The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3)

by Holly Black

“It’s not for us to question, is it?” Grima Mog says. “If the High Queen of Elfhame gives us an order, we do it.”

MHM YEAAHHHHH THATS RIGHT

I recall the taste of Cardan’s fingers pressed against my mouth as fresh pain blooms at my side.

ofc you are 😜😜😜😜

And then when I do understand, I can’t quite take it in. Baphen’s words about the High King come to me: When his blood falls, things grow.

HUEHUEHUEHUE

I can’t believe she is speaking those words to me. I can’t believe the land chose me.

BETTER BELIEVE IT

“It’s ridiculous the way everyone acts like killing a king is going to make someone better at being one,” Vivi says. “Imagine if, in the mortal world, a lawyer passed the bar by killing another lawyer.”

valid statement

“Thank you,” I say, reaching out my hands. Vivi takes one, and then Taryn clasps the other. I squeeze.

SHE SAID THANK YOUUUUUU

My sisters, who, despite everything, came for me.

okay cute i still have my eye on you though taryn

I do not pause to ask myself why I am in such a panic to save someone for whom I swore I rooted out every feeling. I will not think about that.

spoiler: she will she def will

I darken around my eyes dramatically, drawing them out into a wing, with eyebrows to match.

jude mua content when

I turn. Frustrated and desperate as I am, I blurt out the first thing that comes to me. “Well, I am a mortal. And a girl, sir. We bleed every month, just like moon swells.” He waves me on, distaste on his face. The musician looks a little horrified, too.

LMFAOOOOOO that’s what you get for being nosy

Halfway up, I am sure one of my stitches rips. I touch my hand to my side, and it comes away red.

AAAAAAAAHHHH

When I look at him, I feel a dizzy dissonance.

oh??

That boy is your weakness.

yeah he issss

I realize what’s happening a moment too late. A note told the Court of an assassination attempt, and the Bomb went looking for an assassin. She found someone hiding in the shadows with a weapon. Someone who had every reason to want to kill the king: me.

fuuuuuuuu

Madoc set me up. He never sent the Ghost here. He only made me think he did, so I would come and chase after a phantom in the rafters. So I would incriminate myself. Madoc didn’t have to deliver the killing blow. He made sure I would march straight to my doom.

AAARGGHHHH

I crash onto a banquet table, knocking pomegranates to the floor. They roll in every direction, into puddles of spilled mead and shattered crystal. I am sure I ripped a lot of stitches. Everything hurts. I can’t seem to get my breath.

ouch…

“I lost your cloak,” I croak up at him, my voice coming out all breath.

not the time bb

Never have I so wished there was a way for me to show I was telling the truth. But there isn’t. No oath of mine carries any weight.

😭😭💔

Then Cardan’s voice comes. “Do not touch her.”

OH????

“She is my wife,” Cardan says, his voice carrying over the crowd. “The rightful High Queen of Elfhame. And most definitely not in exile.”

SHE IS MY WIFEEEEEE

Cardan stands over me. His jacket is thrown on a nearby chair, the velvet soaked through with some dark substance. His white sleeves are rolled up, and he’s washing my hands with a wet cloth. Getting the blood off them.

😏😏😏😏🤭

Back in the bedroom, I go to the closet. I look through rows and rows of Cardan’s absurd garments until I determine that even if they fit me, there’d be no way I could wear any of them.

heheheeh she wears his clothes heheeheheheh

“I’m sorry,” I say, coming around the couch and bending down to pull him into a hug. “I’m happy you’re here. I’m just surprised.”

awwww oak

“Vivi’s here, too,” he says, letting me go. “And Taryn. And Heather.”

i wish i were heatherrrrrr

Without asking for permission, I go over and begin to gobble up cold strips of duck and chunks of cheese and figs. There’s some too-strong tea in a pot, and I drink that, too, straight from the spout.

eat it all you deserve it

“Well, they drugged you,” Oak says with a shrug. “So you’ve woken up before, but not for too long. Not like this.”

THEY WHAT

“I wanted your hair to suggest a crown,” she says. “But then I suppose you’ll have a real coronation at some point.”

OH HOHOHHOHOH

the High King is on our doorstep looking ready to tear down the whole apartment complex to find you.

