by Noree Cosper
I gasped as the pressure on me released. My limbs were slow to work as I tried to rise. Colin stood up as well with a grimace.
Moments later, a Fae in a long robe with black hair tied back stepped inside the room. He bowed to the Prince, but he cast a shifty stare in my direction.
“What can I do for you, my Prince?” Vaughan asked.
“Please show Colin and Aneira to the available suites. Then return here. We have plans to make.” The Prince took up his original position at the windows.
Vaughan bowed again and looked to us.
“Follow me. I have the perfect rooms in mind for you,” he said.
“Hold on.” I turned to the Mara, who seemed to have melded in with the shadows of the corner, and held out my hand. “I’d like Morphy now.”
She flicked her finger against the latch and the door of the cage swung open. Morphy flew out and careened into me. I gave a soft “oomph” and wrapped my arms around his trembling form.
“There, there.” Stroking the ridges of Morphy’s back, I looked at Vaughan. “All right. Let’s go.”
Colin and I followed Vaughan out of the Prince’s office to our new cage. I didn’t plan to stay trapped for long, no matter how nice it was.
15
We traveled down the elevator several floors to another hallway with black carpeting. Instead of double doors, the hallway continued around a corner. Vaughan turned the corner, stopped at the first door on the right, and unlocked it with a metal key he’d pulled from his pocket.
He held the key out to me. “This is yours. Ring up room service if you want anything. Also, we’ll know if you try to leave.”
Without another glance, he pulled Colin to the next door. I sighed and stepped inside. A black velvet couch stood in the center of the room with two matching arm chairs and a glass coffee table. In the left corner sat a small table and two chairs. There were two doors in the back, most likely one to the bedroom and one to the bathroom. The scent of roses mixed with musk created a mysterious fragrance in the air.
It was a very elegant cage, much like the golden one the Mara had put Morphy into. Still, I was imprisoned. How long would it be until the Prince decided to try to feed from one of my Dreams? Like Rhydian, he could remove Nimue’s mark, but I didn’t think the Prince would take no for my final answer.
I flopped on the couch, letting Morphy crawl out of my arms, and rubbed the spot between my shoulder and neck. A pressure was building up bethind my eyeballs. I closed them and tried to stifle a yawn. I couldn’t sit here in the quiet to long. I blink and smiled at Morphy.
“That was intense,” I said. “I wasn’t sure if he was going to eat us or what.”
“At least you weren’t in a cage.” Morphy curled up on a pillow and sniffed. “The Mara was way worse than him. She’s just mean.”
“I doubt it. He’s the Prince of Darkness. What happened to you?”
“I’d managed to get away from those idiot guards when she stepped out of the shadows and grabbed me out of the air.” He made a snatching motion with his hands. “Just like that.”
“That doesn’t seem mean,” I said. “She just grabbed you.”
“You had to be there,” he said with a solemn tone.
A knock echoed on my door, preventing the snarky comment on the tip of my tongue. With a groan, I went to answer it.
Colin leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed and a grin on his face.
“Is your bed as huge as mine?” he asked.
“That’s the first thing you checked, wasn’t it?”
He shrugged as he stepped inside. “Of course. Let me guess, you haven’t even bothered.”
“Why should I give myself such temptation?” I asked.
Colin frowned at me. “You need to sleep.”
“And have Nimue find me again? No, thanks,” I said. “We need to figure a way out of this city and to the Well.”
“You mentioned that before,” Morphy said. “What’s supposed to be at the Well?”
“Some sort of knowledge on how to beat Nimue.” Colin picked up the menu from the coffee table, sat in one of the chairs, and flopped his leg over one of the armrests. “They weren’t exactly forthcoming.”
“They were vague and cheated us,” I returned to my spot on the couch. “They didn’t even tell us where the damn thing was.”
Morphy shifted and tucked his paws under his body. “I know that.”
I blinked. “What? Why didn’t you say so?”
