One Dark Throne (Three Dark Crowns, #2)

by Kendare Blake

“You are the strongest,” she says. “You could be the one. But up close, you are such a disappointment. Your eyes are wary as a kicked dog’s, when you and I both know you have never been kicked in your life. Not like me, who has been kicked down with poisons and popped blisters and made to vomit until I weep. “That is why I am going to win,” she goes on as they twirl. “I may be the weakest, but I am a queen, through and through. All the way down to my dead blood and bones.” “Katharine, stop this now.” Mirabella’s voice is pitiful. And she shudders when Katharine leans close. “Do you know what they do with the dead queens, sister?” Katharine asks. “Do you know what they do with their bodies?” She stops the farce of a dance to stand still in the center of the floor and jerks Mirabella toward her until they are chest to chest and eye to eye. “They throw them into the Breccia for the island to eat. And may I tell you a secret?” Katharine’s lips press to Mirabella’s ear, almost like a kiss. “They are tired of it.”