I scoffed. “It sure doesn’t seem that way.”
She pinched my lips together between her bony fingers.
I pushed her hand away from my face. “Get off me.”
“Then hold your tongue and listen. We have another matter to discuss.”
I balled my fists at my side. “Go on.”
“Go on…”
I rolled my eyes. “Your Majesty,” I said to address her, venomously, wanting her to get to the point.
“Good. That fact of you being in Berovia must remain hidden under the story we have established for you.”
“Unbelievable.”
“Berovia cannot know you were there.”
I rubbed my hands against my thighs. “What is the official story then?”
“You were shipwrecked off an island. There are many close to Niferum. His Majesty does not know that pirates brought you back.” Her mouth twisted in disgust. “I will pay them, then send them away. If they return, they will be executed.”
I gasped. “You wouldn’t—”
“I will do whatever I must to protect this family. They will be told if they even so much as utter your name, they will pay the price.”
I inhaled deeply, calming my building temper. “Where is Morgana?”
“In the tower room, but there is no time. We must get you dressed so you can go.”
I left, not wanting to hear another word from her. I’d been called cold over the years. I got it from her. She’d never shown me affection or warmth. For the longest time, I thought it was normal, but Cedric’s words had resonated with me. He pitied me for the relationship I had with them, because the truth was, I knew when I returned home that no one would have cared if I had died, but the reality of it stung regardless.
I was scrubbed from head to toe, the tangled knots ripped from my hair. Then they forced me into a tight red dress that flowed out by my feet, in preparation for my visit to Ash Court. The maids gasped at the finished result, looking pleased with themselves. Not one person had asked if I was okay. I wasn’t. I was anxious and looking forward to seeing Morgana, but it had to wait. My father wanted to see me as soon as possible, which meant I had no time to rest before I was being shoved into the small ship that would take me to Magaelor.
***
I couldn’t sit still for the whole journey. Calmer waters deceived us. When I looked down, I saw the unmistakable flash of color of a tail far beneath the surface. Reinforced steel coated the hull, preventing mer attacks against a penetrable material like wood. Sharp spikes pointed outward from the steel. I should have told Aquarius how to make his ship better protected, but my brain had deleted anything that wasn’t related to getting home.
It took less than an hour to reach the port of Magaelor.
One of the royal carriages greeted us when we disembarked. I stepped inside. Time was going too quickly. I hadn’t had time to prepare by the time we jittered over the drawbridge, then stopped outside of the main doors.
It had been over a year since I had walked up those steps, or since I had seen or spoken to my father. My hands were trembling. I rolled back my shoulders, tilted my head up, and counted to three before giving the nod to the guard to open the double doors to the throne room.
My heart hammered against my chest as I was announced.
“Princess Winter Mortis of Magaelor.”
All eyes were on me, except those of the man I wanted to notice me. I had questions. The king was sitting on his throne of silver and gold, whispering down to a short, stubby man. Finally, he looked up.
I swallowed hard, attempting to remove the lump in my throat. I reached the end of the blue carpet leading up to the thrones and sank to my knees. The last time I had been in that throne room was when we had found out about André’s death.
Three steps were all that stood between us after all those years. His mistress sat on the throne that had once belonged to my mother. She wore the colors of a queen. Blue was meant for royalty. My eye twitched involuntarily, but I hid it well. I had been told her name when they went public: Nissa Avery. I recognized her now as the same woman who had interrupted my reading with Morgana the morning of Jasper’s death. She was only a few years older than me. Her youthful glow was dulled by the shadow of my father. Barrell-chested and tall with angular features, he looked at me with cold, blue eyes that mirrored mine.
“Daughter.” He stood, then walked down the steps. I couldn’t mask my surprise at his warm welcome. He extended his arms out and embraced me. He wrapped them around me, making me feel safe, like when I was a young child. I closed my eyes, resting my head against his chest, letting the moment sink in before it would inevitably end. In a second, I felt as if I were a little girl again, desperately wanting her father’s love and approval. I knew I need to question him, about the battle, his provocation, the lies, but in that moment, I could only let him embrace me.