OHHH? IS THAT SOOOO 🤭🤭🤭🤭

“It’s just—you hated him,” Taryn says. “And then I found out he was under your control the whole time. So I thought maybe you still hated him. I mean—I guess it’s possible that you hate him now and that he hates you, too, but it’s confusing.”

just as confusing as your marriage now stop being confused

As though summoned by our discussion, the High King is there, surrounded by his guard.

hhehehehehehehneheueodb

“Walk with me,” he says, leaving little room for refusal. “Of course.” My heart speeds, despite myself. I hate that he saw me when I was at my most vulnerable, that he let me bleed all over his spider-silk sheets.

hehe

Cardan gives me his arm, causing me to walk at his side, instead of behind him the way I would have as his seneschal. We

[screeches]

“They can wait a little longer,” I say, forcing out the words. “I need to talk to you.”

😏😏😏😏🤭

“Yes,” he says, turning down a corridor in the palace that led outside. “We do need to talk.”

HEHEHEHEHEHEHE

“I assume you weren’t actually trying to shoot me,” Cardan says. “Since the note was in your handwriting.”

HE KNOWS HER HANDWRITING??

“It was terrifying,” he says, “watching you fall. I mean, you’re generally terrifying, but I am unused to fearing for you. And then I was furious. I am not sure I have ever been that angry before.” “Mortals are fragile,” I say. “Not you,” he says in a way that sounds a little like a lament. “You never break.”

DONT DO THIS TO MEEEE 🙈🙈🙊🤭🤭😏😜🫠

Still, I like hearing it. I like everything he’s saying all too well. That boy is your weakness.

YEAH YOU DO GIRLLLL

Cardan turns to me, hands clasped behind his back. “Pleading, mostly. Beseeching you to come back. Several indiscreet promises.” He’s wearing that mocking smile, the one he says comes from nervousness.

AWWWWWWWW but you exiled her so wtf?

“Yes,” he says. “That. I can’t stop thinking about what you said to me, before Madoc took you. About it being a trick. You meant marrying you, making you queen, sending you to the mortal world, all of it, didn’t you?”

duh

I thought you’d admire me a little for it, that I could trick you. I thought you’d be angry, of course, but not quite like this.”

OH??? ADMIRE??

“Pardoned by the crown. Meaning by the King of Faerie. Or its queen. You could have returned anytime you wanted.” Oh. Oh.

[audience facepalms] but didn’t she question the wording before or am i delusional

I turn away from him and walk, swiftly and completely directionless through the garden. He runs after me, grabbing my arm. I haul around and slap him. It’s a stinging blow, smearing the gold on his cheekbone and causing his skin to redden. We stare at each other for long moments, breathing hard. His eyes are bright with something entirely different from anger.

GOD I WISH I COULD PUT IN A REACTION MEME HERE slap him again tho 🤍

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He grabs my hand, possibly to keep me from hitting him again. Our fingers lace together. “No, it’s not that, not exactly. I didn’t think I could hurt you. And I never thought you would be afraid of me.”

AAHAHHHHHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEEEEEEEE

“Well, I was hurt, and yes, you scare me.” Even as I am speaking, I wish I could snatch back the words. Perhaps it is exhaustion or having been so close to death, but the truth pours out of me in a devastating rush. “You’ve always scared me. You gave me every reason to fear your capriciousness and your cruelty. I was afraid of you even when you were tied to that chair in the Court of Shadows. I was afraid of you when I had a knife to your throat. And I am scared of you now.”

she’s getting vulnerableeeeeee

“I can see why you thought what you did. I suppose I am not an easy person to trust. And maybe I ought not to be trusted, but let me say this: I trust you.”

HE SAID IT AGAIN

Cardan turns back to me, gazing down at me as he did in my imaginings. “When you forced me into working for the Court of Shadows, I never thought of the things I could do—frightening people, charming people—as talents, no less ones that might be valuable. But you did. You showed me how to use them to be useful. I never minded being a minor villain, but it’s possible I might have grown into something else, a High King as monstrous as Dain. And if I did—if I fulfilled that prophecy—I ought to be stopped. And I believe that you would stop me.”

AWWWWW STOPPPPP

“Stop you?” I echo. “Sure. If you’re a huge jerk and a threat to Elfhame, I’ll pop your head right off.”

do it

The other is that I want you here by my side, as my queen.”

[collapses]

suppose there should be some comfort that he admires me at all. He wants me with him, and maybe he wants me in other ways, too. Desiring more than that from him is just greed.

[joker meme]

That’s the only excuse I have for not noticing that he’s led me back to his rooms, which are, I suppose, also mine since we’re married.

stop making me kick my feet