One True Queen (School for Good and Evil Book 2)

Chapter 12

Strange sounds echoed throughout the cave. They almost sounded like blades clashing, metal biting into metal.

I shot my hand out, and a scim followed its pathway until it struck true in the armor suit of the scaly man across from me, releasing another shing.

He hissed as the scim tore through his suit, sending more scims flying. His fair skin beaded with blood.

I sent needle-sharp scims after him again and again, but he had recovered. He blocked them with his own. Discarded scims rained upon the stone floor, turning back to their kinetic states.

A scim tore across my cheek, drawing blood.

I grit my teeth and sent my own attack back, pinning the man to the wall with scims, one pointed at his throat, knife sharp.

"Yield," I panted.

He shook his head.

I willed the scim to press closer to his neck—

"Okay!" he shouted. "I yield."

The scims dropped him to the floor.

He groaned and staggered to his feet, thought perhaps staggered wasn't the right word, because he did it with the smooth grace of a sleek cat.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd refrain from cutting so deep," the man said, pressing a hand to the wound in his side and wincing.

The scims on my cheeks and forehead scattered, disbanding the mask that covered my face. "Then learn not to leave your middle open when you strike, Japeth."

Japeth sighed and filled in the gaps of his suit with more scims. "You're relentless."

"For a reason," I shot back. "Agatha's crew are in Sherwood Forest already. Who knows how much time we have to prepare."

Japeth just shook his head as he stepped to the mouth of the cave. "One day you'll realize that some things can't be prepared for."

I said nothing as he exited, footsteps echoing.

A squeak drew my attention.

In a flash, a scim impaled the skittering mouse before it could scream.

The scim retracted, crimson dripping from its point, before shooting back into my hand.

I licked the blood off the blade. The sting of my cuts began to ease, but I knew that it would take a few hours for them to heal completely.

The more powerful the creature, the more powerful the effects of its blood were. Unfortunately, mouse blood was quite low on the list.

What I wouldn't give to taste the blood of my Nemeses.

I felt a thrill of anticipation. Agatha and Tedros were in Sherwood Forest. Which meant that soon they'd meet the Lion. Which meant that we were one step closer to the success of our plan.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, darling," a voice said from behind.

The scim took its place on my suit. "I know, Rafal."

He stepped around to my front. "Do you? You're acting as if Rhian is already king. As if you and Japeth are already accepted by the people of Camelot."

I looked into his glacier blue eyes. "And you're acting as if I care what you think."

"I know you care what I think."

I held his gaze for a moment longer before dropping mine. "I do," I admitted. Then I lifted my chin."But I also know that you're not here."

"I am with you," he said. "Always. Even when you can't see me."

My eyes watered. "I miss you."

"I know, darling. But you've been so strong for me."

I wiped the single tear that slid down my cheek. "And I'll get stronger," I promised. "I'll take Camelot. For you."

"You've already done so much for me."

"I want to keep the promise I made to you."

"And you have."

I swallowed, shutting my eyes to prevent more tears from escaping. "I love you," I whispered.

He didn't say it back.

Even before I opened my eyes, I knew Rafal would be gone. Because I knew he was never there in the first place. And I knew the conversation that had just occurred was only between me and the cave wall.

I wasn't sure when I first started seeing him. A few weeks after his death, I supposed. He'd always be in the background, lurking. It was a whole nine days before I spoke to him.

Sometimes he answered. Sometimes he didn't. But he stood beside me in the times I needed him most: when I spent hours sobbing in the cave beside his grave, when I had thoughts about giving my tale an early ending just to be with him again, when I first came across a group of scims that led me to Japeth, which led to me joining him.

But I knew Rafal was just a hallucination.

Over the past few months, Japeth had shown me how to control the scims. How to make them move with me until we weren't two different beings but one cohesive thing, working and flowing together. Japeth showed me how to maximize my abilities. He showed me what it meant to be powerful.

But he wasn't Rafal.

Still, he and I together were unstoppable, whether we liked it or not. We planned and plotted for months, waiting for the day where we'd tackle Camelot with a vengeance.

Waiting for the day where I'd kill Camelot's so-called king and his little princess.