by Jasmine Walt
We spent the next hour having tea, all of us pretending to be noble ladies from various countries. I used the opportunity, as I did with nearly all of our playtime sessions, to teach them a little bit of magic. I conjured water into the pot, and Rusalia boiled it with her magic, while Tinari kept the pastries warm by heating the platter lightly. Liu had brought real tea leaves from the kitchen, and within no time she was pouring tea into the cups for us to enjoy.
At some point, Trouble decided to make an appearance, and the girls had fun chasing him about the room. He was a great favorite with the kids, and he didn’t mind letting them try to catch him—they couldn’t really touch him anyway, and he seemed to understand it was a game.
As I watched the girls play, I wondered if I would soon be playing with my own children. Now that Iannis and I were about to be married, having children seemed to be the logical next step, and with my Heat coming up on our honeymoon, it might be the perfect time to get started. But was this really the right time to do it, so soon into our marriage? Or did we need more time to settle into the new, strange life we were creating together? I’d have to talk it over with Iannis.
“Look,” Rusalia cried, getting my attention. “I’ve been practicing my fire magic!”
I glanced up to watch her conjure a thin stream of flame, then shape it into a heart. “Good job!” I said as the other girls squealed. A spark jumped from the flames, alighting on a pile of cleaning rags on a nearby table. To my horror, the rags ignited, and the girls’ squeals turned into screams as flames shot straight toward the ceiling. Rusalia lost control of her fire magic, and the next thing I knew the flames were spreading to the drapes and the carpet and were rapidly headed for a box of dolls in the corner.
“Get back!” I yelled, jumping to my feet. I shoved the girls behind me, then quickly conjured a wave of water. The water splashed over everything, dousing the fire in an instant, but leaving behind the strong reek of damp soot. Sighing, I pushed a hand through my hair and surveyed the damage. The curtains were beyond repair, as was the table those rags were sitting on. The girls seemed unhurt, but they were sooty too, and Rusalia’s skirt had been badly damaged by the fire.
“What happened?” Carlin, the butler, demanded as he rushed into the room. His eyes widened as he surveyed the damage, and he glared at the cowering girls. “Do you have any idea how long this is going to take to clean up?”
Ignoring him, I bent down to sniff at the rags, which had been burnt to a crisp. “Alcohol,” I said, straightening up. “Whose idea was it to leave rags soaked in alcohol in this room?” I planted my hands on my hips as I stared down the butler.
“The playroom was not a priority, with all the guest rooms being readied,” he said stubbornly, refusing to back down. Carlin was a holdover from the previous Chief Mage and had never liked me much. “And I hardly expected the rags to be set on fire. Someone should teach these children to better control their magic!”
“And you should stop acting so high and mighty before I decide to burn you to a crisp,” I growled, stalking over to him. Carlin paled as I jabbed a finger into his chest. “You know damn well that this is the playroom and these children are still learning how to use their magic. Make sure the servants don’t leave cleaning supplies or anything else dangerous in here again.”
“Yes, Miss Baine,” he said grudgingly, bowing his head. I resisted the urge to smack him across his judgmental face—clearly this man had either never dealt with children or had no patience for them. I was going to need to have a chat with the steward about this later—if my own children were going to be running around the palace someday, I definitely wanted to make sure their play spaces were safe. We’d need a trained mage nanny, I realized, or perhaps two, to keep up with them. And perhaps it was time for Carlin to retire to some beachside cottage. What kind of pension package did his job entail? One more thing to find out.
“All right,” I finally said, turning back to the children. “What do you say we go enjoy the rest of our day outside?”
The girls were feeling guilty and scared after the near-disaster in the playroom, but once I managed to coax them outdoors, they quickly forgot about the fire. Soon enough, we were engaged in a game of hide-and-seek. The vast gardens would ordinarily make it quite a challenge, but as I closed my eyes and counted to thirty, I could hear the girls giggling as they scampered off in different directions. I was going to have to make an effort not to find them too fast—I could ferret them out all too easily with my shifter senses.