“When was it ever an issue?”
Colin waved his hand at Morphy while he continued to look at the menu. “See. Problem solved. Now we can enjoy ourselves.”
“That’s one thing. But how are we going to get out of here?”
“Is it wise for you to leave just yet?” The Mara’s voice whispered from the back of the room.
I started and twisted around, resting my arm on the back of the couch. She glided from the shadows to stand between the two doors.
Morphy pointed his claw at her. “Just like that, but with more snatching.”
“What the hell?” I rose to my knees. “You’re just eavesdropping?”
“I hear more interesting things when I do so.” She looked to Colin and me. “If I didn’t, the two of you might do something foolish.”
I crossed my arms. “As much as we appreciate the Prince’s hospitality…”
“Not that we’ve experienced it,” Colin muttered.
“We have things to do,” I said. “Colin has his dad to rescue.”
“And you have people of your own, I’m sure,” she said. “But with what power?”
I opened my mouth and closed it, casting a look Colin’s way. My magic was working fine, so she had to be talking about him. He’d set the menu down and stared at the Mara with his brow furrowed.
“How do you know that?” Colin asked.
“Besides the report from the guards? You are cut off from your father, your source of Fae power,” she said. “The same sort of incident happened to me when I was younger.”
“Wait, you’re half witch?” I asked.
“A closely guarded secret,” she said. “The Prince and I prefer it that way.”
I lowered myself to a sitting position. “Why are you telling us now?”
“Because this is the first time I have come across two other half-breeds. And together,” she said.
“I’m not exactly a half-breed,” I said. “I’m mostly witch.”
“Close enough,” she said. “However, the two of you are woefully undertrained. How do you expect to fight this army if they ambush you?”
“I can do it,” I said. “I know how to use both Fae and witch magic.”
“Not well, I imagine,” she said. “And Colin doesn’t know witchcraft. Am I correct in that?”
Colin nodded. “What are you proposing?”
“Stay here for a while and I’ll train you.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “What do you want in return?”
“I want you to kill Nimue,” she said.
Colin and I gave a collective gasp. One of the worst taboos was the murder of a Fae.
“What were you expecting to happen to her?” the Mara asked. “I didn’t think the two of you would have such a problem with this considering what she’s done.”
“The Princes should determine her punishment. Imprisonment, maybe.” Colin said. “Isn’t that enough?”
Mara gave one precise shake of her head. “If she is as powerful as you say, she is too much of a threat to this city and my Prince to let live. She must die.”
“We’ll do it,” I said.
Colin’s mouth gaped open as he stared at me. “Why?”
“Why not? We’re not fully Fae, so why do we have to go by their rules? Nimue needs to be dealt with and the Mara is offering to train us for something I don’t mind doing. You need to learn witchcraft, and I’m not great at it.”
Colin leaned back in the chair and stared at the coffee table. “We
live in their society.”
“A society that enslaves witches.” I picked up the menu. “I’ll bet they have witches on here, don’t they?”
He wouldn’t look at me.
“The Pleasure Palace may have been different, but this place isn’t. Why should we follow the rules of people that exploit us?”
“Careful.” The Mara held up a single finger. “That sounds close to treason.”
I shot her a glare. “And killing a Fae isn’t?”
“It is a necessary evil,” she said. “Besides, the witches here benefit from our arrangement.”
“What do they get that is so worth the nightmares?”
“Glimmer.”
The word sent chills down my spine. Glimmer was a special drug, created from a mineral found only in Bedlam, that put witches in a state of euphoria. Many witches lost themselves to the drug. When one could spend most of his or her time in bliss, what was a few hours of fear?
“You people are fucked up.” I covered my hand with my face.
“That doesn’t change my offer,” the Mara said.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips. The Crones had been right about one thing. I would be making a devilish deal, but I hadn’t suspected it would be so soon. Refusing her was a bad idea since she already knew of my want to escape. Accepting her offer gave us training and could possibly make her complacent. I looked to Colin.
