by R. A. Rock
Finn felt as though he had been duped. He knew that Izzie had just made an off hand remark but he should have known that a child like Finn would just take what he said at face value and believe it implicitly. What an idiot he was for never asking about it again.
"I never really thought about where the spelled objects came from," Tess admitted. "I bought them from a peddler or at a market and as long as they worked, I didn't question their source. So, don't feel bad, Finn."
"And the Fae that do that sort of magic live apart from the rest of us. They are part of a secret order. No one knows much about them and no one really knows how they do it. It certainly isn't polite to discuss it, so stop beating yourself up about it, Finn."
Izzie looked really sorry but Finn didn't want his pity.
"Can we just get the rings?"
Izzie picked one ring up in his thick fingers and held it out to him. Then he handed the other one to Tessa. Finn had expected the metal to be cold but it was warm in his palm.
“When you put them on, they will resize themselves to fit. If you wear them on your ring finger, it will be less obvious that you’re wearing a magical object.”
The ring finger? Finn raised his eyebrow at him.
Isadore smirked at him.
“He’s got a point, Finn,” Tessa said, not meeting his eye. “Wearing it on the ring finger, it won’t draw attention.”
“Attention that you definitely don’t want,” Izzie pointed out.
“Sure. It’s fine. I don’t care.” Finn pushed the ring onto his fourth finger to show how little he cared. But once it was on there, he watched as it grew smaller until it fit his finger perfectly. The silver shone in the light of the large, permanent luminescence orb in the room. Finn glanced over at Tessa and she was staring as if she couldn’t believe she had a ring on her ring finger. When she tilted her hand, the light glinted off it.
For a moment, Finn wondered if Tess wanted to get married. And if she did, whether she would consider marrying him.
The thought shocked Finn like a slap in the face.
Married? He wasn’t thinking of getting married already, was he? Finn was still a young Fae. He was too young to get married, wasn’t he?
When he looked at Tessa again, she wasn’t looking at the ring anymore.
“They’re perfect,” she said, giving Izzie a small smile and he wondered if she was forgiving Isadore for almost killing Finn in front of her. “Now, how do they work?”
Chapter 6
“We need to find Nat.”
Finn caught a look at the clock in the marketplace and saw that it was getting close to eleven o’clock. They were striding down the mezzanine that overlooked the market after their visit with Isadore. Well, striding wasn't maybe the word for it. The floating they were doing, made it look like they were walking really smoothly. The rings made it so that they could hover along the floor or over a chair or bed. So that they mimicked real movement, even though it wasn't possible to actually sit or stand on anything.
Izzie had given them instructions and they had decided to test them out immediately while they located Nat. He didn’t spot a person who was crossing his path and he passed right through the woman. Finn shivered and so did she.
“Ugh, that is so weird.”
“Did you walk through someone?” Tessa’s voice said, not waiting for him to answer. “Yes, I really don’t like that. It’s like accidentally touching someone’s butt. Awkward and icky.”
“What were you saying about Nat?” Finn said, trying to keep close to where her voice was coming from.
“We need to use an orb to find Nat,” Tessa said, and Finn found it strange to hear her disembodied voice coming from nowhere. “You’re right about us needing help if we’re to survive this week. And Nat will be able to give us information on the Dark Queen’s whereabouts. She might even know something about what’s being done to catch us.”
“What if the Dark Queen has gotten to her already, Tess?” Finn said, feeling uneasy. “What if we can’t trust her?”
“I know what you’re saying, Finn, but don’t forget about the Truce spell. It’s protecting all of us.”
“From harm, Tess. Not from someone spying on us. Or from capture, for that matter. You know that better than anyone. Don’t let this newfound freedom from being Captain of the Guard make you take stupid risks.”
“It’s not a stupid risk to not be suspicious of every single person anymore.” Finn thought that if he could see her, she would be scowling at him.
“Well, maybe you still should be. We’re not out of the monster lair yet.”
“Don’t worry about Nat,” Tessa said, her voice definitely irritated. “Worry about the Dark Queen and the King. They’re the ones who put a price on our heads.”
A woman who was passing them must have heard their voices because she looked around with a confused expression on her face.
“Shh, shh,” Tess said and they both were quiet until they were well past her.
“Fine,” Finn said, holding up his hands in surrender. Then he put them down as he realized that Tess couldn’t see them. “But we don’t just take everything Nat says at face value, in case the Dark Queen has some sort of spell on her. We check out her info with a second source.”
“Sure,” Tessa agreed, with a shrug. “Just in case.”
“Let’s get an orb,” Finn said, not wanting to waste any more time arguing about Nat, since it was getting late and they needed to be back in their room by midnight. He believed that Nat could be useful. As long as she wasn’t a traitor. And he sincerely hoped she wasn’t, since she seemed to be the only friend that Tessa had made while in the Dark Court.
He honestly got why Tessa wanted to let go of her ties to the Dark Court. But casting off all her learned suspicion at this point seemed more like folly than freedom. He knew she was very tired from her centuries of pretending to be someone she wasn’t. But this Tessa didn’t exactly seem like her true self either.