“Ready or not, here I come!” I called, finally opening my eyes. The girls were nowhere to be seen, but as I stood up, my nose twitched, easily separating out their scents. I decided to follow Tinari first, whose scent was redolent of candy and book binding glue. Pretending to look around and search, I casually made my way around the side of the palace toward the rose garden.
On my way to Tinari’s hiding place, I passed by one of the shallow pools dotting the palace garden. I stopped for a second to admire the glimmering carp swimming below the surface, then frowned as I realized I couldn’t see any. Despite the bright, sunny weather, the water was an odd dark color obscuring the normally clear depths. Had somebody contaminated the water with some kind of dark ink? And what would that do to the poor fish? Drawing closer, I noticed a ripple near the edge closest to me, and the hairs on my arms rose as I scented a strange brand of magic. It was a lot stronger than the usual burnt-sugar smell, with an exotic undertone.
“What the hell is going on here,” I murmured, bending at the waist a little so I could get a better look. I wasn’t stupid enough to let the dark water touch me—if there was some kind of spell at work, that might not be safe. I was just about to call to the gardener when a giant pale hand shot out of the water and grabbed me around the waist.
“Hey!” I yelled, shock and horror filling me as I struggled against the fist. What the hell was going on here? I blasted it with fire, but the flames had no effect as the hand yanked me beneath the surface of the pool. The water was only four feet deep, so I expected to hit the ground instantly, but instead I was dragged deeper, and deeper, until the water pressure was unbearable. My head was splitting, my lungs were bursting for air, and there was only cold darkness. Not a single life form was around me aside from the giant fist crushing my ribs, not even the flash of a fish scale.
By Magorah, I thought dimly as I began to lose consciousness. My struggles grew feeble as I ran out of air and lethargy weighed down my limbs. Am I about to die?
7
Just when I was certain I was about to expire from lack of oxygen, the hand hurled me out of the water. I crashed into the grassy earth at full speed, and would have cursed when I felt my nose crack if I hadn’t been so busy coughing up gallons of water.
“What the ever-loving fuck?” I managed to gasp when I’d finally expelled the last of the water from my lungs. Sputtering, I rolled onto my back and pressed a hand to my nose. It was already healing, but I sped up the process with a little burst of magic as I stared up at the sky. It was still blue, and the sun was shining between the puffy white clouds, but the air was a good twenty degrees colder and the scents around me were unfamiliar. What the hell had happened? Where was I? None of the magic I’d studied explained the trick with the giant fist, and there was nothing in Fenris’s memories to explain it either.
“She looks like a drowned rat,” a female voice sneered in a strange language, and I froze. Pushing myself up, I twisted around to see that three women were standing a short distance away, staring at me. There was also a little boy hiding in the branches of an old tree nearby. I’d been so discombobulated by my arrival that I hadn’t noticed them at first.
“Who the hell are you?” I demanded as I struggled to my feet. Fenris’s knowledge allowed me to understand her—she was speaking some version of Manucan, an old dialect. My shoes were filled with water, and my damp clothes were working against me. Scanning the area briefly, I saw that I was standing in the garden of an old country ho
use made of gray stone, partially overgrown with moss and ivy. While it looked ancient, the mansion was in good repair, and the gardens had a variety of well-trimmed trees and bushes. Everything but the house and sky was in shades of lush green, and the air was damper than back in Canalo.
The three ladies standing before me were regarding me with various expressions of disdain or curiosity. The one on the right, silver-haired and hunched with age, seemed the kindest, her pale blue eyes shining with worry and excitement. The one in the center was middle-aged, and my eyes widened as I took in her silver-threaded dark red hair and her violet eyes. And the one on the left, who stood far taller than the others…
“I am Ta’sradala,” she said imperiously, looking down at me from her straight nose. She wore a pale green gossamer gown and had long hair the exact same shade as Iannis’s cascading around her willowy frame. Her shimmering violet eyes were narrowed with disdain, and her mouth was curled back into a sneer, but even these things did not detract from her ageless beauty. Her alabaster skin glowed as if power simmered just beneath the surface, and by the way the air shifted subtly around her, I expected that it did. "And you, little beast, are not worthy to stand before me.”
