I didn't know much about the Queen, other than what I'd gleaned from Margaret and the others. She and her male companion had slaughtered an entire ship of emigrants. She had also killed the youngest Abernathy and turned the remaining five to vampirism. Upon reaching the colonies, she had sired countless others. No telling how many innocent lives she had taken in the process. Whatever happened to her companion, I hadn't heard and didn't care to know. Some vampires claimed the Queen was mad because she lacked a blood type truly compatible with vampirism, not to mention the intricate web of blood bonds she'd spun over the years.

"If you squeeze my hand any tighter," Josiah said as we made our way down the staircase, "you will break every one of my bones."

"Sorry," I said, releasing his hand and wiping my slick palm against my jeans. "I'm nervous."

"Nervous?" He had the audacity to sound surprised.

I glanced at him. "What if she, you know, tries to bite my head off?"

Josiah answered with the ghost of a smile. "I highly doubt the Queen made the journey to, as you say, bite your head off."

"I hope you're right," I replied as Josiah steered me in the direction of voices coming from the library.

The Queen, with the assistance of another vampire, stood upon our entrance. She was a young woman, about my age in human years, and yet there was an underlying frailness that made her seem less than imposing. I understood now why she kept to herself these days and was rarely seen. Any innate power she had once possessed had since vanished. The stories of power and bloodlust I had heard were in the distant past.

"I gather you are the one I have heard so much about." She stretched out her arm and I grasped her hand obligingly, cold and paper-thin. Unsure whether to shake or kiss it, I settled on an awkward curtsy.

"Your majesty," I said, rising to my full height, which was several inches taller than her own.

Her smile was slight. "My name is Abigail."

She returned to the chaise lounge on which she'd been sitting and gestured to the vacant chair opposite. "I understand my progeny have been causing mischief," she said as I sat.

"That's an understatement," I replied.

She exhaled audibly, her pale lips pinched. "Although disappointing, it is not completely unexpected."

"You don't seem too surprised," I said. The Queen met my eyes directly with a shrewdness that caused my heart to stutter in my chest, and I realized with a start that she did, indeed, still hold a spark of power.

"I was reckless and impulsive once upon a time," she said. "There were few vampires then and I craved the company of others like me." She shook her head and closed her eyes momentarily. "Chance gave me my first progeny; a hunger for power, the others. I did not realize the harm it would cause to me, to everyone."

"But you instituted the laws," I said.

"I spent my childhood in a nunnery and had a high regard for human life. Even after I was turned, I had rules about whose life I took."

I glanced at Thomas, though he was watching the queen intently and didn't see the confusion on my face. The Abernathys made it seem the Queen killed indiscriminately. Or maybe that's the truth I had chosen to believe.

"When I was changed, the urge to overwhelm and feed on helpless prey was, I admit, too strong to resist. Not even God could help me then. Or perhaps it was God's plan all along," she said. "I have not yet solved that puzzle. Still, I found my way back."

Her eyes narrowed as she appraised me. "How have you managed so admirably, Miss Ehlert? I have nothing but praise for your restraint and respect for the living."

"There is no other way that I can see," I said. "There is no choice but compassion, and with compassion comes restraint. That's not to say the temptation isn't there."

The Queen bobbed her head in agreement. She relaxed into the chaise and let her eyes fall closed, done speaking for the moment. I looked to my friends, wondering what we should do in the meantime, but they all appeared equally confused.

At last Andrew Larsen cleared his throat. "May I offer you refreshment?"

She opened her eyes slowly and held up a slender hand. "No, thank you. I abstain from human blood."

"On purpose?" I asked, appalled. My mouth felt dry at the thought; my body weak.

The Queen's eyes found mine. "Did you not say with compassion comes restraint? I drink animal blood on occasion, but abstention from human blood is penance for my sins."

And then I realized the reason for her frail state. She was hungry. The Queen had been living in a self-imposed state of starvation.

"You cannot survive on animal blood," Andrew Larsen said, matter-of-fact.

"Not indefinitely, no."

"You will eventually die," he said.

"And it will be a great relief."

Mrs. Abernathy paled. Despite their history, the Queen was still her maker. "Then what will become of us, your progeny and subjects?"

"I am tired," the Queen replied. "I regret that my mind is not as it used to be. I had hoped one of the appointed Regionals would make a suitable replacement, but I realize now we are in need of total reform."

"Total reform?" I said.

The Queen's eyes cut to me and I felt a flutter in my stomach. "The matter of succession has weighed heavily on my mind and conscience for many years now," she said.

