“Sorry, Lad,” Luc told the unconscious man at his feet. He looked back at Faith, but she had used the distraction to slip out. He hurried to the door. Faith was paused in the hallway, looking around as if searching for something. Luc concentrated and called fire to his hands.
“Looking for something, my dear?” he called. Faith glared at him.
Faith was furious. This should have been a simple job, collecting the children. She should have been able to sweep right in and manipulate the school into handing them over. Why was it not working? Faith concentrated for a moment. She should be able to feel the energy that she had had Clarice plant within the children. She couldn’t feel it. She tried again.
This isn’t possible! It should be there! Where are those children? I should be able to feel them!
“Stand down, Faith of House Oberon,” Luc demanded. “Are you truly so arrogant that you would think there was no chance we would figure out your little plan?”
Faith lashed out at Luc, whose shields held firm. Giving up on affecting the annoying man with her mind magic, Faith lashed out with Air instead, intending to knock him off his feet. Luc ducked, and rolled forward, towards Faith. He came to his feet right in front of her, and before she could get another blast of air off, he had her encased in a cage of fire.
Faith screamed in rage and frustration. Her eyes were quite mad. She glared at Luc from within the cage.
“Let me out of here, you foolish man!” she demanded. “I am Royal Fae! You cannot hold me!”
“Well, actually, I can. You see, the Fae Council has declared you a rogue and a traitor. Since you and your daughter are both unregistered Mind Mages, they will strip you both of your powers and you will be handed over to the Fae for safe keeping. They are very eager to renew your acquaintance.”
“My daughter will not let you hand me over to the Council!”
“Your daughter has already been taken into custody. I believe that Marissa is quite looking forward to getting to know you both a bit better before handing you over. Did you two really not research the family Theo was involved with before you started all of this? Pitiful.”
“What are you talking about, you stupid man?”
“Theo is Bonded to Marissa Casey. Casey, you arrogant Fae. Surely you’ve heard of the Casey Witches? No? What have you been doing with yourself? For heaven’s sake, woman. You’ve become used to getting everything you want with your powers, haven’t you? You never thought to research and have a backup plan? Good grief.”
Faith stared at him.
“Make sense, man!”
“Madam, the Casey Clan are some of the strongest Witches in this realm. This particular branch of them have ties to the Fae and the Dragons. They have people who love them and who they can call upon for help. And they have. Once we all figured out what was happening, and what your plans for Theo were, you really had no chance.”
Faith screamed again, a high, keening scream of anger and frustration.
Brendan came slowly out of the office. He was rubbing his jaw. Luc glanced over at him.
“Sorry, son.”
Brendan waved his hand. “No worries. Have you got her there?”
“She’s not going anywhere. Though we might want to knock her out to transport her, so she cannot compel anyone to let her go.”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind taking a swing at her with something hard,” Brendan glared at Faith.
“I think it would be better to call Ciaran and have him and Nathaniel come put her to sleep,” Luc said.
“Oh, very well, then.” Brendan went back into the office and called the house.
“Celine is sending Ciaran and Nathaniel along right now. They’ll be here in a minute.”
“We’re here,” Ciaran said. He and Nathaniel had materialized right next to the cage containing Faith. He turned to look at her.
“Hello, Cousin,” he said to her quietly. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Faith spat at him. “You are no cousin of mine! You are a traitor to our Royal blood. You should be helping me. Our Blood were meant to rule the Fae!”
Ciaran shook his head at her.
“How in the name of Danu did you ever think you were strong enough to wear Oberon’s Crown? You have to be strong in power and in the ability to control your own mind. And you are not really either. You’re not nearly as strong as me, nor even as Nathaniel here.” Ciaran’s gaze became extremely focused as he made eye contact with Faith and searched inside her mind. She tried to fight him, to keep him out. He crashed through her shields with minimal effort. He was not pleased with what he found.
Ciaran pulled out of Faith’s mind, knocking her out as he left. She collapsed to the floor within the cage. Grimacing, he turned to Luc.
“We may have a bigger, or a different, problem, here. Faith was after the crown. She really did believe it was her blood right to wear it. There is no way that she would have been strong enough, though. She was strong, but only really upper-mid-level. I think she was being used and manipulated herself. Her mind showed… cracks, like it has been on the edge of fracturing for a while now. I think there was someone else pulling her strings. Which could change everything. If it was another Fae, they would know that she could not wear the Crown and survive. So they must have another goal in mind. One that they did not share with Faith.”
“Were they looking for something else in the vault, or were they looking to use the chaos that would have been created if she had gotten her hands on the Crown?” Luc wondered.
“I don’t know. As I said, whatever their plan is, they didn’t share it with Faith.”
“Wonderful,” Brendan muttered. “So we caught these two, but we could still all be in danger. Just wonderful. Jaysus, Mary and Joseph. What am I going to tell Celine?”
“Let’s regroup at the house. Nathaniel and I will strip Faith and Clarice of their powers, and you all can have a few words with them before I hand them over to the Fae Council. I would like to examine Clarice, too, before we do. It is always possible that we were wrong about which one was actually in charge. It is possible that Clarice may know more.”
