Queen Rising Read Online Free Page A

above—just as someone new came rushing down to the Hollow.

9
    Nepenthe was half mermaid and half human. She would become the new River Witch, like her mother had been, if she chose the River over land. Nepenthe was also an orphan. Her parents were dead and, like Margot, she had nowhere else to go. The Witch of the Woods had brought her to the Hollow right after the tragedy, but this was the first time Margot had ever laid eyes on her.
    When Nepenthe arrived she immediately dove into the River and her body transformed. She became part girl, part water creature, complete with tentacles and gills that formed parentheses around her mouth.
    Margot had been waiting for time and practice to catch up with her to turn her into the witch she was supposed to become. She was waiting for the magic to happen. But it never quite did. And seeing Nepenthe in all her glory made it clearer than ever who belonged in the Hollow and who did not. With Nepenthe’s lineage, Margot should not have been surprised. Her mother had been part of the coven, after all. But in her years with the coven, Margot had never seen anyone her age with inherent magic except Ora. And while Ora was always holding her magic back, Nepenthe was not holding back at all.
    Nepenthe was magic incarnate. She wasn’t trying. The magic just happened around her. Effortless. Pouring out of her and out of the sky.
    With everyone’s attention on Nepenthe, it was time for Margot to go. Ora was the last person she saw on the way out of the Hollow. She pressed a beautiful spider silk shawl into Margot’s hands.
    â€œYou’re trying too hard,” Ora said.
    Her sweet voice pulled Margot out of her reverie but not out of her despair.
    â€œYou don’t want to be like Nepenthe,” Ora said quietly.
    â€œWhy not?” Margot bit back, not meaning to sound bitter. Ora did not deserve her anger.
    â€œBecause Nepenthe doesn’t know what she wants. Her parents’ deaths forced her choice. If they were still alive . . .”
    Margot shook her head. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel bad for Nepenthe. But Nepenthe got to stay, and she was being cast out.
    â€œBut still she got to choose. The choice is being made for me now.”
    Ora pressed the shawl into Margot’s hands and kissed her on the cheek. “You would have been one hell of a witch,” she whispered.
    â€œIf you don’t have magic, make your own,” Ora said when they broke apart.
    Margot turned and walked out of the Hollow.
    When Margot pulled the shawl close, she felt that the lining held a dagger and dozens of potion vials. Ora had given her a parting gift.

10
    Margot made her way through the woods to the palace gates. But she stopped short when she saw her brother playing in the distance. His fencing sword was locked with another boy’s. But not just any boy. The Prince.
    In all the years, in all her visits she had never seen the Prince again. He was half-grown now, like her brother. And they each wore the same expression, semiserious at the sword play and partly content, like there was nowhere else they would rather be. Her brother had succeeded at making the Prince his friend just she had told him to all those years ago. She had been far less successful with the witches.
    She didn’t ask to see Go this time. She didn’t want to disturb his happiness with her grief.
    Margot turned away and headed toward town, not remembering her steps and losing her way more than once.
    As she walked the black stone streets, a tiny voice called to her. Margot looked down and saw a boy younger than her brother. His large, sad eyes were as gray as the sky. And hungrier.
    She didn’t have anything in her pockets to give him. She wanted to turn away. But the boy’s desperate stare kept her in their orbit. She felt herself drawn in and tethered to him somehow, even though he was a total stranger. It was a single look, but it felt like something more.
    The