Jasmijn’s Reviews > The Wicked King > Status Update

"I don't know, but don't worry about it yet," Vivi says, getting up. "Revenge is sweet, but ice cream is sweeter." She goes to the freezer and removes a tub of mint chocolate chip. She brings that and two spoons back to the sofa. "For now, accept this delight, unworthy though it is for the Queen of Faerie in exile."

YESSSSS ZEG HET HAAR

"I, Jude Duarte, take Cardan, High King of Elfhame, to be my husband. Let us be wed until we don't want to be and the crown has passed from our hands."

He kisses the scar of my palm.

I still have his brother's blood under my fingernails.

I don't have a ring for him.

Above us, the buds are blooming. The whole room smells of flowers.

"Marry me," he says. "Become the Queen of Elfhame."

Kill Prince Balekin. I think of Dulcamara's words, but I don't hear her voice. I hear my own, rough with seawater, terrified and cold and alone.

"You are the one who bent your head to Orlagh instead of to your own brother," I say. "You're the coward and a traitor. A murderer of your own kin. But worse than all that, you're a fool."

He bares his teeth as he advances on me, and I, who have been pretending to subservience, remember my most troublesome talent: pissing off the Folk.

"What happens if he doesn't get the antidote?" I ask.

The Bomb puts the back of her hand against Cardan's cheek. "He's the High King of Elfhame- he has the strength of the land to draw on. But he's very weak already. And I don't think he knows how to do it. Your Majesty?"

He looks at her with benevolent incomprehension. "Whatever do you mean? I just took a mouthful of the land at your behest."

"What happens if he doesn't get the antidote?" I ask.

ng ere

The Bomb puts the back of her hand against Cardan's cheek. "He's the High King of Elfhame-he has the strength of the land to draw on.

But he's very weak already. And I don't think he knows how to do it. Your Majesty?"

He looks at her with benevolent incomprehension. "Whatever do you mean? I just took a mouthful of the land at your behest."

"The three of you have one solution to every problem. Murder. No key fits every lock." Cardan gives us all a stern look, holding up a long fingered hand with my stolen ruby ring still on one finger. "Someone tries to betray the High King, murder. Someone gives you a harsh look. murder. Someone disrespects you, murder. Someone ruins your laundry, murder.”

Perhaps I cannot be glamoured, but that doesn’t mean I cannot be broken.