. You rejected them, withdrew your protection, and I ended their existence. All but the one, and I shall find her.”
“But why?”
“You don’t need them,” she said. “You never did. They were poor councillors. And now you have me.”
“I don’t want you,” Anne protested.
“Then say my name. Tell me to leave.”
Anne swallowed.
“You won’t,” the woman said. “You need my help. You need all the help you can get, because he will come for you and will either make you his or destroy you. Which means you must destroy him. And that you cannot currently do. Your friends will fall first, then you.”
“And if I believe you, how can I stop that?”
“Strengthen yourself every way you can. Let me teach you the ways of your power. When he comes, you will be ready, if you trust me.”
“Trust you,” Anne murmured, finally lifting her gaze to the woman’s face.
This time it wasn’t so terrifying. There was something in the set of the woman’s eyes that seemed truthful.
“Give me a reason to trust you,” Anne said.
A smile slit the woman’s face. “You have another enemy, one you haven’t noticed yet, one that even I have difficulty seeing, for he—or perhaps she—sits deep in the shadows of the Reiksbaurg Palace. Like you, he is able to look across leagues and through time. Haven’t you wondered why you manage to surprise the forces of the Church