by A Lonergan
This day was about Willow Bane, and our new courtship, if she would have me. I didn’t like to move quickly.
Liar.
I didn’t have long to think on it, because Willow’s doors opened and my heart stopped. Except it wasn’t her that came out. My shoulders relaxed a bit.
Her mother watched me. “Shouldn’t you wait downstairs?”
The genies were the next to come out, and I stayed rooted to my spot, even though Mrs. Bane watched me. My guards turned toward the door as heels clicked on the wooden floors leading to the doors. Nico straightened up beside me, and I felt some relief, though not much.
The doors opened on their own, and there she was. Her clothing was unlike anything I had ever seen. The top was sewn into the britches, but they were certainly made for her. The bottom half hugged her gorgeous, toned figure while the material softened her. Her sleeves flowed around her elbows and showed off her tattoo boldly. The pale lavender fabric was iridescent and changed as she moved. Her heels were a wrapping of cords and thin fabric. The heel on them was thin and sharp, made to be a weapon at her disposal. I had no doubts that she had various weapons strapped to her person. Her hair was looped and braided in ways I couldn’t follow, even if I wanted to. Her face was what made me pause.
Her lips were painted a blood red, almost like a challenge. Her eyes had just a touch of coal around them, and it did wonders with the blue depths there.
Queen.
She looked it in every essence of her being. Her head was held high, and a smile tugged at her lips. I tried to close my mouth, but there was no use. She was everything.
Nico cleared his throat and all of my men tried to regain their composure, as well. She had cleaned up nicely for the parading around the city, but this was different. Radiant was the word I had been looking for. Her face was a mask for the true power underneath the surface.
But as I focused on her face, I realized something was wrong. Darkness started to cloud the air around her, and her eyes had zeroed in on one of my men. A blade materialized out of thin air between her fingers. She approached the man that had caught her attention, though her feet didn’t touch the floor. Her chin lifted, and the man fell to his knees. He wasn’t captivated like the others. His lips were curled up in displeasure, and for the life of me I couldn’t place his face. He wasn’t one of my men, and somehow with her magic, Willow had sniffed him out.
“The true Queen, Armia, will rise again, and she will take every ounce of your power. You think you are safe with her in captivity, but the jokes are on you.” The man smiled then.
Willow transferred her knife from one hand to the other, it was so quick, I had barely caught it. She raised her right hand and stroked his cheek, pleasure glinted in her eyes. “Is that so?”
He trembled then, and I found it hard to breathe. Willow’s power was sucking the air from the room.
“Willow,” her mother gasped.
The spell was broken, and the air cleared. Willow spoke low, and kept her eyes on the traitor in our midst. “This one should be thrown in with your sister, where he belongs, Your Majesty.”
Nico waited for my command, his hand on the hilt of his sword. I nodded once and the man was scooped up and carried out by his arms.
So much for a party.
Willow turned slowly and bowed her head in submission. “I am truly sorry for that, my King.”
“You’re going to apologize for being the most powerful woman in the room?” I cocked my head. I had a lot to learn about this one, and I couldn’t understand why she thought there was a need for apologies.
She didn’t say anything and kept her head bowed. “We will discuss this in private, later.”
Willow’s mother had whisked her away as soon as I had said my piece. Ifrīt and Marîd stood on either side of me as we entered the ballroom. I knew better than to escort the woman I was so enamored with. Rumors were already flying and as much as I didn’t care, my people did. They already feared me enough. I needed as much of their trust as I could get.
“Her power is unchecked,” Ifrīt muttered.
“Her power is unmatched,” Marîd replied.
My eyes flashed to both of them in turn. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Unmatched?”
“Her power isn’t controlled by anything, but her mind. We had a master, and obligations that hold us in check.” Ifrīt corrected.
I nodded.
Marîd shook her head. “I feel something brewing, and not because of that pesky man. I’ve been feeling it for awhile now. I can feel the power swirling in the air. I can almost taste it.”
Her words rang true. I had been feeling off since we had docked, and I couldn’t place it. I had figured it had something to do with my sister in the dungeons, but now? I knew it was something more.
“What do you suggest?” I asked as I looked over my guests, I hadn’t been announced yet, and was stalling.
Ifrīt gave her sister a warning glance. “You serve your people, and we will do what we do best. We will investigate and protect this kingdom at all costs.”
As they walked away, I heard Marîd whisper, “Even our lives.”
Dread filled my entire body.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Willow
I ripped my arm from my mother’s grasp. “It wasn’t that bad.” A few of my braids had slipped free from their placement, and I tried to put them back as gently as I could. It caused more to tumble onto my shoulders. I let out a defeated sound.
“It was bad.” My mother whispered, though it wasn’t much of a whisper. Servants scurried away from our hallway at the sound of it. She loved to forget that I had grown up without her guidance for most of my life. The act of her being my mother was just that, an act. The Emperor would only let us be so close. Living together when I was home from my missions didn’t mean much. I was constantly followed, and watched. “What would you have done if I hadn’t been there? You could have been thrown into the dungeons with that man if I hadn’t been there!”
I grasped her hand in mine and pulled her to a stop. “Cal wouldn’t have let that happen.”
