“How do you know?” Declan took one step forward, but the fae queen gave him a stern look.
Iren coughed and sat next to Alara. “He is Tomas. He knows everything the king knew. All of his memories, his thoughts, even his secrets are inside of Cedric.”
“I know because Talia confided in Tomas. Rather, she gloated. She knows of a source of power within the lands in the west that no one else knows of. At least, she doesn’t suspect they know of it.” Cedric took a cup from the counter filled with hot liquid and took a sip.
“The Emerald Flame,” Iren spoke softly. “It would appear my lessons hadn’t been wasted after all.”
“What do you mean?” Scarlett helped herself to a mug as well and brought one over to her friend, who wrapped her hands around it to warm herself. It was not the air inside that gave Alara a chill, but the topic of conversation.
“The Emerald Eye,” Thea started, “was believed to be a myth. Hundreds of years ago, a wanderer stumbled upon it. He didn’t know what it was, just that it was a large green flame embodied in a glass case deep underground. Farther than any human should have been able to travel.” Thea held out a hand, and a cup appeared inside her open palm. She took a satisfying sip before continuing. “He opened the case and was drawn into the flame almost immediately. He described what it felt like to be consumed by it. The terror inside him; fear of the unknown. More than that, the undeniable pain he felt…in his heart.”
“His heart?” Scarlett moved closer to the table.
Iren shook his head slowly. “I spoke with the man myself when he returned. He said the flame spoke to him of death and despair, the likes of which nobody would ever recover from. That it alone could save the race of humans, if he would only let it free of its tomb.”
“Guessing he left it there,” Declan said sarcastically.
“Yes.” Iren’s brows creased as he glared at the prince. “He left it there. Not until after it told him of a powerful force of evil that would enslave the humans, making the world exist only for those who would follow its rule. The flame told him the skies would darken with ash, and the lands would become barren.”
“So how did he get away from it? Supposedly, this man was inside the flame. Couldn’t it have escaped when he got out of the glass case?” Scarlett had found a seat on top of the counter.
“Well, I don’t know. The man stated the flame needed to be released with a spell but didn’t know it to tell him. So, the flame released him so he could begin working to free it. However—” Iren paused to make eye contact with Alara— “the man said a piece of the Emerald Flame stayed with him. I could see it in his eyes. It made sure, for the rest of his life, that he’d be able to see the purest of things; then within his children, as they were born; and throughout his entire line, to protect them from evil. A strong power to hold onto his family, guiding them, protecting them, until it can be freed. The flame will not rest until that man’s heir returns to free it. It works even now.”
“How?” Alara asked, not sure if she wanted the answer.
It was Thea’s turn to be sarcastic. “Where have you ever seen fire red hair and emerald eyes before?” she asked, standing to walk around the room. “Why do you think you are so invaluable to this war? You are Lady of Vlora. You are the heir that’s meant to free the flame. You have the Emerald Eye.” She spoke as if each word pained her. “And now you have the power of the three sisters. A target has already befallen you from Talia. Once her reach extends to the west, you will be sought after again. No one will want the Emerald Flame released.”
“This is not good,” Scarlett said to her friend. “Not good at all.”
MAGLANA had been asked to stay outside and watch for anyone coming unannounced. She paced the walkabout on the top of the castle, her fae eyes able to see as far as she wished. She just needed to concentrate hard enough, and she could target anything, getting a clear, close-up look without moving a stitch from where she was.
That was the ability Alara wished she’d been able to control. Apparently, it was dormant inside of her.
The sisters were well known in the world of the fae. Alone, neither sister could perform the simplest of tasks. However, while together, there was nothing they couldn’t do. That must have been the reason they agreed to remain together all those years to raise Landon. Little did they know he’d end their lives as his thanks.
Alara shivered with the memory of how the women lay discarded outside the house, their tiny forms on the ground in such unnatural positions. She couldn’t get the voice of the eldest fae out of her mind. It consumed her waking hours as much as her fear of that dreadful curse consumed her sleep. Even the look on the blonde sister’s face was enough to haunt Alara forever. She didn’t want to think about their magic and life force being inside of her. She felt as if she robbed them of it.
“What is it you think of?” Maglana soared down the side of the castle to meet Alara on the embankment.
She’d been looking into the stream, wondering how much was too much. Could she handle anything else thrown her way? Between the sisters, Cedric, and now the Emerald Eye, she didn’t know if she could deal with it all.
If she took Thea’s suggestion, she wouldn’t have to. She could go to Idrisi and never deal with any of it. Not even training. She could just live.
“The sisters wasted their magic giving it to me,” Alara finally said.
“Why do you think that?” the winged woman asked. She appeared indifferent to the fact. She still wore a long black gown. Her hair was slicked back and hung below her waist. The wings are what Alara couldn’t help admiring every time she saw the woman. They were magnificent.
“I really have no interest in using this magic. I wouldn’t know what to do with it.” She realized this to be the truth of it all the moment she spoke the words.