"Where will you search for your successor?" Andrew asked.

"This seems a likely place to start, I think." Her eyes found mine again. "Are there any here who would speak against you becoming the next queen?"

I laughed, thinking she was joking. Realizing soon enough that she wasn't, I searched the faces in the crowd, hoping one of them would speak up in my defense. But whether they agreed with the Queen or were too intimidated to speak against her, none of them seemed disposed to voice an opinion.

"I'm still six months away from graduating high school. I can't be the next queen!"

"You would make a kick-ass queen," Olivia said, her eyes already glazing over with what were no-doubt visions of so-called royal life. "We could be your entourage!"

"We would not let you rule alone," Andrew said. "You could count on us, your friends, to advise you."

"Wait a minute," I said, rising to my feet. "Just . . .wait a minute! You guys are talking as if the decision has already been made. There hasn't even been a vote!"

"Those in favor?" the Queen said. Everyone in the room raised their hands, though some more reluctantly than others.

"You have been a vampire a mere fraction of eternity," the Queen said. "You are young, but think of all the good you have done in such a brief time."

"Because I've had to," I pointed out. "I was more than ready to go back to living a normal life after this."

"Nothing about being a vampire is normal," Mrs. Abernathy said. "Sometimes the choices we would not have made are foisted upon us. You, however, have the opportunity to right the wrongs my husband and daughter have committed, to establish new laws that will protect the interests of both humans and vampires." Her eyes welled with unshed tears. "You have the power to protect the innocent."

Protect the innocent.

Isn't that what I had been trying to do all along? It's the reason I had sent my family—and Zach's—away. It's the reason we'd worked so hard to discover what Conrad Abernathy was up to and put a stop to it.

"What about the other Head Watchers who were in alliance with Mr. Abernathy?" I said to the Queen, sitting down again. "What are you going to do about them?"

"I have sent dispatches to bring them in. The Watchers under them who remain loyal to my rule will be temporarily promoted until more permanent arrangements can be made."

"Have you decided on a punishment?" Mrs. Abernathy asked, getting to the point.

The Queen looked to me. "If you were queen, Miss Ehlert, what would you do?"

All eyes focused on me and Josiah rested his hand on my shoulder. Mr. Abernathy and Margaret were in the next room. No doubt they could hear our voices, as well as our judgment. There were many creative ways I could think to exact my revenge, especially on Margaret. My list of grievances against her was long. Still, a queen had to be fair and just.

"A minimum of five years in solitary confinement," I said. "And no more than one pint of blood a day. Bagged, not fresh."

The Queen raised a pale brow. "You are very generous."

"With compassion comes restraint," I said, raising my own brow in return.

"Five years is but a heartbeat," Mrs. Abernathy said. "After they have served their time, will you then let them loose to wander the streets, surrounded by humans after having been deprived of adequate blood supply?"

I hadn't, in fact, thought that far ahead. Still, everyone was looking at me, and I couldn't let on that I was anything less than competent. "They will have no contact with humans. Ever again," I said.

"And how do you propose that?" the queen asked, her tone more curious than judgmental.

"Humans have their prisons," I pointed out. "Doesn't the equivalent exist for vampires?"

"They do not," Josiah answered. "Like the Queen said, you are generous."

I turned in my seat to look at him. "Do you mean—"

"Those who break the law were swiftly dealt with," he said, answering my question even before it was fully formed.

From across the room, Ian shifted on his feet. It was then that I realized the extreme risk he had taken by going to the Queen. But he'd had reparations to make, too, for the wrong he had done to me, to John, and countless other humans.

"Despite what Mr. Abernathy and Margaret have done," I said, "I could not accept their lives as retribution." Across the room, Thomas's shoulders slumped in what I thought was relief.

The Queen, with the help of her companion, stood. "Very well. Say your goodbyes to your loved ones," she said, addressing Thomas and Mrs. Abernathy. "We must be going."

They left the room to do as they were told. Whether or not those goodbyes would be amicable, I had my doubts.

The Queen clasped my hands and I repressed the urge to pull away from her cool touch. "You will be a better queen than I ever was," she said with certainty. "Until we meet again . . ."

Leaning forward, she placed a soft kiss on my cheek before releasing me. I watched as she turned and made her way slowly from the room, her delicate state at odds with her physical appearance. I sat heavily and leaned forward, putting my head between my knees.

"You're going to be queen!" Olivia said, unable to contain her excitement. "Cool, right?"

I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking it was anything but cool.

*****

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