If she’s surprised or offended to see me—a human—sitting on a fae throne, she doesn’t show it.

“I came as soon as I heard the news about Desmond,” she says.

I frown at her, my claws pricking into the velvet armrests.

Word gets around fast.

One of the side doors opens, and a Night soldier escorts Temper into the throne room, depositing her a few yards away from me. When she glances at me, her brows pinch together with concern. Then her gaze sweeps to Mara.

She whistles. “Never thought I’d see you again.” Temper eyes Mara up and down. “You look like you tried meth one too many times.”

Mara ignores Temper, and instead she struggles to stand. I rise from the throne.

She puts a hand out. “I’m fine.”

It takes the Flora Queen an agonizing minute to get to her feet. Once she does, her eyes flick around the room, and her gaze still has that razor sharpness that I remember. Eventually her attention moves to me.

“A moment alone?” she says.

I raise my eyebrows. “One of the last times you and I shared space, you had me whipped within an inch of my life—”

Around me some of the Night fae hiss. The sound constricts my heart. They’re defensive of me. I hadn’t expected that. I hadn’t expected their acceptance at all.

“I believe, when it comes to discussing the fates of our mates,” Mara says smoothly, “you’d prefer a little discretion.”

My eyes narrow on her. I’ll give it to the Flora Queen, she has some brass balls, parading in here like some kind of rock star then demanding a private meeting.

I glance over at Temper, who’s empathically shaking her head and mouthing, “Not today, Satan.”

My eyes drift back to Mara, who looks exhausted but patient. She understands what I’m feeling. Right now, she might be the only one who understands.

Staring at her a moment longer, I finally nod. “Could you please give us a moment alone?” I ask the room.

In response, it empties. Temper glowers on her way out, muttering about how useless it was for me to drag her here if I wasn’t going to listen to her advice.

The last fairy leaves, and the doors bang closed, the sound reverberating along the walls.

I stare down at Mara.

Is this what I’m going to become? A shell of myself?

I get up and drag a nearby chair over to the velvet one Mara entered in.

“Show’s over,” I say, gesturing to her elaborate chair. “You can sit.”

She moves over to it and all but collapses into the seat, wheezing a little.

“I know he killed your mate,” she begins.

I don’t need to ask who she’s talking about.

She runs her index finger over the arm rest. “I first turned to other men ten years ago. I can remember the exact day.”

This is … not how I imagined the conversation going.

Mara continues, “I looked at the Green Man and suddenly, he didn’t pull me in the way he once did. In fact, if I’m being perfectly honest, I’d say I was repulsed by him, though seemingly nothing had changed.

“I couldn’t understand why, and of course, I was ashamed of it. Never had I heard of a fairy who was disgusted by their soulmate.

“I don’t know how the Thief did it, how he managed to scoop out the Green Man’s spirit and insert his own.” She covers her eyes for a moment. “I’ve only ever seen magic like that once before.”

My brows knit. I rest my forearms on my thighs and lean in closer.

“Back when I was young and my parents ruled the Kingdom of Flora, I met a man like you—an enchanter. Lazaret.” Mara breathes his name. “He came to our court as a minstrel, there to entertain my family and the lesser nobility.”

The Flora Queen already told me this story back when I visited her kingdom. Does she remember that, or has her mind withered along with her body?

Her eyes grow distant. “Gods, was he stunning. Golden skin, eyes like emeralds.”

I try not to roll my eyes. Mara might be tragic, but she’s still vapid.

“However, it was my sister,” Mara says, “Thalia, who claimed his heart. I envied her then, to have the attention of such a beautiful man.

“But the longer she was around Lazaret, the weaker she became. She was convinced they were mates, even though it was ridiculous—fairies can sense that sort of magic, and it wasn’t present with my sister or Lazaret. But Thalia wouldn’t be swayed. She pledged her life and her heart to the enchanter … and her power.

“My parents told her to undo what she had done, that her magic belonged to the realm, not some pretty fairy, but she wouldn’t listen to them.

“Even as Thalia weakened, Lazaret was having increasing sway amongst our people. He’d spin songs and mesmerize the audience in ways that were … unnatural.” She sighs out a breath. “And the more familiar he and I became, the more he unsettled me. It was just a conversation that turned awry somewhere along the way, or an inappropriate reaction to a situation.”

My skin pimples. I know too well what she’s talking about.

“But at the time,” she continues, “we were all under his spell. Everyone but my parents, who saw him for what he truly was—a thief.”

That word is like a cool breath against my neck.

“They called him into court one spring morning to entertain the nobles. But it was a trap. Before he could so much as open his mouth, the court’s executioner sliced off his head.”

She rubs her eyes. “My sister … she didn’t survive long enough to see the next moon cycle. Her power was hers again, but her heart wasn’t. She took my father’s sword and took her life.”

Mara frowns, her hand curling into a fist. She takes a deep breath. “I was never my sister. I never wielded the same staggering magic she did. I was supposed to marry well and enjoy the fruits of court life. Instead, she died and I inherited the throne.

“I wasn’t powerful, but the land of Flora is kind; when I was most uncertain about my kingdom’s future, it gave me my king.

“I found the Green Man, deep in the Arcane Forest. He was borne of the trees themselves; I saw it with my own eyes, the way the tree trunk’s flesh parted and a fully formed man stepped forth from it.”

Her words remind me of all those bloody soldiers curled up in trees. The Thief must’ve used the Green Man’s power to put them there.

“In that instant, our bond snapped in place. Only the greatest rulers are given this sort of gift from the land itself. The Green Man was strange and magnificent, the way wild things are, but he was no normal fairy. He was a blessing, and he was mine.”

She shudders out a breath. “I loved him. So much.” Her eyes flick to me. “I know you probably question that, but the man you saw—”

“—was the Thief,” I finish for her.

She flinches a little, her wilted flowers shifting in her hair. “How could I have missed it? I ask myself that all the time these days. I don’t have any answers. I thought that perhaps the Green Man’s strangeness was a sign that the earth was calling him home. And when the trees started … rotting … I thought my magic had betrayed me.”

The darkness will betray you, the seer had told Des.

I didn’t know magic could betray its wielder, but I of all people should know better. Des’s magic tricked him into a bargain that kept us apart for seven years.