by Elise Kova
“Good morning,” I echo with a smile.
“How did you sleep?”
“Fantastic, and you?”
“Best sleep of my life.” I feel his muscles tense as he stretches. The sensation fills my hollow and aching core with a desire that I’m still far too spent to indulge again. “I’m beginning to think that the old folk tales about the fae were more accurate than I previously assumed.”
“Oh?”
“If I had known that stealing a human and spiriting her away to my world would fill me with such joy and give me the best sleep of my life, I would’ve done it much sooner.”
My laughter echoes off the rafters above us. “If you had stolen away any other human she would’ve been dead.”
He purses his lips. “Then perhaps I am finding myself more grateful than I previously thought possible that you stole my magic.”
“And now I need to give it back.” I begin to untangle myself from him but as I go to sit up, his arms circle me. He latches on, pulling me back to him. He curls around me, my back against his chest. We fit together perfectly in every way imaginable.
“A little bit longer,” he whispers. “I want to remember everything about this morning.”
“I am helpless to deny you,” I murmur. The notion still terrifies me. But I suppose I don’t have to come to terms too much with this love since we will be in different worlds soon enough. That’s certainly one way to protect myself from becoming too involved.
“Good, then I have you right where I want—What’s this? I didn’t notice it in the darkness last night.” His thought turns into a whisper and I feel his finger press into my back. I wince and draw a shuddering breath. “Katria?”
“I… It was a long time ago.”
“If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.” He must hear the pain in my voice.
I am well and truly hopeless for this man, because I say, “I want to. It was a long time ago…before Laura, my youngest sister, was born. Helen had been relentless that day and I fled to the rooftop.” In my mind, I’m six years old. Joyce and Helen have just come into my life. “Helen chased me to the edge of the rooftop. She kept pushing and pushing. She wouldn’t stop. The edge of the roof came so fast and we both went over. I remember seeing her falling ahead of me. Then, somehow, I caught up to her. My arms around her, we landed hard on the walkway that stretched around the manor. My back to the stone, her on top of me.”
The scent of burning flesh fills my nose and I cringe. “Everything after that was a blur. I was in shock, I think… But my back was so damaged the wound had to be cauterized. Joyce did it with an iron shovel from a set of fireplace tools.”
That day was the closest I ever saw her to being worried for me. The entire time, she looked horrified, scared even. And yet, over and over, I can still hear her whispers, monster, monstrous creature, as my father looked on helplessly. You are lucky you have me, she told him, lucky I can handle this.
“After I healed, I was never allowed on the roof, or anywhere high up, again. Joyce hated me more after that. I think she resented me for almost getting Helen killed.” She began her long process of sending my father away more and more not long after…and I became relegated to the servant’s quarters like the monster I was.
“It wasn’t your fault.” He sighs, running his fingers over the scars. “I wish I had magic enough to take every pain you have endured so that you would never have to suffer them again.”
“Well, if my family loved me more—properly—they wouldn’t have sold me off to be with you so easily.” I lace my fingers with his.
“That isn’t an excuse in the slightest.”
“I know. But I’m finding it makes me feel better that you are my silver lining.”
“Then I’m happy I can help,” he murmurs and shifts closer.
We lie together for as long as we can. But the dawn is as relentless as our duty to all of the fae folk. Eventually, his arms relax, and we both know that we have procrastinated long enough.
“Hopefully Shaye and Giles show up today,” he says as he tugs on his pants.
“Agreed. Though, I must say, for as much as I want to see them all right, I’m glad they didn’t show up last night.” My grin is reflected on his face. Davien’s eyes shine mischievously. He wants to kiss me; I know what that expression means now. I almost take a step forward so that he can.
“Don’t tell them, but I feel the same.”
“So, what do we need to do for this ritual?” I ask, now clothed.
“Here, I’ll show you what Vena sent me with.” Davien retrieves a folio with several loose pages. He lays them out across the table where our blanket just was. The last thing he retrieves is the glass necklace that I tried to put the powers in weeks ago. “The idea is still the same—you’ll abdicate and in doing so fill the necklace with the king’s magic, then you’ll bestow it on me. The lake will offer a catalyst to help draw out those powers. We will anoint you as an heir to the throne would be. That way the magic will hopefully be less dormant and more controllable.”