Though I wasn’t entirely sure. I had gotten pretty scary.
“What if you had killed him?”
I hadn’t thought of that. I looked down at my hands and the almost invisible blackness that now swirled there. I was pretty sure I was the only one that could see it, because my mother hadn’t freaked out just yet. She would have lost her mind if she had seen it outside of my bedroom, a moment ago. This conversation would have gone another direction completely. Because at the end of all of this, she had no idea just how much power was flowing through me. I didn’t know how I was standing.
My mother cupped my face between her hands. “Please, learn how to control this. Call Hel, and tell her you need help. Please, don’t rush to marrying a man you don’t know well, and train like you should be. I know I told you not to push him away, but I didn't realize how powerful you are. Men fear power they can't control.”
I shrugged my shoulders, and walked away from her. “I don’t think it’s that easy.”
“You will never know if you don’t ask.”
I tried to wiggle the nervousness from my hands, but I just ended up looking ridiculous. I plastered a smile on my face, and walked through the curtain that lead to the ballroom. The Harold looked at my mother and announced us both. All eyes turned to us, and I swore I could hear my heart beat echoing throughout the room. Cal turned and bowed low. The highest honor. The material of what I felt was a costume clung to my body and allowed me to move with more stealth than a dress would have. I shoved my right hand down into a pocket, and tickled the dagger strapped to my thigh. It instantly brought comfort to me.
My mother bowed next, and then elbowed me in the side. I grinned stupidly and did the same. Cal snickered, and moved in closer. I had never been this nervous around him before, but then again, I had never had this many people staring at me in horror, intrigue, and fascination. Plus, my cl
othing wasn’t like anyone else’s.
I could practically hear their thoughts.
Why her? What does he see? How could she have possibly snagged him? He couldn’t possibly want to settle down with her? Have you seen that tattoo on her arm, do you know what it means? She looks dangerous, only a woman with a past would wear something like that.
Cal pulled me flush against him, and his lips brushed the edge of my ear. I tried to hold in the shudder of pleasure. “Ignore them, they choose to be jealous instead of celebrating. Can I have this dance?”
I hadn’t even noticed the music playing or the fact that my mother had disappeared into the crowd. Wyna a floated on the edge of the crowd watching us curiously. “It will take some time for her to get used to you, don’t worry about her.”
I wasn’t. Though she made me just as curious, and I knew she was comparing me to Freya in every possible way. It was normal, I guess.
Song after song we went round and round, until my head started to get a little dizzy. I lifted my face from the crook of his neck, and the comfort there. Cal stopped us mid twirl, and guided me to the table with mountains of food laid out on it. I picked up a piece of fruit and popped it into my mouth. “Is everyone here royalty?”
Cal took a sip from a goblet and looked over the crowd around us. There were dresses and suits of every color spinning and milling about the room. “No, many of them are merchants and lower classes. There are some royalty, but not much. The neighboring kingdoms don’t exactly like me right now.”
I frowned.
“I chose a Lady over a Princess, and I could lose some trade from it.” At my expression he laughed, and corrected himself. “I don’t entirely care if that happens. Our city has more magic than any of the other realms, and our abundance of light magic is highly sought after.” He placed his wine down, and led me to a fountain that was overflowing with a creamy substance.
“Have you ever had choset before?” The word wasn’t familiar at all. It was a dark pink color, and smelled intoxicating. He dipped some fruit into it and then brought the morsel to my lips. A moan escaped my mouth, and Cal’s eyes got big before he chuckled. “Good?”
“Oh my, yes!” It was rich, and sweet. Something I had never had before, that I would be content with dumping on all of my food for the rest of my life. The sweetness coated the inside of my mouth, and made me crave more of it.
He retrieved a cup and a ladle from the table on the other side of the fountain and filled the dish all the way to the top. Before I could take the dream come true from his fingers, wind rustled my hair and about toppled me over. My hand went to the dagger at my thigh, and I crouched in a defensive stance. Ifrīt stood next to Cal and leaned over to catch her breath.
“What is it?” I narrowed my eyes at her. Marîd was nowhere in sight.
“Bone fairies,” she cried. “Thousands of them.” Her body crumpled and she pleaded with her eyes. Cal grabbed her just before she hit the floor, and held her up. “They have Marîd, and our lamps.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Willow
It had been a week since Marîd had been captured. A week since Ifrīt fell into a deep slumber and a week since war had been declared on Rosalia. I had been apart of many wars in my short existence when I had been under the employment of Emperor Hildiguard. Many of those wars had been the cause of my own hands, but I didn’t regret the death I had caused. It had shaped me into the woman I am today. The memories were painful but I knew I needed them in order to continue on the path the Gods had shaped for me.
So much for having my tattoo completed anytime soon.
I picked at my plate as Madam Colver cleaned up the kitchen. She had only looked my way once and didn’t seem to care about my presence. Which surprised me because it was well past lunch, and I had wanted breakfast. In my defense, I had tried to make it myself. She had come in like an angry festerfaust. Swooping in before I could get eggs out of the cooling chamber. She poured me a cup of juice, and I stayed silent. What was there to say at this point? I couldn’t do anything to help Ifrit or Marid, at least not at this very moment. And most certainly not alone.