“Let me guess,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and mustering all my bravado, because I was not about to let these women see that, inside, I was starting to quake in my boots. “You’re Iannis’s grandmother, and you”—I turned to the middle-aged woman—“are his mother.”
“Ennartha ar’Sannin,” she said, inclining her head slightly. Unlike Ta’sradala, her expression was blank, but I had no doubt that she wasn’t exactly thrilled to see me. “Welcome to Manuc, Miss Baine.”
“Welcome indeed,” Ta’sradala scoffed. “We should smite her right where she stands. I will not allow such riffraff to mingle with my bloodline.”
“Excuse me?” I snapped, taking a step toward her. My shock was quickly dissipating as fury took its place. “I don’t care who you are or how powerful you are. You don’t have the right to yank me from my home and then insult me on top of it.”
Ta’sradala laughed, and the sound was beautiful and horrible all at once, like chimes that were out of tune. “You should be thankful you are not actually on my doorstep, or you would be dead,” she said. “Though perhaps I will send you to the Tua realm, just to see if your feeble body can handle it.”
“You two are being rude,” the elderly woman chided, moving toward me. I stiffened, keeping my guard up, but I didn’t scent any ill intent from her as she patted my arm. “I am Deryna, Iannis’s aunt. My nephew has very good judgment—he must have seen something in you. I don’t think we should be so quick to dismiss her, Ta’sradala,” she said to the Tua woman. “Why don’t we get to know each other before doing anything hasty?”
“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Ta’sradala said coldly. “As the matriarch, I have the right to decide whether or not this…hybrid…is worthy of marrying my grandson. And so far, I am not impressed.”
“And just how the hell do you know that?” I demanded, pushing Deryna’s hand aside and taking another step toward Iannis’s grandmother. She towered over me, at least eight feet tall, but I refused to be cowed. “You haven’t stopped flapping your lips since you yanked me out of that pool. You don’t know anything about me.”
The air around Ta’sradala crackled with power as she bared her teeth. “Why you insolent little mongrel—”
“I’m a feline, not a dog,” I cut her off before she could finish her sentence. “Not that it matters. Being called a mongrel would be a compliment compared to what I’d like to call you.” My gaze fell on the little boy cowering in the trees, who looked terrified at the confrontation. Who the hell was he? But if I asked, I would call attention to the child, which I couldn’t bring myself to do. He was pale and trembling.
“You are very impertinent,” Ennartha said, speaking up for the first time since she’d introduced herself. She was frowning slightly now, as if not sure what to make of me. “While it is long past time for Iannis to settle down, I had not thought he would pick someone this raw and uncouth. Even a human might have been preferable. Still, perhaps we should let her speak, Mother. Since Iannis isn’t here to shed light on the matter of his strange choice, maybe she can.”
“Very well,” Ta’sradala said. “Speak, mortal.”
“What am I, on trial?” I glowered up at her. “I don’t have to stand here and listen to this crap.” I pulled the gulaya I kept for emergencies out of my magical sleeve. But before I could speak the Word to activate it, Ta’sradala flicked her hand and hit it with a bolt of magic. I stumbled back as a jolt went through me, and the hum of power from the gulaya died in my hand.
“Don’t think you can escape so easily,” she said. “Your magic is mere parlor tricks compared to what I am capable of.”
I stared up at her, stunned. I’d never heard of anyone being able to disarm a gulaya like that before, and for the first time, real fear began to sink in. The Tua were legendary beings, seldom ever seen. Nobody truly knew what they were capable of, only that they were immensely powerful, and amoral by human standards. Could Ta’sradala really smite me where I stood if I refused to cooperate? Was she that cold? My intuition, and Iannis’s warning, told me not to expect reason or mercy from her. Perhaps it would be best not to provoke her if I could help it.
