44 Interrogation

The Queen's demeanor changed slightly as soon as Mother walked out of the throne room.

Her eyes suddenly went cold and her voice became harsher. "Before I start asking you questions, I have to warn you, girl. Your answers will determine whether you'll be seeing your sister again or not."

Brightise inhaled sharply. "What do you mean? You said she would be safe!"

"And she will be," the Queen confirmed calmly. "We will not kill her or cause her any harm, but we will not allow you to do that either."

"I have never hurt Clober!"

The Queen sighed impatiently. "Maybe not, but maybe you are not competent enough to raise her either. You said you wanted her to be safe."

Brightise nodded slowly, worried that her own words might be used against her. "I do."

The Queen seemed satisfied with her answer. "Then you will not mind if you have to leave her to achieve that. Unless her safety is less important to you than your ego."

"It is not." Brightise had to squeeze the words out through her teeth.

This shouldn't have bothered her so much. Hadn't it been her original plan to leave her sister in the Amazons' care anyway?

Yes, but she had not expected it to happen this fast, and certainly not because the Amazons thought she was a bad sister.

If they thought she was not worthy of raising a child, they would not give Clober back to her when Brightise completed the impossible task of bringing Morral home. What was the point of saving her older sister if she lost the younger one in the process?

Brightise imagined trying to tell Morral that she had surrendered Clober over to the Amazons. Morral would probably volunteer to be thrown into liquid lava if she found out.

Brightise swallowed with difficulty. "I'll answer whatever question you want."

"Good." The Queen nodded in approval. "That's a good start."

Brightise braced herself for the worst, but the Queen's first question caught her off guard.

"Why are you barefoot?"

"What?" Brightise looked down at her feet in surprise. She had completely forgotten about that. For some reason, she felt embarrassed that the Queen had noticed.

"Your sister was wearing shoes," the Amazon pointed out.

"I burned mine by accident a few days ago."

"Did you take them off and leave them too close to a campfire?"

"No, I was wearing them."

The Queen looked at her dirty, yet intact feet in wonder. Her eyebrows shot so high, they nearly reached the tattoo of her crown. "Is that so?"

"I'm afraid it is."

"If your sister's shoes were burned in exactly the same way, would she be able to walk afterwards?"

"As if nothing had happened."

The Queen's face broke into a smile. "Interesting."

Brightise grimaced. "I hate that word."

"Too bad," the Queen said. "Because you will be hearing it a lot around here."

Brightise's eyes widened.

"You mean...?"

"You can stay. As long as you do not set the throne room on fire. This room has already suffered through its fair share of natural disasters. "