by J. D. Wright
“Punishment?” Rianne’s stomach dropped. “What punishment?”
Tristan turned away. He didn’t want to tell her.
“Do you think he knew what he was doing?” Xavier asked, looking at Tristan. “Do you think he knew, by saving her from this marriage, what he was doing to himself?”
“I’m sure he did. I don’t know how he couldn’t have,” Tristan said, softly.
“What punishment?” Rianne choked out. She felt ready to faint.
Tristan turned toward her. “The punishment for taking a princess’ virginity against her will is death.”
“No,” she breathed just before everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sidonie dropped her robes and stood wearing only a thin underdress in the moonlight. She was becoming more comfortable with using a terra circle and didn’t even bother waiting on Dagan to undress before beginning this time. She held her arms out and cleared her mind. Then she said the spell and waited for the circle to open.
It didn’t. Not again.
“You should be able to do it on the first try,” Dagan said. “Especially now. You haven’t had any trouble since your father released your magic.”
“Maybe I wasn’t focused enough. Let me try again.”
Nothing happened. She sighed and dropped her arms.
“That’s strange… Here, let me try,” Dagan said.
“That can’t be good,” Sidonie said when he failed to open the terra circle, as well.
“No, it isn’t.”
“Dagan, look.” Sidonie pointed to the sky. “The third moon is half full.”
Dagan looked up. The first moon was full, as he knew it would be. The first moon was full once each month. That is why they had chosen that very night to recharge their magic. However, the third and largest moon was now half full. “I hadn’t noticed until now. It’s beautiful, though. When did Cassandra say the third moon would be full?”
“The end of fall.”
“I guess that makes sense. It’s the end of spring and it’s half full. It takes two seasons between the half and full moons. Either way, it shouldn’t affect our magic. It hasn’t before.”
“But Mereck didn’t have the Blood Moon crystal before,” Sidonie said. “Your father did and he didn’t have his magic to use it.”
“Mereck doesn’t have any magic either. And aren’t you the one who has tried to convince me not to worry about the stone, anymore?”
“I did, before now. You can’t honestly say that you don’t find it strange. We can’t open a circle on a night when the first moon is full and the third moon is half full? I didn’t think you believed in coincidences.”
“I don’t. Usually.” He looked up at the night sky and wondered if he should start believing. “We still don’t know what the crystal actually does. I’m not sure if I believe what Cassandra’s book says. It’s too simple. Harnesses the magic… It doesn’t make much sense to me. Why would anyone need more magic than they already have?”
“I still think the crystal does more than that, too.”
Dagan tossed Sidonie her robes and began to pull his own robes back on.
“I just have no idea who else to ask. Leitis knows about the Blood Moon, but not the crystal. I wish my grandfather had been more forthcoming with his infinite wisdom,” Dagan said, sarcastically.
Sidonie forced a smile and fell into step beside him as they walked back to the castle.
“I actually wanted to ask you something,” Dagan said. “If you don’t mind?”
“If you’re asking me for permission to ask me something, it can’t be good,” Sidonie replied, laughing.
“Well, I just… Umm…”
“You just? What?” She stopped walking and waited for him to turn around. “Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing’s wrong.”
Dagan ran a hand through his hair, which he often did when he was frustrated or nervous.
“You’re lying, Dagan. I know how you behave when you don’t want to tell me something. I’ve learned by now.”
He smirked then closed his eyes and shook his head. I can’t believe I’m about to say this…
“Do you want to get married?”
Sidonie froze in place. She blinked a few times, replaying his question in her mind.
Once he finally said it, he felt terrified and was almost too afraid to open his eyes. He wasn’t sure what scared him more, that she would want to marry him or that she wouldn’t.
“Now?”
“No! I mean… Would you ever?”
“I don’t understand.”
“What I am trying to ask is if you’ve ever thought about marriage. To me. Obviously.”
“Obviously,” she said, chuckling.
He scowled at her for making jokes when he was trying to ask a serious question.
“Where is this coming from? Is it because of the wedding? Bree and Rowan’s wedding?”
“Partly. I know she will probably ask you to be her maiden…”
“Yes, she already has and I agreed. But what does that have to do with… this?”
“Rowan said that there is a superstition. That whoever is chosen as a bride’s maiden will be the next to marry. And since Queen chose you as her maiden, that means you will be the next to marry.”
“But you don’t believe that, do you?”
“I’m a wizard, Sidonie. I’ve heard of crazier things happening.”
“So marrying me… would be crazy…”
“Yes. No! No. I don’t know. Probably.”
“For a man with such confidence, Dagan, I am getting a small thrill watching you squirm.”
“It isn’t funny,” he said, glaring at her.
“Oh, it is. And I hope that wasn’t your proposal. You can do much better than that, I would hope.”
“I can. I just need to know if you would want me to propose. Someday, I mean.”
Sidonie stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. She looked up into his familiar blue eyes and thought about his question.
“Do I want you to marry me just because a silly superstition says you have to? No, of course not. Do I want you to marry me because you want to make our commitment permanent and earn the right to call me your wife? Sure.”
“All of this is… new.” He looked down at her and admired how alluring she looked in the moonlight.