He crossed his arms and shook his head. “I’m not comfortable with this.”
“You don’t have to do it,” I said. “I will.”
“I’ll still be a part of it. An accessory,” he said. “You may have grown up as a witch, but I’ve been raised as a Fae. I can’t just turn my back on them. I’m still half-Fae.”
My shoulders sagged. Even if Rhydian had been more caring on witches he still would teach his son to respect the other Fae. Colin had learned of his heritage today. It was a lot to take in. I was being unreasonable to expect him to throw it all out.
“How about a compromise,” I asked the Mara. “We handle Nimue and turn her over to you.”
“And how do you expect to do that?” she asked.
“I guess that depends on what you teach us.” And what we find at the Well.
“Very well,” the Mara said. “If you defeat her, she is mine to do with as I wish.”
“Does that work for you?” I asked Colin.”
He threw his hands up. “Fine.”
“We start tomorrow. Be prepared. I am a hard taskmaster.” The Mara’s voice lingered as she disappeared back in the shadows.
I’d just agreed to take out Nimue and hand her over to a half Fae who would probably delight in killing her. If we failed in our end of the bargain, we’d probably take Nimue’s place. What had I gotten us into?
16
I pulled open several small drawers of the herb cabinet that sat in the training room the Mara had provided for us. My vision blurred and I rubbed my eyes as a wave of exhaustion washed over me. I shook my head which created a shudder than ran through me and continued my search. There had to be maca root somewhere in here. I’d run out of my own a few days ago. The last few doses hadn’t lasted nearly as long as they should. I was beginning to develop a resistance.
The Mara hadn’t been joking. Over the last six days she’d drilled us on the basics of witchcraft from herbalism and potion making to the proper hand gestures for spell casting. We’d been given access to a small part of her library.
Luckily, this had given me something to occupy the long hours of the night. Colin had given up on trying to talk me into sleeping, however he did stay up for several hours to study with me. He’d taken learning witchcraft seriously.
The problem was, I was reaching my limit on how long I could stay awake. Morphy had been little help as he kept disappearing for hours at a time. He claimed he was working on a way to get out of Bedlam but wouldn’t elaborate, no matter how much I pestered him.
In one of the Mara’s books I’d found a potion to keep me awake and of course it used maca root. I needed something since my own Fae casting had failed time and time again.
I paused and turned around as something the Mara had said about casting Fae magic came to mind. Colin and the Mara sat at a long table with their heads together as they discussed the key points of a spell Colin was trying to master.
“Why can I use Fae magic?” I asked.
The Mara glanced up. “Hmm?”
“Colin can’t use his magic because he’s separated from his dad,” I said. “But I never met my dad, and it’s from his line that I get my Fae blood. So, I shouldn’t be able to use my magic at all. Instead, I’m better at it than I am at witchcraft.”
“Your blood is strong,” she said. “And perhaps something of your father is closer than you believe.”
I touched my amulet under my shirt. I’d always thought my mother had crafted it as a way to hide my mixed blood. Maybe it was a relic left over from my father’s side.
I returned to my search.
“Ah ha.” I pulled the root with a triumphant smile.
I carried the root back to the mortar and pestle I had set out at the end of the table next to the book that held the potion. A bowl sized caldron sat beside it heated by a Bunsen burner with a blue gray liquid bubbling inside. The potion had called for an herb called damiana to form the base and the maca root to be added after it was boiling. I crushed the root with the pestle in slow, round motions and then added it to the pot. The potion turned white and a puff of smoke rose up. I coughed and waved my hand at the acrid stench. The liquid fizzed over the top of the rim.
“Shit.” I grabbed the caldron lid sitting on the corner and tried to cap it.
I was too late. The whole thing erupted. Hot liquid sprayed over me, the table, and the ceiling. I hissed at the sting that remained from the heat.