“Good,” she said, her lips curving into a satisfied smirk. “I can see you are finally learning to respect me. Perhaps you are not entirely witless.”
That smirk ignited another spark of anger in me, and I did my best to bury it. “Listen,” I said, splaying my hands in a placating gesture. “I don’t want any trouble here. Iannis and I love each other very much, and I don’t want to have any bad blood with his family. But you have to understand that if you hold me here and I don’t show up for the wedding, it’ll cause a lot of problems. Iannis will never forgive you, and it’ll be extremely humiliating for him. We invited officials from all over Northia, and other countries too. Not to mention all our friends!”
“I don’t give a whit about any of that,” Ta’sradala scoffed with a wave of her hand. “The governments of mortals interest me little, particularly those barbaric places where Iannis has chosen to hide away. And while my grandson might be a little upset should anything happen to you, your relationship with him is but a brief moment in his long life. He will soon forget about you and move on to greener pastures.”
“I wouldn’t be so certain of that, Mother,” Ennartha said cautiously, looking a little worried for the first time. “Iannis is far more attached to the human world than any of us have ever been. This is not the first time he has been infatuated with a female, and he does not react well to interference. I am not at all certain that this savage girl is a suitable match, but it is high time my son produced some heirs, so I am willing to let things take their course.”
“You have always been weak and spineless, Ennartha,” Ta’sradala spat. “You may not care about what happens to the family line, but I will not stand for it.”
“And what does that mean?” Deryna demanded. “You cannot mean to actually kill her, Ta’sradala. The poor girl has done nothing to warrant that!”
“Oh, I won’t kill her,” Ta’sradala said, her lips curving into a cruel smile. “The mortal shall be allowed to at least attempt to prove her worth.”
“The mortal has a name, you know,” I muttered, trying to hide my anxiety. Prove my worth? How in Recca was I supposed to do that?
“Ahhh, yes. What was it, Sumatra?”
“Sunaya,” I snapped. “Sunaya Baine.” I knew she was just baiting me, but I couldn’t help reacting. I was soaking wet, had nearly drowned, and was a million miles from home with no easy way to get back.
“Very well, Sunaya,” she said silkily. “I shall set three tests for you to prove your devotion to my grandson. I do not expect you to pass these tests, of course, as you are but a weakly shifter with a smidgen of magic. But I would be remiss if I did
not at least allow you to try.”
“How magnanimous of you,” I sneered. I got the very distinct feeling that to Ta’sradala, who was probably quite jaded, this was just a cat-and-mouse game with a pre-determined outcome. She didn’t really care about Iannis and whether or not he was muddying up the bloodline. “If you feel so strongly about keeping your family line pure, then why did you have a daughter with a human mage?” I asked pointedly. “Isn’t it your own fault that your family line is all messed up in the first place?”
Ta’sradala’s expression turned icy. “Don’t presume to question me,” she hissed, slicing her hand through the air. My throat constricted, and suddenly I was unable to draw breath. Choking, I clutched desperately at my neck, trying every spell I could think of to loosen this magical hold, but nothing worked.
“See? You are powerless beneath my might,” Ta’sradala said, her eyes glittering with malice. Spots began to appear in my vision, and I slowly began to sink to the ground as my legs weakened. “Save your magic for the test, mortal. You’re going to need every bit of it if you want to survive.”
8
Ta’sradala made another gesture with her hand, and the next thing I knew, I was kneeling in a small, scruffy rowboat. Lightning arced across the stormy sky, followed by a deafening boom of thunder, and massive waves rose all around me.
Find safety, Ta’sradala’s voice echoed faintly around me. If you can.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I screamed as I realized the boat was riding straight up one of those waves. I grabbed hold of the sides and hunkered down as the boat crashed back into the next trough between the peaks, dumping buckets of water onto my head. Desperately, I used a spell to propel the water out of the boat before it could sink, then surrounded it with a strong air shield to keep more from getting in. The waves could try to batter it, but the shield would protect me from the worst of the damage and save me from constant bailing, which I’d have to do with magic since there was no bucket on board.