“Well, let me ask you a question. Before Rowan told you about this superstition, did you want to get married? To me. Obviously.” She grinned.
“Obviously,” he laughed. “Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it. Not yet, at least. I was still a baby the last time my parents were actually happy together. My grandmother was gone long before I was born. I don’t have a lot of experience with this. With… marriage.”
“I understand.”
“But I did realize something when we found your sister. She asked me how I knew you and I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to call you.”
“Really? After this long?” she said, mocking him.
“Rowan already told you?”
“Yes, he thought it was hilarious.”
“It wasn’t at the time. But after hearing about the superstition, I realized that if I did marry you, I would finally know what to call you.”
“Oh, really?” she asked, lifting herself onto her toes to kiss him.
“Yes. I would call you my property,” he teased.
Sidonie swiftly kicked him in the shins.
“Ow!” he said, pulling her tighter so she couldn’t kick him again.
“If I were to ever allow you to marry me, wizard, I would call you Mister Elder Mage.”
“Wow. That is so demeaning,” he said, laughing. “But I kind of like it.”
He kissed her, gently, then took her hand and walked alongside her to the edge of the forest and up the hill to the castle. When they reached the courtyard, Rhea was waiting for them.
“There you are!” she said, “I looked ever
ywhere for you until Finn finally told me you were out in the forest.”
“It’s easier to concentrate without all of the noise,” Dagan said. “What’s wrong?” He could tell from her worried expression that something was amiss. Not to mention, the fairy was rarely awake this late at night.
“I can’t use my magic. Gabby got a scratch this evening and I couldn’t heal it. I can’t heal it. A simple scratch!”
“Can you use any of your magic? At all?” Sidonie asked, reaching for her hand. She often felt the presence of Rhea’s magic when they touched. Startled, she snapped her head toward Dagan. “I can’t feel it, Dagan. I can’t sense her magic.”
Dagan pursed his lips together and summoned fire magic. A small flame appeared in his palm. He tried to make it grow, but it remained the same. He closed his fist and snuffed the flame.
“Something is definitely wrong.”
“I knew it!” Sidonie said, spinning around. “What are we going to do? We handed that stone directly to him! This is our fault!”
“You had no choice, Sid,” Rhea said, softly. “You did it to save the girls. You didn’t know this would happen.”
“What if it isn’t only us? What if it’s every other person with magic in the realm?”
“Try it, Sid. Try to use your magic,” Dagan said, nodding.
“I couldn’t open the circle.”
“Neither could I, but I still managed to make a flame.”
“Alright,” Sidonie replied, but she was doubtful that her result would be any different.
She stepped away from Rhea, held her hand in front of her, and summoned fire magic. A fireball, larger than her head, appeared in front of her.
“Whoa!” she cried and tried to control the spinning flames. Dagan walked up to her and covered the back of her hands with his. Slowly, he helped her push her hands together and extinguish the fire. “How in the realm did that happen? I’ve had good control over my magic ever since the wildfire.”
“I have a guess, but you aren’t going to like it,” Rhea said, frowning. “I think that Mereck is using the stone to stop us from using our magic. Perhaps, he can’t stop the Elder Mage from using hers, but maybe he can keep you from being able to control it.”
“That is a very interesting guess,” Dagan said, raising an eyebrow.
“Actually… I asked Raven,” Rhea replied, shrugging.
“Raven knows about the crystal? Why didn’t we think to ask her about it?” Sidonie said, shaking her head. “She’s been here for weeks now!”
“Where is she?” Dagan asked. “Is she awake?”
“Yes. She’s in the library. I told her I would find you.” Rhea led the way as they walked down the quiet hallway to the library. When they arrived, Raven was sitting in a chair, holding one of Bree’s storybooks.
“I warned you about those books,” Rhea said, taking a seat beside her. “They aren’t very flattering.” She was still sore from the book she found several months before which painted the fae in an ugly manner.
“Flattering? No. But there is a great deal of truth to these stories. Fairies have caused a lot of mayhem over the centuries. Some of the fear we’ve created is deserved.”
“You have a very different view of things, Raven. Apart from your queen,” Dagan said, sitting across from the fairies, beside Sidonie.
“Queen Viola’s opinion of the realm and its inhabitants stems from her personal experience. She was wronged many years ago and continues to allow the ghosts of her past to haunt her. It is her fear that controls the majority of her decisions.”
“But she doesn’t control you? You came here against her wishes.” Dagan had learned to trust Rhea, but he was still leery of other fairies. To some wizards, fairies were just as dangerous as the Sabras.
“I serve my queen out of choice, not duty,” Raven said, placing her book on the table beside her. “I owe Viola no allegiance.”
Dagan glanced at Sidonie, who looked just as confused as he did.
“Raven is my mother’s sister,” Rhea explained. “My mother’s twin sister.” From the blank stares she was receiving, it was obvious that they still didn’t understand. “For us fae, the oldest daughter becomes the queen when the current queen dies or becomes ill. Raven and my mother were born from the same womb. But only one of them could rule. Since they were both in line for the title, my grandmother had to choose. She chose my mother.”