The Mara was next to me in an instant, her nails digging into my arm.
She looked from me to the cauldron to the splattered ceiling. “What have you done?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I thought I followed everything right.”
She scraped white foam from the book and peered down at the recipe. “You were making a Potion of Wakefulness? How much damiana did you use as opposed to maca root?”
“I think the right amount.”
Her glare froze me in my tracks. “If that was true then we wouldn’t have this mess. They are volatile when mixed together in the wrong amounts.”
I hung my head and rubbed the bridge of my nose. “I’m not sure, to be honest. I might have misread it.”
“How long have you gone without sleep?”
“Seven days, I think.” I said.
“Eight,” Colin said. “And with little sleep before that.”
The Mara gripped my chin, forcing me to look at her. “Your exhaustion makes you clumsy and I don’t abide clumsy students. You need to sleep.”
I tried to pull away, but she was too strong. “I can’t sleep. Nimue will know where I am.”
“You think Nimue would attack Bedlam and succeed?” The Mara laughed.
“Rhydian thought the same thing,” I murmured.
She pursed her lips. “We are not one small castle. However, I have something for you, if you fear this so much.”
She glided to the back wall which consisted of a ceiling to floor bookshelf made out of granite. Books of varying sizes filled all of it. She pulled out a giant tome with a red leather cover with both hands and brought it to the clean side of the table. It landed with a thud as she set it down. I shuffled closer but she held her hand up, pointing to my soaked clothing. She flipped through several pages before stopping and nodded to Colin.
“This will prevent a witch from dreaming. It is a spell I invented,” she said. “However, it’s advanced and requires both witchcraft and Fae magic to cast.”
Colin leaned forward and his eyes shifted as he skimmed the spell. “I don’t have access to my Fae magic to cast this.”
“And Aneira is too e
xhausted to try it by herself,” she said. “This is something the both of you must try together. It is similar to the joint casting exercises I taught you, however it is trickier.”
Colin glanced at me with a grin. “What do you say? Want to give it a spin?”
I bit the inside of my cheek and scuffed my shoe on the ground. “If it doesn’t work I’m kind of screwed.”
The Mara let out a huff of breath and stood straight. “You aren’t much use as of now, anyway. There will be no more lessons until you rest, for either of you.”
“Wait, I have nothing to do with it,” Colin said.
She held a finger up and shook her head. Colin’s jaw tightened as he focuses his gaze on the book. A small vein in his temple twitched.
The Mara walked to the door, sparing me one more piercing look before she left.
“Be sure to clean up your mess,” she said.
I stared down at the white liquid dripping from the table and ceiling to the floor and sighed. My clothes had taken on a stiff, itchy quality where the potion had hit me and my hair had begun clumping together. It would take forever to clean everything up. This had been a complete failure.
“What are you so afraid of?” Colin asked. “Failing?”
“Your father’s protections didn’t work against Nimue,” I said. “What makes you think that this will work?”
“This is different. It’s both types of magic. Nimue probably has things that fight against one or the other, but not both at the same time.”
“And if you’re wrong?” I asked. “That’s a risk I’m not willing to take.”
“It’s damn better than going until you collapse,” he said. “Then Nimue will get you anyway.”
I shook my head and looked at the mess around me. “That’s what this potion was supposed to help with.”
“And instead you got all this.” He waved to the cooling muck on the table and cauldron. “It seems to me that you aren’t willing to compromise, even though lately I have with the Crones…and all. I need you to help rescue Dad from gods know what Nimue is doing to him, but you’re so exhausted I’m afraid it’s going to get us both killed.”
I bit my lip and stared down at the floor as heat flushed my cheeks. I didn’t have an answer for his concerns. If I had to fight anything, I’d probably lose fast, or end up in a condition like I had been with the Cŵn Annwn. That didn’t mean I wanted to trust a spell performed by a novice witch and my sleep deprived self. Of all people, he should understand how dangerous Nimue was.
