“Then how do you account for these men?” Sir Rodney said with less force in his tone.

His guards dragged in seven Unseelie fighters and she looked at them with disdain.

“Our courts are large. These men are anonymous to me. With profit from a source willing to pay mercenaries, I am sure they could have been bribed to carry out the vile acts the intemperate young she-wolf spoke of this evening.” She looked at her advisors. “Or there could be those who wanted to assure the release of Kiagehul, whether it was the right thing to do or not.” She returned her focus to Sir Rodney. “We should only war about things that are a matter between us, not others.”

“Then, if I put them to death for treason, milady,” Sir Rodney shouted, “you will not take that as an act of aggression against the Unseelie?”

“No,” she said calmly. “Some things we can discuss privately. I admit that I miss our warm chats… when there was a slight frost to the spring air… We found a way to compromise at times.” She looked Sir Rodney up and down and then turned away.

Sir Rodney turned toward his guards and lifted his chin. “Take them to the dungeons-in the morning there will be a firing squad.”

The courtroom remained rapt as the queen put away her wand and took Elder Vlad’s arm, sending a thin coating of icicles over his robes.

“But what about me?” Kiagehul shrieked, bitter tears now wetting his face.

The queen stopped walking, but did not turn to face him. “Who did you disembody, Kiagehul?”

“Lady Jung Suk,” Kiagehul whimpered.

“My aunt?” Shogun shouted, leaping out of his box and menacing the prisoner. “How? Why?”

Sasha shared a look with Hunter. Now the feral scent added up.

“I met her in the icy regions,” Kiagehul sobbed. “She wanted what I wanted-respect! A Snow Leopard’s strength, with shape-shifting ability… She was old, strong, and wiser than even the Vampires.”

“We smelled her at the site of both murders,” Sasha said in disbelief, her gaze going to Shogun.

Hunter nodded. “And at the Bayou House… She was stalking you.”

“The sigils on the bodies that we couldn’t identify…” Sir Rodney said, horrified.

“Ancient Chinese calligraphy, put there by a very old sorceress,” Shogun said between his teeth, almost lunging toward Kiagehul as he spat out the words.

“She carved them into those women as a disembodied spirit… Heresy!” Sir Rodney looked around the court. “Do ye hear this, all of you? A man blinds me within my own castle, having access to everything personal, even my advisors, my investigator, while all the while plotting treason and committing multiple felonies!”

“I had cause!” Kiagehul shouted back. “I got rid of that meddlesome Phoenix, who’d eavesdropped on Vampire gossip; got rid of her friend, too.” Wild-eyed, he looked at Baron Montague, pointing at him. “Had you not been gossiping, she would not have heard about the dark magick-so you killed her, not me! It was so easy for my Leopard sorceress to go to her, unseen, as pure spirit, and claw the foreign sigil that would make her flame right into her creamy flesh.” He released a pleased sigh and then returned his attention to Sir Rodney. “Milord, you should have seen them burn. It was beautiful. Almost as beautiful as executing Ethan’s bartender.”

“The man is mad,” Shogun said, stepping back. “I have never seen a viler creature in my life.”

“Put the sick bastard out of his misery,” Hunter muttered. “I don’t need to hear any more.”

Kiagehul blinked furiously, beginning to laugh in madness, his mind breaking under the pressure and the toxic effect of the rowan. “My Leopard taught me things of pleasure from ancient texts that I had never known… and had access to your father’s hair-which holds your combined DNA… And it was so easy to pilfer those items from the rest who’d stayed in my cousin’s establishment,” he added, glancing at both Shogun and Hunter. “With bits of this and bits of that, it was so easy to deliver personalized spells against all of you… just like it was so easy to stay one step ahead of you, one step ahead of the bungling idiot, Thompson. A blinder spell, a blocker spell, so easy when lain within the same castle where you live.”

Hunter and Shogun shared a look as the deadly silent court gave Kiagehul its full attention.

“My love knew your weaknesses from your sister, Lei, before she died, Shogun. Lady Jung Suk, as you recall, was shunned by your self-righteous lineage. Don’t pretend to be shocked. She told me the whole story of how, just because her own Snow Leopard father never stuck around to legitimize her lineage in the clan, leaving your grandmother temporarily disgraced until the baby could be sent back to the mountains as a stillbirth and an acceptable royal marriage could be arranged, your people acted as though Lady Jung Suk didn’t exist. They called her a stillbirth, but she is very much alive. Southeast Asian Were politics are always complex, I suppose… but please do not act as if you are a sudden stranger to political expediency and mitigating scandals.”

“We will find her and bring her to justice, too,” Shogun said, his voice containing a low, threatening promise. “She was given a lineage allowance-but that was obviously not enough for the twisted and ambitious evil thing she’s become.”

“She, like me, was a hybrid,” Kiagehul said with a satisfied smile, “a being caught between worlds, and she knew what it was to live in shunned duality-it was easy to trick Sir Rodney; he, like Shogun, is arrogant. Who would suspect Kennan MacDougall, the faithful, the overlooked, on errands to do the king’s bidding? I was a step ahead of you at every turn, because, as your investigation progressed, I received full reports and knew how best to hide, and when to increase my magick to turn up the maddening heat. Even Sir Rodney’s top advisors were blind to the malcontent within your own court! It was no different than Shogun’s blindness, thinking he could shun his aunt, thinking there’d be no consequences, sharing nothing but the crumbs from his table with her… She is perfect…”

Kiagehul’s gaze roved over the stunned courtroom before it returned to his queen’s rigid back. “I, alone, would have broken Sir Rodney’s court, as well as the Wolf Federations. My Lady Jung Suk would have had her body restored into whatever nubile young one she chose-perhaps Sasha Trudeau’s… Yes, yes, I would have accomplished that for her, once it was all complete… And I would have been able to support her, since I would have been wealthier than my wildest dreams-Vampires would have owed us, my queen. Had this unfortunate turn of events not occurred, I would have also had revenge on the baron for killing my family member… Dugan.”

Rubbing his hands together with insane glee, Kiagehul turned to the Vampire box, mocking Elder Vlad. “I would have set Baron Geoff Montague up to take the fall-his arrogance also made him blind enough to discount me… What Vampire would think that a small Unseelie, low in the court, would craft such a plan to hang him out to dry? I was almost successful, that counts for something-I still got his lair breached, ha! The she-Shadow still firebombed his Oasis!”

Kiagehul laughed a shrill, mad laugh and stared at the shocked baron. “You think that Vampires are the only ones to carry a grudge? We, the Unseelie, are remarkably known to redress an offense!” Kiagehul wiped his oily face. “What say you, Queen? Do you see my plan, how it could have helped your empire, as well as built one for me? It was all so perfect, had the wolves not been involved. Who knew Sir Rodney, a monarch, would break with Fae secrecy-he is the heretic, the blasphemer of our culture, not me!”

Queen Blatand turned and blew Kiagehul a kiss that immediately formed blades of ice in the air. The second she lowered her hand, the blades took off after him like heat-seeking missiles, severing his head from his shoulders. She looked at her advisors with the coldest blue eyes Sasha had ever seen.