He pulled away, then squeezed my shoulder. “We are all so grateful to hear of your return, dear daughter. We missed you.”
Had he changed. He was treating me like he did André. Was it possible, after all this time, he did in fact love me? Had my time away brought that out of his cold heart?
My eyes welled with tears, but I blinked them back. He hated anyone crying. He had always looked at it as a weakness. He chastised my mother for crying over André’s death in public. That memory would never fade.
I caught Nissa’s stare. She looked uncomfortable. Her hair glistened, brown weaving with black. She looked the same as she had when she came to Morgana’s tower room, except for the dark circles under her eyes. I wondered if she had ever come back for a reading. I hadn’t known who she would become then, and I hated her even more for it.
“I have excellent news.”
My heart thudded. “Yes, Father,” I said, feeling confident in being informal again. A micro expression of annoyance flashed across his face, but he quickly smiled it away.
I made a mental note not to try that again.
“You will be married by week’s end.” His eyes sparkled. “Since hearing of your return, the kingdom has their heir back, and King Azrael and his son Blaise have agreed to continue the betrothal as if the last couple of weeks never happened.”
My stomach knotted. As if they hadn’t happened, but they did.
“I’m glad,” I said because I should have been. “Your Majesty, I have things to ask you, about Berovia,” I whispered.
His smile pinched into a frown. His mistress looked down at me from her throne icily.
I pressed my lips together. “It’s important.”
He nodded curtly, then strode toward the doors. “Of course, Winter. Let’s go somewhere private.”
I was Winter again. I had come into the castle with resilience and so much strength, I would have given my mother a run for her coin, but now I was desperate to reclaim his adoration in me.
“Do not speak about Berovia when we are in public again.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Apologies are for the weak. My daughter is not weak.”
I gulped. “I won’t talk about it again.”
He nodded, seeming pleased with my answer. I hurried beside him. “I am pleased to hear about the wedding,” I told him as we walked, hoping it would be enough to get me back into his good graces.
He didn’t look impressed. “Did you learn anything of note?”
“Did you provoke the battle?”
He stopped walking, then looked me straight in the eyes. “They’ve turned you against your own.”
“No.” My eyebrows pinched downward. “I’m only asking you because I need to know the truth. I can handle it. I am the heir, your heir.”
He shook his head. “I did not provoke them at all. They came here to try and take Magaelor from us, because they hate our magic, our way of living. To think, you’re so easily manipulated by them. I’m disappointed.”
My jaw clenched. “I’m not. People I trusted told me!”
He laughed snarkil
y. “Trusted? You barely would have known them. You weren’t away long enough.”
I swallowed thickly. “Why do they believe that then?”
“Xenos!” He said through gritted teeth. “Will say anything to fire the hate between our kingdoms even more. He wants our land and won’t stop until he has it. Now, I don’t want you to question me again. Your Berovian friends,” he spat the word, “may think I provoked the attack, but it is untrue. Put your faith in me, your father, and your king.”
I cast my eyes downward. “I won’t bring it up again.”
“If I ever did send my men into Berovia, it would only be to get a forest nymph. With one of those I could see Xenos’s actions before he even did them.” Menace glistened in his eyes. “To prevent a war against us, of course.”
“I saw one.” I admitted, then immediately regretted it.”
His lips curved up at the corners. His dusty-blue gaze landed on mine. “We must talk alone. Let’s see what my strong girl found out.”
Light spilled into his private office from the floor to ceiling arched windows in the corridor, as he opened the double doors. A long desk curved around the back of the room. Its polished mahogany reflected the lamps on the back wall. The head of an anumi looked soullessly at us.
“You killed one?” I asked.
“Five guards died and two were wounded taking down that creature. After you had gone missing and we found your staff with anumi prints around it, I ordered a hunt.”