Ciaran, Luc and Nathaniel took Faith back to the Casey house. Brendan used the office phone to call Tony, then asked Mrs. Doyle to call all of the Casey children to the office. Mrs. Doyle, free from Faith’s compulsion, did as she was asked.
“Shari-Beth Meyer-Casey, Allison and Ian Casey-O’Sullivan, Michael and Milena Casey-Leonard to the office please. For real this time. Professor Casey wants a word. Thank you.”
Maria Hemenway stepped out of her office as Brendan waited for the children to arrive.
“Is the Academy safe, now? Can we return to business as usual?”
“I am not completely sure, Maria. Thank you for your help today. I know that it must have been hard to stay out of it.”
“I understood the importance of not tipping her off, but it was quite difficult. I wouldn’t have minded taking her out myself.”
“I believe you. I am going to take the children home for the rest of the day. We will most likely all be back tomorrow.”
“That’s fine, Brendan. Take all the time you need. What did you mean, that you are not sure that the Academy will be safe now?”
“There may have been someone else involved, pulling the strings. Ciaran is not happy with what he found in Faith’s mind before he knocked her out. If there is something bigger going on here, we could all still be in danger.”
“Well, let’s get that new wing to the Academy built, and our fight classes going as soon as possible, then, shall we?”
“My thoughts exactly.”
28
The gathering at the Casey house that morning was somber. John and Lucille Thorndike had returned with Rose. The Murphys left their shops in the care of their employees so they could attend as well. The members of the Fae Council caused quite a stir when they appeared beside the patio at the Casey house.
Ciaran, Siofra and Nathaniel bowed to the members of the council
.
“My Lord Avran, My Lords, My Ladies,” Ciaran greeted them. “You honor us with your presence here.”
“Thank you, Ciaran.” Avran glanced at Faith, still unconscious, and Clarice, who was just beginning to stir. “Who knocked them out?”
“I knocked out Clarice Thorndike,” Aldona stood.
Lord Avran’s gaze turned to her.
“And you are?”
“My Lord, please allow me to present Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Aldona Isabella Drake of the Fire Mountain Dragon Clan,” Ciaran said.
Lord Avran bowed to Aldona. “Your Royal Highness, we are honored to be in your presence. Please accept our appreciation for your assistance in this matter.”
Aldona inclined her head regally in acknowledgement.
“I myself took out Faith,” Ciaran informed the council members.
“Were you able to examen her before doing so?” Lady Bevriel asked.
“Briefly, My Lady. As we were in the hallway of the local Academy, I chose to render her unconscious to protect the students, and revive her for further examination later.”
“Well, let us do so now.”
Ciaran reached out with his mage gift and woke Faith. She sat up, incensed to find herself still with in fire cage.
“Why am I still in this thing? Let me out! I demand it! I am of royal blood! You cannot treat me this way!”
The members of the Fae Council regarded Faith as she ranted.
“And where is my daughter?” Faith demanded.
Clarice was still groggy from Aldona’s punishing mental blast. She looked around as she heard her mother speak.
“Mother, what has happened? Why are you in a cage?”
The council had come with guards. Lord Avran motioned, and a pair of them brought Clarice to stand next to the cage containing Faith. Lord Avran contemplated the two women.
“Ciaran and Nathaniel, I would like you to enter these women’s minds as I question them. Please inform me if they decide to be less that truthful in their answers.”
Ciaran moved to stand beside Faith while Nathaniel took up his position beside Clarice. The Mind Mages entered the captive’s mind. Clarice’s shields were still down due to Aldona’s attack. Nathaniel had no trouble entering her mind. Faith attempted to fight. Ciaran easily smashed the barrier she tried to erect. He nodded to Lord Avran.
“Lady Faith, you are charged with High Treason in attempting to acquire and use a High Treasure for yourself, with intent to wage war and control the Fae Realms. You are further charged with being an unregistered Mind Mage, and with having failed to registered your previously unknown daughter as a Mind Mage. You are also charged with teaching your daughter to use her abilities to control the Witch’s Council, to suppress mate Bonds illegally and with the murder of a member of the Witch’s Council.”
He turned to Clarice.
“Clarice Thorndike, you are charged with using your Mind Mage Gift to illegally control and cause the death of Hugh Thorndike, with illegally compelling Theodore Thorndike for his entire life, for attempting to suppress his mating Bond with Marissa Casey, for placing parasitic energies within Marissa, Theodore and their young children Michael and Milena in an effort to be able to control and track them at any time. You are further charged with the murder of your uncle, a member of the Witch’s Council. You are charged as an accomplice in treason to the Fae Realm, in attempting to recover with intent to use a High Treasure that was placed away for safe keeping because of the devastation that would rain if it were used by anyone less than its original owner.”
Lord Avran looked at the two women.
Clarice glared at him.
“That crown is ours by right! We are of the line of Oberon and Titania! My mother should be queen!”
“You are not the only ones that are of that line. They had five children together. Ciaran, here and his sister, Siofra, are descended from the oldest child of Oberon and Titania. And Ciaran is a stronger Mind Mage than his cousin Faith. If anyone could control the Crown, if anyone were entitled to wear it, out of all of Oberon’s descendants still alive today, it would be Ciaran.”
