by Casey Bond
“I would be happy to check your meal and drinks,” I offered.
“Thank you. Just don’t let Rose see you, please.”
Ouch. “Of course.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that –”
“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter. I’ll check your food and then enjoy my free time. Right, Brecan?”
I felt horrible the moment I said it, but Brecan backed me up as he always had. “Right.”
Following Tauren into the palace, I watched the way his muscles flowed beneath his tailored suit. He strode through the rooms and halls confidently, yet inside he was breaking. I knew he didn’t mean to use his dinner with Rose against me. I shouldn’t have used Brecan as ammunition against him in return.
I felt like a worm.
Tauren walked into the intimate dining room, where the table was lit by flickering candles and a trio of musicians were assembled in the corner, lightly tuning their instruments. Rose absolutely bloomed when he entered the room, rising from her chair and sticking her hand out for him to kiss. The smell of rose hips wafted through the air, not that she needed the love potion anymore. Tauren enjoyed her company.
I spelled the room, checked their meals and the wine and water glasses arranged on the table, and quickly took my leave.
Again, Brecan waited for me. I unlocked my room and he silently followed me in. “Don’t use me like that again,” he seethed once the door closed behind him.
Only one other time had I seen him so angry, which reminded me…
“How did you know I’d worked the binding spell?”
“The magic, Sable. It was so powerful, it woke me from a dead sleep and led me straight to you. I could smell it. I could taste and feel it. Even the air bent to you. Did you know that?” He stalked toward me with each proclamation, and I stepped back until my shoulder blades hit the wall and I could retreat no further.
“Why didn’t it wake Mira?”
“Mira?” He laughed mirthlessly. “Mira’s only known you since the day we left The Gallows. I know you, Sable. Better than anyone. I know the unique feel of your magic.”
He braced his hands on the wall, caging me in. “Do you know how easy this would be?”
“What?” I croaked.
“This. You and me, Sable.”
His lavender eyes glistened with something unspeakable. Something I’d seen again and again. He slowly leaned in, letting his arms hold his weight.
I wished it were as simple as Brecan thought it was, but nothing was simple now that Tauren was in my world. He was the only one I wanted, and at the same time was the fruit from which I was forbidden to eat.
“Would it truly be such a hardship to spend a year with me?” he asked, his lips a breath away from mine.
Brecan didn’t want to hear the truth; he wanted me to accept him. To admit that spending a year together would be perfectly fine. But any year spent with another witch while yearning for Tauren would be a hardship.
“Brecan –”
He leaned in to press a kiss to my lips, but I put a hand between us and whispered a spell to move him away. Apparently, I put a lot of emphasis on the away part, because he was dragged across the room and far away from me.
The look on his face said that I’d hurt his pride. He tugged at his collar and strode to the door. “I’ll be across the hall if you need me,” he said, composing himself.
“I can’t think about this now, Brecan. Not with Ela’s death, my mother being set free, and trying to protect Tauren.”
His shoulders tensed upon hearing Tauren’s name. “I understand.”
He left.
I changed into a comfortable pair of knit pants and a slouchy shirt that was thicker and hung off my shoulders, kicked my shoes off, and headed to the Night Garden. I felt like swinging.
Downstairs, I met Mira in the hall. She nearly bumped into me, startling when I caught her shoulders. “Are you alright?”
Her teeth were chattering and she hugged herself around the middle, trembling violently.
“Mira?” I looked closer to see that strands of her hair were frozen. “Who did this to you?”
“I did,” she answered. “I wanted the water to be cooler. I guess I took the spell a touch too far.” Mira smiled, but it wasn’t genuine. “I’m going to run a hot shower. Don’t worry, Sable.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
She shook her frozen hair and thanked me. “There’s no need, really. I’m tired. I think I’ll turn in early.”
I decided I would give her time to shower and then go check on her.
Mira made her way up the steps and I peeked in the pool room, shocked to find the entire pool of water frozen. The once humid air was frigid. I closed the door behind me and made my way to the Night Garden.
Soft, lush tufts of grass tickled the bottoms of my feet as I walked over to the swing. I leaned my head back as I swung, watching dark clouds race across the sky. Only a few panels of the glass enclosure were left open to the elements tonight, and the scent of something enigmatic and heady wafted on the breeze. There was something familiar in the smell. It pricked at my memory.
The earth looked sad. All the flowers that were merely sagging yesterday were now dead. Did the Circle fail to Elevate a new Priestess of the House of Earth? How could they?
Unless… unless my mother prevented it somehow.
Tauren cleared his throat as he walked into the garden. “Am I interrupting?”
“Interrupting my swinging? Yes, I suppose you are.”
“Then by all means, carry on. Don’t let me stop you,” he teased.
“How was your dinner?”
Tauren leveled me with a ponderous look. “Why do you ask?”
“Curiosity.”
“You know what they say about that.”
I tried to laugh, gripping the ropes of the swing tighter.