Or maybe it was the real Tess. He really couldn’t be sure. He had only known her for a short time. And for part of that time, he hadn’t even really known who she was. When he had found out that she was a Light Court spy who had been in the Dark Court for ages, he had been devastated that she had deceived him. But now he knew everything about her and he could trust her.
He had trusted her with his life more times than he could count. If she wanted to live with less suspicion, then that was a good thing. But not while they were still in the midst of all this royal intrigue. There was a price on their heads and the King and Dark Queen wanted them captured.
Right then, Finn felt like he could really use the Tess he had met in the Dark Court. The tough Captain of the Guard who would never have been caught unawares.
Maybe he should talk to her when they got back to their quarters. He could make her see that she might still need to channel her Captain of the Guard persona sometimes if they were to get out of this mess alive.
Yes. He would watch for a good chance and then have a little chat with her… about how she should go back to playing the harsh, cruel Captain of the Guard role that she had hated for so many years.
Right. That ought to go over well.
They were trying to avoid people, but even up here on the mezzanine, which was relatively deserted, occasionally someone walked through them, which was a very bizarre experience and always made both people shiver.
Finn grabbed an orb and brought it to float in front of him.
“So,” Finn said, needing to go over the instructions again. “Iz said that when we activate the rings, we can walk through objects and we’re invisible.”
“Right.” Tessa’s voice came from the left, startling him because he had been imagining her to his right.
He continued listing Isadore’s instructions. “And to activate the spell, we turn the ring a quarter turn to the left.”
“Yes.”
“And to return to normal, we turn it back to the right.”
&nbs
p; “That’s right, Finn. Have you got it, now?” Tessa’s tone was teasing.
“How are we going to stay together?” he said, his mind jumping to the next problem. “We may get separated when we’re following the orb.”
“How about we have a certain sound?”
“Like what?” Finn said and then his attention was caught by a yearning that was overpowering. It was a desire so strong he could hardly breathe.
His palm vow.
That he had made to avenge Emmy’s death. It was getting stronger. Because the Dark Queen was here. And she must be close.
Kill, the magic whispered. Kill the Dark Queen.
His insubstantial eyes searched the crowd below, looking for the queen. The sounds of people talking, children shrieking, and all the usual noises of a large crowd faded. All he could hear was the vow whispering to him.
Where was she? Where was she? Where was she?
Kill the Dark Queen, the vow murmured.
“Finn,” Tess said, sharply pulling his attention away from the whisper of the vow. Normal sound came back and he shook his head to clear it.
“What?” he said, feeling dazed. He hadn’t heard a word she had said.
“What about a hoot like an owl?”
He tipped his head back and looked at the owls roosting in the square beams above the room. He could hear the gentle hooting even now. Thank goodness for the magic that caught their droppings. There was a cleaning spell on the whole castle that kept all that from causing problems while the Hundred Years Ball was happening.
Those sorts of spells were so expensive that most Fae couldn’t afford them. It was cheaper to pay servants, or if you couldn’t afford spells or servants, then you just had to do it yourself. But when the King and Dark Queen had created the Hundred Years Ball spell, they had spared no expense or Starlight. He had no idea where they were getting the magic from.
“Finn?” Tess said, her voice concerned. “Are you all right? Should we go back to the secret passage?”
“No, no,” he said, pulling himself together. “I’m good. Yes. Let’s use a hoot.”
“I’ll go first,” Tess said and he could hear as she tapped on the luminescence orb in front of him. One tap to activate the light. Two taps to use it as a finding spell.
“And if we get separated?”
“We’ll just meet back at our quarters.”
“Should we go through walls?”
“Only if we have to. I have a feeling that it’ll take some getting used to.”
“Definitely.” The first time they had passed through the walls of the secret passageways, he had felt extremely strange. Like he was squeezing through a very small space and was being crushed to death in the process. Still he knew that it would come in handy at some point.
He followed Tess, who was following the orb, down the stairs that led to the first floor. When he stepped off the stairs, another wave of compulsion hit him and he held his breath and kept very still.
I am not going to kill the queen.
I am not going to kill the queen.
No matter what the magic wanted, he was not going to kill the queen. He had known that eventually he was either going to have to fulfill the vow or the magic would leach all of his Starlight, killing him. But he hadn’t expected that it would begin happening so soon. It must be his proximity to the Dark Queen.
This was bad. This was very bad.
He licked his lips nervously and tasted blood. He realized that he had bitten his lip so hard he had cut through the soft skin as he resisted the call of the vow.
“Finn?” Tess said, and from the way she said it, he could tell that it wasn’t the first time she had said his name. “I think we should cancel this. Let’s go back to the secret passageway. We can try the rings tomorrow.”
“No, I’m fine. Really, Tess. Let’s go.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure. Let’s find Nat.”
“Fine. Stay close.”
“I’ll try.”