I parted my lips. A small smile crept over my face. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that…”
He straightened his crown when he took a seat behind the desk. It was covered with stacks of papers, pens, and thin boxes of velvet—unopened with gifts inside, I was sure. The royal seal and wax seal sat next to an ashtray. A half-smoked cigar rested among the ash.
He reached down and pulled out my staff. Dark-gray wood knotted up on the handle as always, and the sapphire glimmered. My fingers flexed in response, and my lips trembled. “My staff.” My voice choked.
“I’m sure you’ve missed this.”
I reached out and took it from his hands. The wood felt smooth against my skin. Tears hazed my vision. There were times when I wasn’t sure if I would see it again. The missing part of me filled up. I could feel the magic pulsating under my fingertips. I whispered a prayer for the ancestors as I held it. They had kept it safe for me.
“Thank you. So much.”
“I wouldn’t have got rid of it. You are my flesh and blood. My daughter.”
Hearing those words filled me up. I couldn’t help it. I’d wanted to hear them all my life.
“So, daughter. What information do you have for me?”
His eyes were bright. He’d never looked at me like this before. I wondered if he would let me come back to Ash Court for good. I missed it here. He stared up at me expectantly. His fingers tapped against the edge of his desk.
“The nymph ran off when I woke up.”
Disappointment lined his features. “Where were you?”
My breath hitched. “A forest.”
“What forest?” He tilted his head down and frowned. “Winter, must I remind you that you are the princess of Magaelor, not of Berovia. If you have any information that could help us, I suggest you not hold back.”
“Tranquillium.”
His eyes grew bigger. The blue looked like an ocean, pulling me to tell him more. His voice charged with hope. “Do you know what part?”
Birch’s face floated in my memory, as did Daisy’s. They had been so kind, protected me. My father’s warm gaze tore down my defenses. “It’s such a big forest. It would be hard to find one.” I exhaled slowly. “They were up in the north of the forest, starting in Bluewater, but the solises were cutting down the trees to try to find them.”
“Xenos is trying to get one?” He balled his first. “Then it is imperative we find one first. If he has one, he can interpret our every move. Do you want us to fall under Berovian rule?”
I shuddered at the thought. “The elves who live in the heart of the forest protect them there. I could perhaps get one if you send me back.”
He looked at the stack of papers between us. “I knew someone was hiding them.” He rolled his eyes up to meet mine. “Winter, do you know where to find these elves? If I give you a map, can you show me where?”
I fumbled my fingers and cast my eyes downward. “Yes, but first, I want you give me your assurance that no one will be hurt. This is simply to be able to find a nymph. That is all.”
His gaze hardened. “I can’t believe you don’t trust you king, your own father.”
I sighed deeply. “I had to make sure.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone.” He explained. “Only to protect our kingdom.”
He pulled out a piece of paper, then unrolled it over the desk and placed paperweights on each corner, revealing a map of the kingdoms. He pointed at the Forest of Tranquillium. “Show me where they are hiding.”
Bile rose in my throat as I stared at the distance between each place. I didn’t realize how little I had traveled. It felt longer, but then Berovia was giant.
I pressed my fingertip against the part of the forest between Woodbarrow and the small town in Bluewater I had stayed in with Cedric. My father marked the area in pen, then nodded slowly, looking intently at where the thick black X now marked the spot. “What else did you learn?”
I licked my dry lips.
“I went to the Shadow Market.” I pointed at it on the map. “They sold all sorts of things there. You could get ahold of anything for the right price.”
“What else?”
“The solises look down on the light fae. They pretended to be above that, but they’re not. There was hardly any fae in Bluewater.” I ran my finger around the royal province on the brown paper. “There is definitely a divide in the kingdom, especially between elves too. They are angry, like I said, about the solises cutting down their forest.”
“Their forest?”
I nodded. “Yes. All the villages and small towns outside of it belong to elves too, but they have intermixed with solises and fae. They look different from the other elves I met.” I inhaled sharply. “Then there was Aquarius. He is a pirate. He rescued me, saved my life. A mercreature bit me. He used mugroot, I believe, to cure me. He is a good man and should be compensated more I think.”