Tauren sighed. “Dinner was good. No poison, so that’s something,” he finally said, settling on a stone bench nearby. The garden’s narrow stone pathways were exposed now that its flora was dead. He stretched his legs out and leaned back on his palms.
“Good.”
“And your time with Brecan?” He watched me intently.
“My evening was good as well,” I said, re-using his bland description.
“Good,” he muttered.
A long moment of silence stretched between us.
“I hate it,” he finally said, tearing at his hair.
“Hate what?”
“Seeing you with him.”
I took a deep breath. “Well, I hate seeing you with Rose. And Leah. And Estelle. And Tessa.”
He looked up at me. “Thank you for helping my father. I didn’t get a chance to tell you earlier. He’s resting more soundly than he has in months.”
“I wish I could do more for him,” I admitted. I wished I could heal the King the way Fate allowed me to heal Belle today. But it was time for the King to pass, just as it was time for Tauren to take his place as the ruler of Nautilus.
Tauren leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and scrubbing his face with his hands. “This is so hard. He’s been sick for a while, but we didn’t realize it was this grave. For months, he brushed everything off as stomach upset or indigestion, and we let him,” he scoffed. “We didn’t ask questions. I never sent for a doctor until the day he collapsed.”
“You didn’t know,” I tried to comfort.
“He’s my father. I should’ve done something.”
“His illness was not your doing, and you can’t blame yourself for something completely out of your control.” No more than my mother or her actions were my fault. I hated that he blamed himself. He shouldered too much. Far too much.
“For the record,” he said, sitting up straighter, “I hate dining with
Rose, or Leah, or Estelle, or Tessa.”
“Why do you say such things?”
He shrugged. “Like you, I’m just being honest. There’s only one woman I want to have dinner with every evening, lunch with every afternoon, and breakfast with each morning.”
“We’re impossible,” I breathed.
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“I thought you were still angry with me.” I watched him out of the corner of my eye.
He blew out a tense breath and looked to the heavens. “I wish you hadn’t worked the spell, but now that you have, I’ll just have to work doubly hard to protect you,” he vowed.
He is ridiculously stubborn. “You should worry about protecting yourself, not about me.”
“No, now that we’re bound, you’ll be my shield, but I will also be yours. We’ll keep each other safe – and alive.”
I smiled. “We’ll defend one another?”
“Back to back.”
“It might come to that,” I told him. “My mother has been freed.”
“I had a lengthy discussion with my own mother after we returned from Sector Three, and she told me all she knew. Now I’d like to ask…how do you feel about Cyril?”
“I always felt cheated out of knowing her, out of being raised by her. If she were alive, I would have been a member of her House, not handed off to another Priestess. But now that I’ve heard more about her and the way people speak about her… they’re frightened. Not just afraid enough to avoid her, but terrified of her. And now I can’t help but be frightened, too.” Plus, there was the little tidbit Brecan had overheard about her threatening to kill Lucius, and then trying to kill me.
Fate woke inside me. His comfort curled all around me.
To those who were worried because there could only be one witch of Fate, I felt it down to the dust of me that I was his choice.
Not my mother.
Never her again.
A dark smoke curled through the open glass doors and flooded the garden, despite the wind swirling through it. I leapt from the swing and crossed through the dead foliage to stand beside Tauren.
His eyes were alarmed. “What is it?”
“I’m not sure,” I answered, on edge.
The smoke continued to gather, building in height and width until the shape of a human formed. Out of the plume stepped a male witch with shaggy, midnight-blue hair and pale skin. Silver slitted eyes twinkled as he smiled at me and stepped forward.
“You,” I breathed, finally recognizing his face. He was the boy who clung to the tree outside my cabin, the boy who chose the tea leaves… with the slitted eyes and indecision. “Who are you?”
“Daughter of Fate,” he greeted so much more confidently than he had seemed in my home.
“Come no closer,” I warned, raising a hand to defend Tauren and me. Tauren unsheathed a dagger, the biting sound of metal raking metal filling the air until he held it out in front of him.
“I am not here for a fight, Daughter of Fate,” the male witch proclaimed.
With sharp features that highlighted his nature, he was beautiful – darkness embodied. Without the red cloak hiding his face, he was a sight to behold. Gone was the angst that rolled off him in waves while I read his tea leaves. In its place was boldness.
He’s made his decision.
“What do you want, then?”
“To deliver a parcel.”
I ticked my head back. “A parcel?”
“Yes, Sable. A parcel,” he confirmed, hissing each s sound.
From a leather satchel at his side, he gingerly plucked a small, rectangular package, wrapped in brown paper and tied with a matching string. “Who are you?”
“I am the Son of Night,” he answered.
“And do you often deliver parcels, Son of Night?”
He grinned like a panther. “When it benefits me, yes.”
“Who sent it?”
“Your mother.” The words sent a chill up my spine.
He tossed the package to me and I caught it, holding it against my chest. The witch strode back into the cloud of smoke and let it swallow him. A second later, not even a wisp remained.
“You’re not opening that,” Tauren ordered.
“I am, but not here,” I amended.