I could do many things on my own and for myself, but traveling into war to kill a bunch of elves... with dark magic... alone... didn’t sound like such a great plan. Not that I was a big planner, but a girl could dream.
Just as I was finishing off my fluffy eggs, that were cooked to perfection, Cal made his way into the small preparation room. He was the Cal that hadn’t slept since Ifrit had been captured, he had dark circles under his eyes, and a stubble taking over his sharp jaw. His hair was getting longer, but it wasn’t kept up with at all. The lengths were drastic all over his head and I imagined he hadn’t looked at his reflection since the Courting ball when everything happened.
He tossed a plush bag onto the counter and scrubbed his hand down his face. His lavender eyes brightened when they landed on me, but that was the only affection I would receive. It was the only affection I knew I would receive for awhile to come, too. He had a kingdom to worry about over all else, even if his advisors, Wyna and Nico, were whispering things about an heir in his ear. The poor king did need one, especially if we were about to march into battle. But, getting me pregnant wasn’t exactly what I called fun, especially if it was just out of duty and not about the fun part. I wasn’t about to let my first times be soiled with the responsibility of duty. Maybe I was selfish, but I also didn’t know him very well still. Everything after the Courting ball had happened in a blur, and courting hadn’t been a priority yet.
“What’s in the bag?” I almost perked up. I hadn’t seen him much lately, and now that he was coming around more people, especially me, it meant we were going to get closer to having a plan in place. A plan for all of us, and not only me.
Cal took a deep breath and looked at the floor. “We need to wait for Nico and Wyna.”
I shoveled some bright orange fruit in my mouth, something I had never seen before because it wasn’t grown in Arinal. My lips turned down in displeasure. It was terrible. There was a reason it wasn’t grown in Arinal. I picked up my cloth napkin and spit the contents into it, as delicately as possible. The taste still coated my tongue, and without thinking, I wiped my tongue with the clean part of the napkin, too. I tried not to gag, but the taste was revolting and I couldn’t get rid of it. It coated my mouth much like the choset did.
My eyes met Cal’s and he burst into laughter. “Madam Colver! I can’t believe you did that!”
I glared at the woman pretending to be obvious to my discomfort. She shrugged, “Prince Adder said it’s a specialty in his kingdom.”
I scrunched my nose and didn’t say anything. How could I? It was the first true smile I had seen on Cal in days. I hadn’t heard his laugher in even longer. Madam Colver was a genius.
Leave it to Wyna to be the one to be fashionably late. Every hair on her head was in perfect placement, and her clothing looked battle ready. She wore leather britches, and a leather bandeau around her chest. As usual, her feet were bare.
Nico leaned against the wall, and watched us. He hadn’t breathed a word and I didn’t expect him to anytime soon. He had been just as quiet as the King standing across from me. Cal pulled the strings on the black bag and it pooled around something so grotesque I could hardly keep my food down. It was the most monstrous thing I had ever laid eyes on.
“This is a bone fairy.” Cal said.
A horn protruded from either side of it’s head, and its teeth were connected to its lips, over lapping each other. It didn’t have eyebrows, but protruding bones that hung over the eyes in a bumpy fashion. It’s hair was a bloody mess, and braided in tiny rows from the start of the horns, all the way to the back of its neck. It’s eyes were open staring at me, its little pupils filled with ice. The skin on the monster was a blue color, but I couldn’t tell if it was because it was dead or if it was naturally that way. Everything about it had been preserved perfectly besides it being disconnected from the body
.
Nico regarded me carefully before looking at Cal. “Where did you get that thing? And where’s the rest of it? If you tell me that you went out there alone and hunted this thing down.... I might be slightly impressed and even more angry.”
He didn’t sound angry at all. In fact, his voice rang with pride.
“This is from our library. It’s not a place that anyone has access to. It has specimens of almost every species for me to analyze and pick apart. Magic will put it back together no matter what I do to it.”
I frowned. “You served the head from the body so you could bring it to us.”
He nodded. “You three need to know what we are up against more than anyone else. These things will invade our lands. We must stop them before they do. Once they are here, it will be almost impossible to get them out. Their dark magic surpassess any other race, but that’s not the bad part.”
Wyna watched the head with horror. “Oh, it gets worse? How charming.”
“They also have light magic, from their relatives.”
Wyna’s eyes got big. “Oh Mother, please don’t say it.”
“You already know, they will ally with the Tooth Fairies.”
I frowned. “Aren’t those a myth?”
Nico rubbed the beard sprouting on his chin, thoughtfully. “They were believed to be a legend. That when you lost a tooth they would replace the tooth with a priceless prize, but I never had it happen to me. My parents were poor so I thought they couldn’t afford to put the prizes under our bedding when we lost teeth.”
Wyna shrugged. “I always got something when I lost teeth.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re a fairy?” I asked.
Madam Colver interrupted, she had come out of thin air almost. Gone once then back the next. “I know I am not supposed to be in here still, but when I was a child I received gifts from them. I always took care of my teeth, and I was an orphan. No other child received the gifts.”