Clarice looked startled. She glanced at her mother. “Mother? You told me that we were the last of the Fae royal line with the Mind Mage ability. You said that we were the strongest in several generations. Aren’t we?”
“My cousin Faith is an unregistered Mind Mage,” Ciaran said. “I am registered, and have had proper training for my entire life. I am a fifth-level mind mage. From my examination of your mother, I would say she is no more than third-level. And not a very strong third, at that. Her training appears to have been rather spotty, and it appears to have been focused on coercion and compulsion, with none of the healing aspects, and no ethics regarding the use of such a Gift.” Ciaran paused to poke about in Faith’s head a bit more.
“It appears that Faith was taught by her mother, who was also a level three, and also unregistered. It appears that her line has never registered their Mind Mages, preferring to train them in secret. Thankfully, there were few of them. Faith is the last, to her knowledge, with the exception of her daughter. She is not very complementary of her daughter’s abilities and considers them far beneath her own.”
Faith glared at him. “How dare you! Get out of my head!”
Clarice turned to Faith again. “Mother, you told me that I was strong! That it was right to use my Gifts. That it meant I could have whatever I wanted. You taught me to!”
“Be quiet, stupid girl. Your gifts are barely enough to compel anyone for any length of time. You could never compel a Fae. Even your hold over Witches was weak. Why do you think you had to keep reinforcing your hold over Theo, and the suppression spells on his Bond?”
Clarice shook her head. “I didn’t kill my father. The man you called my uncle. On the Council. Mother did that. She had no more use for him. We had Theo back, and she was tired of playing games with the Council. She said I could have Theo once we used his blood to get the vault open, and I would have my son again. Theo is my son. He belongs to me. He should take care of his mother, as all obedient children do.”
Theo stared at Clarice. “I am not your son. You were never a mother to me. I was always a means to an end for you. My mother was a wonderful Witch who taught me what it truly meant to have a loving family. I don’t even know you. You were my handler from the Witch’s Council. That’s all you ever were to me.”
Clarice started to cry.
Nathaniel looked at Lord Avran and the other Fae gathered around.
“My Lords, My Ladies, I think that Clarice herself has been under compulsion for most of her life. She does appear to have been taught that it was her right to use her Gifts to get whatever she wanted. She was taught that she was Fae royalty and that mere mortal rules and ethics did not apply to her. I think that Faith has done to her what she was trying to do to Theo. Only Faith’s abilities are stronger, and her hold over Clarice much deeper.” He took a deep breath.
“I am not saying that Clarice should not be held accountable for her actions, only that perhaps, certain factors should be taken into account.”
“If freed from Faith’s influence over her, do you think that she could safely be allowed back into society?”
“Not with any Mind Mage abilities intact. I am not sure that it would be safe to leave her with any Gifts. She hasn’t used her Air Gifts for harm, much, but with no morals or ethical guidelines, I am just not sure it would be safe.”
Lord Avran turned to Ciaran.
“And Faith? What of her motivations?”
“I believe that she was taught the same, that she was of royal blood and therefor untouchable. However, I find only that Faith enjoyed using her Gifts to abuse and control. She saw herself as an architect of a grand plan. I still don’t understand how she thought that she would be strong enough to use the Crown, though. She may have told Clarice that there were no other family members stronger than her, but she knew that I was, and even I at level five could
not hope to survive putting on the Crown.” Ciaran paused as he caught a flicker of memory in Faith’s mind. He grabbed hold of the silvery whispered with his Gift and followed it back.
“Lord Avran, it appears that Faith has some memories she has been compelled to forget. Give me a moment… ah. Oh. Well. That does explain that.” He turned back to Lord Avran.
“It appears, My Lord, that someone has altered her memories so that she truly believed that she would have been able to control the Crown. That it was her right to do so. It appears that she believed that her line was the only true line of descent from Oberon and Titania, that Queen Titania had a series of affairs with other Fae and that she passed off the resulting children as Oberon’s when they were not. I am not sure how they got that memory to stick, given all the evidence to the contrary, especially the work of the Genealogist and the Archivist. And the fact that every Fae is tested at birth.”
“The tests were faked! We are the only true descendants of Oberon and Titania!”
Lady Janessa looked at Faith in scorn.
“Silly girl, even if you were the only line of descent from Oberon and Titania, Oberon had other Fae children. He had several with his own wife. And with others. You are hardly the last of his line. You don’t have to be a descendent of Oberon and Titania to use the crown, just a full-Fae descendent of Oberon himself, with at least level eight Mind Mage abilities. And you are barely at level three.”
Faith’s composure cracked, showing the first sign of doubt.
“The question remains, why would anyone want Faith to take the Crown, knowing that she could not wear it and survive? Why go to so much trouble? It doesn’t seem to make any sense,” Brendan said.
“I still want to know how they found out that we had the Crown, to begin with,” John Thorndike said. “No one was supposed to know that.”
Susan Montoya nodded.
“The Guardian Council would very much like to know that as well.”
Broken Bonds (Valerian's Cove Book 2) Page 21