“Sable, anything sent by your mother is unsafe for you.”
“She didn’t come here,” I reasoned, “and he didn’t threaten me. Perhaps this is an olive branch. In any event, I can’t open it here. I need Brecan and Mira with me in case I’m wrong.”
Tauren stared at the parcel like it might turn into a scorpion and strike at him with its bulbous, barbed tail. I was about to dismiss him when he speared me with an intensely determined look. “I’m coming with you.”
“It’s too dangerous for you.”
“When you open it, I will be there, Sable.” He sheathed his blade, never taking his eyes off me. Then he offered his arm, leaving no room for argument. I accepted it and together, we walked quickly upstairs.
Mira had showered, but was still shaken when she entered my room. “My mother froze the pool, didn’t she?” I surmised.
Mira nodded, her eyes wide as she looked between the Prince and me. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the package I held securely in my arms.
“I need you and Brecan here in case something happens when I open it.”
“Is it from her?” she rasped. “You don’t want to open it, Sable. She’s… she’s… she took over Thirteen.”
“What?”
Mira nodded. “That’s what she said. At the pool, I was trying to reach Bay when she appeared instead.”
Brecan slipped into the room, catching the last of our conversation. “I can’t reach Wayra, either. And it’s obvious that no Priestess of the House of Earth has been Elevated, since everything remains dead.” Brecan pushed off the wall. “It’ll stay that way if an Earthen Priestess isn’t Elevated soon. If Cyril is strong enough to block the Circle, irreparable damage might be done.”
“Nothing is irreparable,” I whispered.
“Let’s go see what your mother sent you.” Brecan gestured to my door, then looked at Tauren. “Are you sure he should be here?”
“No,” I grumped. “But I’m not sure he shouldn’t, either.”
Tauren stiffened beside me, but I took his hand and pulled him into my room. Mira followed us.
Sending an anxious glance to Brecan and Mira, they extended their hands and readied themselves for battle as I untied the string and unwrapped the parcel. Inside was a simple, hand-held mirror. The handle and frame were ornately carved from jade, and ivy tendrils crawled up each side of the oval frame.
The mirror smelled of rich soil.
It also smelled like my grandmother’s rosemary hand lotion.
I looked in the smooth glass. My reflection was quickly replaced by another, but the one looking through the mirror smiled. The way her lips moved, the dark shade of her eyes… They were the same as mine, yet there was a rage, barely restrained, contained within.
“Stop reading me, Sable,” she snapped.
Blinking, I snapped out of the lazy haze and focused on her. “What do you want?”
“What do I want? Is that any way to greet your mother after seventeen years of absence?”
I remained still, careful to keep the mirror trained on my face and not allow her to see Tauren, Brecan, or Mira.
“How is your little Water witch friend?” Cyril grinned.
“She is well. Why would you ask?”
Her eyes narrowed fractionally, and then she began to pace in front of the purple couch in my House. “I’ve resurrected the House of Fate. Thank you for attempting to clean it before you were plucked away.”
Number one, it was my House now. And she was thanking me? “I wasn’t plucked.
I chose to leave.”
“Chose… it’s such an interesting word. As if Fate ever offers a choice.”
Fate growled within me, a rumble resonating through my bones.
Her eyes speared me like a fish on the end of a trident. “I could offer you one, though. I can break his hold on you, the way I broke his hold on me. I could set you free, once and for all,” she offered. “No more fire inside, no more orders to follow, or frigid hands and lips. No more answering to anyone.”
“Except you, I wager.” And I bet she would try to lure Fate back into herself as well…
She smiled. “I am the Priestess now.”
“Where are Wayra, Ethne, and Bay?”
Her eyes narrowed, and her lip curled into a snarl. “I do not answer to you, child.”
Her eyes caught on something over my left shoulder. I’d shifted and revealed Tauren to her. “I see…” she said. “You’re as handsome as your father was in his youth,” Cyril said slowly, calculatingly. “You’ve done well, Sable. Luring him in, weaving a strong enough web to hold him there. Now that you have his heart, the crown is as good as yours.”
As a dark, glittering ribbon slid out of the smooth glass and slithered toward Tauren, I flung the mirror across the room. The glass shattered on impact, skittering shards of mirrored glass across the floor.
Had her magic reached him?
I spun around to find him looking at me as if he didn’t know me at all. As if my mother’s words had poisoned his heart instead of his food.
“Tauren?” I said softly, approaching slowly. “Please tell me you don’t believe her.”
“Is it true? Do you only want the crown? The power?” he asked.
His words stung. “Surely you know that isn’t what I want, Tauren.”
He braced his hands on his hips. “I honestly don’t know what to think anymore.” Pinching the bridge of his nose, he let out a growl and threw the door open, striding out into the hall.
I wondered if he would come to his senses. I didn’t want his crown, the Kingdom, or any of the trappings that went with it. I just wanted him safe, and for my meddling mother to stop manipulating his thoughts. With one sentence, she’d muddied his feelings for me. And the worst part was that he let her.
