Claudius granted me a scepter. The queen lay there powerless. Her body disintegrated into ashes, disappearing with the wind, and her eyes were the last to vanish, still sullen with hatred.
* * *
The queen's dark eyes were seared in my mind. I wondered if the stories Erich had tried to fill my head with influenced my dreams.
I headed for the dining room to find Claudius seated backwards in a chair.
“What are you doing here so early?”
“The better question is what are you doing up so early?”
“Couldn't sleep.”
“Why not?”
“Nightmare.”
“What kind?”
“Nothing,” I said, having no desire to expound on it after the way he had reacted last time when I questioned the origins of the queen. Somehow the two were connected. In whatever way that may be, I didn’t have the strength to know.
I moved