“That is why you require training, which is something any one of the fae can teach you, either on the road or in Idrisi. Do not let my sister bully you into coming back with us.” Maglana circled to walk away.
Alara looked up at the woman, shock clear across her delicate features. “Wait, your sister?”
“Yes,” she said without turning.
“But she’s so young. How…” Alara shook her head and scrunched her eyes as she tried to make sense of the new information.
“My parents never intended for me to be queen. She’s prettier.” Maglana lifted her wings to her sides and gave a hefty flap, picking herself up into the air. She was back on the wall before Alara turned to find the others.
The castle had not changed. It was just as it had been when she visited as a child with her father. The gray stones seemed to twinkle in the moonlight, far enough from the color of the cursed wall that the glow could not touch it. Tapestries hung from the ceiling all around the great room, except the side marred by the iron bars.
Each tapestry represented a house of the kingdom, with her father’s next to the royal house. A stag and a lion. Two complete opposites, yet they worked well together for centuries. Each generation keeping up with friendly cooperation, until each house had children that could join them.
Cedric appeared as Alara contemplated all she’d lost. He stopped in the doorway. Placing his hands in his pockets, he cleared his throat. “May I join you?”
His eyes were now wholly blue; his hair so dark it was almost the color of Declan’s. He had finally shaved and cut his hair back to the line just above his collar.
“Aren’t you afraid of losing yourself?” Taking in his appearance made her think whatever spell Iren and Tomas had worked, would rid Cedric of his own identity.
“No. There isn’t anything to lose.” He stopped walking once he reached the middle of the room.
“How’s that possible?” Alara took a step back towards the main door, but no further. “I remember listening to you talk. A sixteen-year-old boy given such an important job for the king. This is what you were talking about, wasn’t it?”
“And if it were?” He studied the ta
pestries as he circled the floor.
Alara paced the far wall. Pillars stood at the top of the stairs and traveled all the way around, the central area of the great room dropping down in the center. “If you knew then, how could you have forgotten?”
“I don’t know. My memories were taken from me. I don’t remember my life before my appointment with you. I think Tomas did something more than what he let on.”
“Though you have his secrets.” She asked for confirmation.
He ran his hand through his shortened hair. It had become calloused from using a weapon. “It’s not that easy. It’s like some of them are still stuck within vaults.” He turned in place, following her as she moved. “When I have those answers, you will have them too.”
“You would do that?” She stopped.
“Yes, of course. With Tomas here”— Cedric put a hand to his heart— “you are here as well. However he felt about you, and your life together… it’s all here, and here,” he said, pointing to his head. So, he had all of the king’s memories. Those must not have been locked up in any vault.
Alara recalled how he’d rubbed her hand, and how he tucked her hair behind her ear. How he took her close and rubbed her back to soothe her tears and hummed when she was tense. He’d acted like Tomas on more than one occasion. Now, he was even starting to look like him.
She couldn’t say anything more. She gave him a brief nod, and her knees buckled slightly. The door behind Alara served as a quick departure. She closed it, but the latch didn’t engage. Leaning up against the wall beside the frame, she took a long cleansing breath to steady her nerves.
“She’s never going to look at you like she did my father.”
Alara stood stock still inside the empty room. She could hear Declan as he waltzed into the great room with Cedric.
“She may. You never know.” Cedric’s voice grew faint. Alara moved the door open just a fraction more so she could see the exchange between the two. “You know, he didn’t just do this for her. He did it for you as well.”
Declan laughed. “For me? Why on earth would I need him to return from the dead? I lived with him; studied under him. We trained side by side. I don’t need closure,” he said, moving toward the door that led to the grounds outside.
“You deserve answers just as much as she does. Tomas kept the truth from you, too.”
Declan spun around, his eyes full of anger. “I heard the two of you when I was about eight years old. You remembered everything then.”
“What do you mean?” Cedric asked.
“You’re not some dumb kid off the street my father asked to do this crazy and impossible thing. You’re him. You are the real Tomas. Cedric was the one who died in that old man shell. I wished I could have told my mother why I really hated you hanging around. You just keep up your act but try to make a move on her, and I’ll tell her the truth.” Declan stomped like a small child up the stairs to the door and pulled it open with such force, it banged against the wall.
Alara let the door close and remained against it, her head leaning on her hand. She had too much information landing on her all at once, and she needed it to stop. Suddenly she wished she was able to forget what she heard but she couldn’t. Alara knew then that she could not go hide in Idrisi.
She would not hide and do nothing while Talia pursued such powerful magic. Adding the Emerald Flame to her already growing power would make it impossible to defeat her. They couldn’t allow it. Alara vowed to deal with the Tomas thing later, if at all. She couldn’t understand why her husband wanted to make a new ‘him’ for her. And all the latest information was making it hard to properly grieve for him. She should be able to put him to rest.
Taking a deep breath, Alara pulled open the door. Cedric still stood there. His eyes were drawn to the floor in deep concentration as he wrung his hands together. Without looking up, he took a calculated step backward.