She spoke to the orb and it moved slowly off. They followed and it was quite pleasant. Much better than trying to follow a regular finding spell, which always seemed to move just slightly faster than you could walk.
These orb spells were quite calm in comparison.
Then with a suddenness that shocked him, Finn felt a pull so strong he wasn’t sure he could resist it. It was a physical longing, almost like desire but stronger. He needed to go left but the orb was heading right. He froze, watching the orb getting farther away. Meanwhile, his body wanted desperately to go left.
He turned his head and saw the Dark Queen. She was sitting on a litter that was being carried on the shoulders of four muscular Fae servants, high above the rest of the crowd in the marketplace.
Finn stared. He needed to kill her.
No. He wasn’t going to kill her.
Kill the queen, the magic hissed. Do it. You must.
Finn turned and headed directly toward the queen.
Tess pressed her insubstantial lips together and let out a frustrated sigh. She had lost Finn. She was sure of it. She had been hooting like an idiot for the past couple minutes and his voice hadn’t spoken to her at all.
She breathed deeply, catching the scent of the pretzels someone was selling a few feet away from her. Tess wished that she could buy one.
She loved the soft chewy insides and the tough buttery outsides, covered in a sprinkling of coarse salt. Oh, they were so good. But she didn’t think it would do her much good to be invisible if there was a floating pretzel moving around the market. She sighed. She would come back later and get one.
Tess wanted to go find Finn but she really couldn’t stop following the orb. Tess needed to talk to Nat. She didn’t want to have to start searching all over again.
So she decided to go with the original plan. They would meet back at the Keeper’s quarters if they got separated. But Tess would go back there only after the orb had found Nat. Tess would talk to her and then return to tell Finn what she had found out.
Not the original plan at all really, but that was what she was going to do. For a moment, she felt worried. What if something had happened to Finn? But no. He was probably fine. They had been separated and he would no doubt head straight back to the Keeper’s quarters where he would be safe.
It was all going to be fine.
In fact, Tess had never felt better in her life than she did at that moment. She felt freer than she ever had in her life. Because even when she had been a Light Court Fae, she had never truly been free. There had been so many expectations on the daughter of the King’s Advisor that her life had had a chokehold on her since she was born.
But now?
Now she was free.
She was no longer bound to the Light Court as a spy. And she no longer worked for the Dark Queen as Captain of the Guard.
And yes, she hadn’t forgotten the price on her head.
But even that couldn’t bring down the lightness she felt at the sudden removal of all her responsibilities.
Finn seemed to think that just because she was content and free for the first time in years, she was going to start acting all stupid and irresponsible.
But there was a difference between being stupid and being happy. She wasn’t going to make any dumb mistakes. She would put what she had learned in the Dark Court to good use. But she absolutely refused to be that person anymore.
She wasn’t going to be the useless ceramic doll that the Light Court had wanted her to be, either. She didn’t know exactly who she was right now and that was a good thing. She would search inside and find out who she really was. And nobody was ever going to tell her who to be or how to act ever again. She was done with that part of her life.
Forever.
That was when she heard a trill of laughter that she recognized. Nat. Thank the Stars.
She walked up to her friend. The pretty elf was flirting with a handsome Faerie. She wore a flowing baby-blue dress and her long blonde hai
r was unbound down her back, glowing like gold in the light of the luminescence orbs. Tess smiled. Nat was so lovely. And she had missed her so. She leaned in and whispered in her friend’s ear.
“Nat, it’s Tess. I need to talk to you. Meet me at your quarters.”
Nat’s eyes got big for a second but she didn’t let on to the guy that anything strange was happening. She did immediately say that she had to go and headed back to the servants’ quarters.
Tess followed her, hoping that Nat would have some information that would help her and Finn. If her friend didn’t, Tess wasn’t sure how they were ever going to avoid being captured and somehow end the Severance before the week was out.
Chapter 7
When Nat got to her room, she looked all around the hallway and then unlocked the door and went in. The door swung shut after Nat but Tess walked right through it, feeling that odd squeezing and crushing feeling as she did so. When she got through the door, she could see Nat glancing around at the air. She seemed anxious.
“Tess?” she whispered and Tess could hear a clock chiming eleven thirty in the stillness of Nat’s room. She needed to talk to her friend and get back to her quarters—before midnight.
Tess turned the ring a quarter turn to the right and Nat gasped as she reappeared. Then the elf ran to Tess and hugged her tightly.
“Nat, it’s so good to see you.” She clung to her only friend from Direwood castle and the only person who had been kind to her when she was the Captain of the Guard in the Dark Court.
“It’s good to see you too,” she said, her voice choked with tears.
After a long moment of hugging, though, the elf stepped back and scowled at Tess.
“I should slap you, Tessa Callahan.”
“Why?” Tess said, taken aback.
“All this time and no word? You could have been dead for all I knew.”
“I’m kind of hard to kill, Nat. You know, the Fae are functionally immortal.”
“What does that even mean?” she said, sending a scathing look Tessa’s way. “Everyone always says ‘functionally immortal’. Either you’re immortal or you’re not.”