“Are they lunas?”
“Uh.” I paused, looking around. I didn’t want to get them in trouble. “I… don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
I clenched my jaw. “They are solises, I think. Honestly, but they’re not interested in the politics. They only care to sail the seas.”
“Our seas.” His eyes narrowed, then he slammed his fist on the table, making the ash on the little silver platter jump. “That’s how Berovia is obtaining goods from our kingdom.”
A small trail of spit ran down his bottom lip.
I scratched the back of my neck. “Yes, but they saved me—”
“They are gone?”
I nodded.
“Then nothing will happen to them.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank you for all the information, dear daughter. You are proving to become the ruler I had hoped you could be.”
“I’m sorry it’s not André,” I admitted, saying what I had wanted to since his death. “But I do want what is best for Magaelor.”
He shuddered on my brother’s name. “Let us not dwell on things best forgotten.” He paused, then after a few moments, he clasped his hands together and rose from his chair. “I’m proud of you. You have done your duty.”
My heart swelled. I’d never heard those words come out of his mouth before, to anyone. My eyes glossed over. I regained my composure, then parted my lips.
“We should celebrate.” He walked to the doors, opened them, and shouted to the guards. “Arrange a party in honor of my daughter. This weekend.”
“Your Majesty,” an
advisor said, stepping in. “It is Lady Avery’s birthday on Saturday and—”
“I said a party in my daughter’s honor. She will be queen, not her.”
I couldn’t help but smirk at his dismissal of his mistress. She would be furious, but he was rightfully putting me first. I didn’t want to ruin his jovial mood, but I wanted to bring up the elves again, even though he’d assured me they wouldn’t be harmed. I decided it was best not to broach the subject, he did, after all, have a low tolerance for anyone questioning him, but the worry nestled uncomfortably into my conscience.
EIGHTEEN
Drapes of silver and blue hung overhead in the banquet room. Light from the chandeliers reflected from the diamonds against the silk, making them twinkle. I looked around, awestruck. I hadn’t seen my father for most of the day. He had spent the whole day holed up in his office with his council members, discussing everything I had told him yesterday. They were strategizing. I could have snuck in and listened to their plans like I used to, but I’d been so preoccupied on trying to prove Magaelor’s innocence in the battle where Berovians had come to our shores, where my brother had died. I hadn’t found anything. I’d looked through newspaper archives, although I knew there wouldn’t be any proof in them, still, I might have missed something if I didn’t look. I went to the castle library and looked there. Then, I asked Adius, the head guard, and even the servants who were around when it happened, and none of them suggested Magaelor attacked first. I also didn’t want to give my father reason to question my loyalty, not when we were finally getting along so well. If word got back to him that I was digging after he told me he didn’t provoke Berovia, he would be upset.
Giving up the elves’ location for the forest nymphs didn’t feel right, but Father promised he wouldn’t harm the elves. He only wanted the forest nymphs.
I let out a long, shaky exhale and ran my hands down the front of my dress.
A mirror covered the entirety of the back of the wall. I took in my reflection. The maids had done a beautiful job. I didn’t recognize the smile that beamed back. I hadn’t seen that girl in a long time. My hair was pulled up, knotted into an elegant bun. Loose curls fell out of it, entwining around the blue and diamond tiara. A silk band was wrapped tightly around the bodice of my dress, pulling in at my waist. I lifted the skirt, looking at the strappy-heeled shoes I had been taught to walk in once I was out of baby shoes. A princess needed to be able to walk in heels with grace. The material was silver and reflected like the moon. My eyelids were coated with a gradient of pale blue and white that sparkled at the corners, popping the blue and silver flecks in my eyes. My nails were painted to match the dress.
The Fate of Crowns: The Complete Trilogy: A YA Epic Fantasy Boxset Page 13