“I believe I understand, so far,” Dagan said. “But that doesn’t explain why you owe no allegiance.”
“My sister and I are equals,” Raven said, folding her hands. “I hold the same position in the royal family as she does. I am not bound by her rule. I owe allegiance to my fellow fae, not my sister.”
“This is so incredibly confusing,” Sidonie mumbled. “But we actually came to speak to you about something else.”
“The Blood Moon Crystal, I’ve been told,” Raven replied.
“You don’t seem very worried,” Dagan said, surprised by Raven’s relaxed demeanor.
“I am not pleased that a wizard is in control of the crystal. However, I have faith that you will stop him.”
“I’m not sure we can,” Sidonie said. “Especially, if I am the only one with magic. That I can’t even control. Again” She felt just as useless now as she had before her visit with her father.
“His magic will return in the morning,” Raven said, gesturing toward Dagan. “Rhea’s will, too. And mine.”
“You didn’t mention that part!” Rhea said, shocked.
“You stormed out of here before I could finish. The crystal is only at half power because it is a half moon. Tomorrow, the moon will pass the half-moon phase and you can recharge your magic as usual.”
“A friend of mine has a book with a drawing of the stone inside it,” Dagan said, leaning forward and propping his elbows on his knees. “The story, as she knows it, is that the stone was created to harness and use the power of the three full moons. We assume whoever holds the crystal can use the magic. Is that true?”
“No,” Raven replied. “The Blood Moon Crystal does the opposite, actually. It drains the moons of their magic.”
“But if the moons lose their magic,” Sidonie said, “what does that mean for us? We depend on the moon’s power to help us to open terra circles.”
“It means the moons cannot be recharged by the land,” Raven replied. “And if the moons cannot recharge, neither can we.”
“It ends magic,” Dagan said, leaning back in the chair. “It rids the realm of magic.”
“Why would a wizard, any wizard, want to drain all of the magic from the realm? That sounds more like something a Sabra would want to do,” Rhea said, earning a sharp glare from Sidonie. “Sorry, Sid.”
“She’s right,” Dagan said. “But we didn’t give the stone to a Sabra. Maybe Mereck is angry because you took his magic. Maybe he wants to take it from everyone else.”
“This still doesn’t make total sense to me,” Sidonie said, rising and walking around the room. “He wanted the stone bad enough to kidnap the Princess of Junacave. He knew Edmund had it during the wildfire. That much I am certain of. He went straight for Edmund, instead of me. He wanted that stone, even then, when he still had his magic.”
“There is one minor detail that may shed some light on the situation,” Raven said. “The crystal takes the magic from the land, but it doesn’t just disappear. The stone holds it. For eternity, unless it’s broken. The person who owns the stone would literally own the entire realm’s magic in his hands. It would be very valuable and a very expensive item for trade.”
“Why would anyone create a stone like this?” Sidonie asked. “A stone that can rip the magic from the land.”
“You should know the answer to that,” Raven said, looking over at Sidonie. “The first Elder Mage is the one who created it.”
Sidonie dropped into the seat beside her. “An Elder Mage? I thought the Elder Mage was supposed to protect magic, not destroy it.”
; “He is. Or she. I learned about the stone from my mother. It’s an old tale that many fae don’t even believe, anymore. She told me that the stone was created by the first Elder Mage so that if magical beings ever began to abuse their power and threaten the realm, the Elder Mage could stop it.”
“By draining all of the magic away,” Rhea whispered. “It might have been useful during the Shadow War…”
“But I don’t see Mereck as being the savior of Everealm,” Dagan said, shaking his head. “I would bet that he plans to sell it. And for a very steep price. We need to find him.”
“Before the end of fall,” Sidonie added. “And I think the first place we should look is in Sire.”
Dagan grumbled, “And here I was hoping we would never have to go back there, again.”
“There really is no need for you to go searching for him,” Raven said, opening her book again. “He will come looking for Sidonie.”
“I don’t think I want to know why…” Dagan sighed.
“Well, I want to know,” Sidonie said. “Why?”
“Because it was an Elder Mage who created the stone and only an Elder Mage’s blood can seal the magic inside of it.”
Sidonie closed her eyes and tried to remind herself that it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t ask for any of this, yet trouble and danger were constantly finding her. When she dreamed of leaving the Sabras and exploring the realm, she didn’t quite envision doing it this way.
Dagan wanting to marry me might be crazy, after all…
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dahlia pulled her hairpin from a pouch tied to her sash and started to pin her hair up as she wandered downstairs to eat before her performance. The city of Daloria was much larger than she had expected it to be. As a common stop for travelers moving between southeast and southwest Everealm, Daloria had grown tremendously in order to accommodate the many people who passed through.
After she had sung at the Labaran Prince’s wedding, her reputation was becoming even better known than it was before. Perhaps, a little too well-known. After all, she had changed her name and become a traveling singer in order to spy on and infiltrate neighboring kingdoms. Her father had encouraged her to use her gift of song to his advantage. Even though she no longer did her father’s bidding, she still wanted to keep her new identity. She never intended to go back to being Ethelda, ever again, but she did wonder if her newfound fame would make it more difficult to sneak in and out of anywhere she pleased.
