itch.io

When Natalia steps forward, it is difficult for Katherine to keep her eyes from following her. Natalia Arron is as close to a mother as Katherine will ever know, it is her skirts that Katherine burrowed into at the age of six, all the way from the Black Cottage to her new home at Greavesdrake Manor, sobbing after being parted from her sisters. There was nothing queenly about her that day. But Natalia indulged her. She let Katherine weep and ruin her dress. She stroked her hair. It is Katherine's earliest memory-the one and only time Natalia ever allowed her to act like a child. In the light of the parlor, Natalia's hair appears almost silver. But she is not old-she will never be old. She has far too much work and far too many responsibilities to ever allow it. She is the head of the Arron family and the poisoners, and the strongest member of the Black Council. She is raising their new queen. 

Genevieve grabs Katherine's poisoned hand. She traces the pattern of scabs until she finds a large one and picks it until it bleeds.