Chapter 30 · The Key Under Her Skin

The thing wearing Nia's face smiled at me.

Not a kid's smile. Not my sister's smile. Something older, colder, like a mask pulled tight over bone. Her eyes were still silver, still glowing, and when she spoke it wasn't one voice. It was three, maybe four, layered over each other like broken radio static.

"You should have taken the seat when it was offered, Mara Vale."

I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. The silver vines wrapped around the little throne pulsed with light, and Nia—no, not Nia anymore—sat perfectly still, hands folded in her lap like some kind of porcelain doll.

"Give her back." My voice cracked. "That's my sister. Give her back."

The smile widened. "She is here. She chose this. She chose to pay the debt you could not."

"Bullshit." I took a step forward. The air in this place felt thick, wrong, like walking through water. "She's eight years old. She didn't choose anything."

"She is the heir. The throne knows its own."

Behind me, the woman who claimed to be my mother made a choked sound. I didn't look at her. Couldn't.