“I don’t know what is true anymore.” He’d heard her come out, or he spoke to himself.
Either way, she didn’t care.
Alara didn’t think about it. She just moved. She walked until she was but an inch from him. Their toes almost touched. “I can try to help. I can’t guarantee whatever it was that you or Tomas did is going to be what I want, but I can help you find the truth.” She held out her hands, palms up, for him to grasp.
“You heard?” He gazed into her eyes, and she saw Tomas in his.
“Yes. Maybe Iren can shine some more light on all of this. After all, this kind of magic would require a pretty powerful sorcerer.” She jumped at a shock that flickered in her hand at Cedric’s touch.
As it turned out, Iren had helped Tomas. However, he was not the only one. The sisters had a hand in helping the king as well. But there was another who might have information regarding the switch that was made... Landon. If that was the case, then Talia might already know who she’s buried.
Cedric wanted to get to the boy right away, but Talia would never allow him into the palace or anywhere near her son. As it stood, Landon was the only one who may know anything more about the switch, which Iren only confirmed.
“So, I guess we wait till all my memories come back.” Cedric sighed as the realization came to him. It might be a long wait.
“I guess that’s the most we can hope for at this point. In the meantime, we need to figure out what Talia’s next move will be.” Iren poked at the fire in the hearth.
“A funeral”— Alara glanced at Thea and Scarlett, who’d been sitting quietly at the table— “and a coronation.”
“Landon knows I’m traveling with you. I can’t go.” Scarlett turned to Thea. “But you can. As the representative of the fae, you’ll be expected to.”
“She’s right.” The sorcerer nodded.
“And what will you be doing while I attend?” Thea prodded.
“We will be building an army of our own,” Alara said, and she left the room.
That would be one more thing to add to the long list of things she had never intended to do in her lifetime. Building an army was never necessary after Tomas, and she put an end to all that with the Concessions. The land had been at peace when she pricked her finger.
She felt the small wound on her finger. It had healed with the magic she’d been given and was no longer there, but she could still feel it. She placed the tip of her index finger against the tip of her thumb and rubbed back and forth, just to be sure nothing remained. Satisfied it was gone, she peered at the sky, having found herself in the open night. It was time to take down the wall.
LANDON grew tired of the mundane life of a future king. He couldn’t figure out how he would endure it once he was king. Since he wasn’t entirely of age yet, his mother served on the council as his regent, which left him time to take in the sights of the palace.
Early one morning, he found himself outside of Lady Layana’s room. The doors were pressed shut, and her guards confirmed she hadn’t left yet. Talia had kept her word and given Layana reign to move about the palace and the grounds, but the queen regent held her prisoner until Layana would agree to her terms.
The army. That’s all his mother coveted. Her reasons remained as elusive to him as the day she asked Layana for her men. A loyal army, happy to honor the wish of their lady by serving the queen regent.
Landon suspected Layana would hold out indefinitely. Being impervious, she had no fears. Not of the regent, not of him, and not even of being in the palace. The one thing the lady did seem to enjoy was spending time with him.
“Get to know her, show her around, let her fall for you if you must, but get me my army,” Talia had insisted. She wanted him to sweet talk the young girl into giving in. He imagined he did a terrible job of it until she’d asked him to meet her at her room that morning to discuss terms before they headed out to inspect the gardens.
They’d been to the gardens several times. Each visit, he’d spent more time studying her than he had the flowers. Landon realized he rather enjoyed spending time with her a
s well. Something about her drew him in.
A stone-faced guard looked up at Landon when a knock sounded at the closed entryway behind him. “She will see you now.” He and his companion reached for the handles and swung the heavy doors open for the king.
With a nod of his head, Landon thanked them before moving swiftly into the sitting room.
The curtains and windows were all drawn open. Wildflowers were on every surface of the vast space. A hefty tray, laden with breakfast, sat on the coffee table in front of the sofa and chair. The breeze from outside made the curtains billow in the room, and when Layana walked in, it became difficult to distinguish her from them.
Clothed in a pale pink dress, Landon realized he hardly ever saw her in anything but that color. Her hair was always left down to drag behind her like the veil of a dress, sweeping the floor. When she passed by the open windows, it shined gold in the light of the sun.
“Good morning, Majesty. I didn’t expect to see you today, what with the coronation and all.” Layana moved gracefully to the sofa and gestured for him to sit before she did.
Landon chose the chair, keeping his back to the sunlight. He still had to squint against the brightness of the room.
The little maid scurried back and forth behind him. It was easy for her to remain invisible at the best of times, but she no longer tried when Landon was around.
“I was asked to be here this morning, or have you forgotten?” It became easier for him to see. His eyes opened but remained stoic.
“Indeed, I did ask you.” She feigned, remembering a far-off thought. Then her confused expression lifted, and she smiled once again. “I brought you here under false conditions.”
“You mean you’re not going to discuss terms?” He stood then, not having to feign anger.
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