As I scan the pages intently I begin to find some sense in them. It’s a pattern, a rhythm. Maybe some of what he said last night during our short-lived magic lesson sank in.
“May I make a suggestion?” I ask.
“Always.” He regards me curiously. No doubt wondering what would make me speak up.
“Here…I think that I should be the one to say this line, not you.” I point at a part of the script Vena has written out for us.
“Why is that?”
“I’m not sure… I—” I hum, trying to find words. “It’ll flow better, I think. The ritual will just work. It’s a gut feeling. But I… How to explain—”
“You don’t have to.” He stops my fumbling. “Your instincts have proven themselves right time and again. Be it the magic within you guiding, or just some innate ability you possess, I trust in you.”
“Good, because I have some other changes.” I give him a sly smile and he chuckles.
“Tell me.”
We discuss all throughout breakfast, debating Vena’s rituals and making adjustments. It’s a bit awkward at first. No matter what he says, I still worry about overstepping. He is the Fae King. Who am I to question?
But he had said some, like Vena, were so in tune with their magic that they could see rituals. Perhaps it is the magic within me guiding the path forward. I put my faith in it.
The sun is high when we finally head outside. The fog still encircles this place as a living wall. It feels as if we are encased in clouds, floating somewhere high in the sky.
“Are you ready?” he asks.
“No reason not to be.” I clutch the necklace with a white-knuckled grip. I stripped down to my small clothes and am already almost shivering even though the sun is on my shoulders. I made it a point to stoke the fire before we left the keep. No matter what happens, I am promptly returning to the warmth of the hearth after this is over.
“At your leisure then.”
Sucking in a bracing breath, I step into the water. It’s ice in liquid form. I exhale through chattering teeth, forcing myself to keep walking over the smooth pebbles that make up the bottom of the lake. As I move, the ripples in the water shimmer like the cosmos I saw on my first night in Midscape. I can feel the magic radiating all around me, calling to me. The faint song I heard in the fog resonates once more, as though its source lies deep within the lake’s center.
I pause as the water hits my lower stomach. Shaking, I wrap my arms around myself, trying to conserve the last scraps of warmth I have. Davien stepping into the water behind me is what forces me to keep going. I inhale sharply as the water reaches my rib cage.
Davien comes to a stop behind me. He looks just as cold as I am. “Are you ready?”
“I am.”
“Very well.” The air around him shifts as his tone becomes serious, his eyes focused. He’s back to staring at the magic within me, magic he’s determined to draw out here and n
ow. “Heir of Aviness, rightful ruler of these wilds, keeper of the power of the old kings, you’ve entered these waters as a woman, but you shall emerge as a queen.” He lifts a hand, drawing lines from my neck, to my shoulders, collarbone, and breast. “I, as loyal subject, anoint you with the sacred water.”
“I receive your blessing.” With the tip of my finger, I draw the shining outlines of shapes on him as well, swirls and dots that have no coherent meaning and yet all seem to say, I see you, I am one with you. “I am the vessel of Aviness.”
All at once, I take a deep breath and plunge under.
The moment my head crosses beneath the surface, warmth surrounds me. I open my eyes and see dozens of silvery figures waiting beneath the water. They all wear crowns of glass that I recognize from the stained glass of the keep. I surface, coughing up the water I inhaled in shock, swimming backward. Davien’s hands close around my shoulders.
This was not part of our plan.
“What is it?”
“I saw—I saw—people underneath the water,” I stammer, teeth clacking no longer from the cold. The warmth that I felt from the moment I was submerged still coats me just like the shimmering water. It turns my skin to a pale gray color, iridescent and flecked with rainbow spots. “What?” Words are failing me now as I hold up my forearms.
“This is what we came here for,” Davien says reassuringly. “Don’t be afraid. Don’t hesitate. Accept the anointing as a queen would.”
I think of what Shaye told me weeks ago—walk with your head held high, for you have the power of kings. I’ve been pretending this entire time to try and live up to the expectations of the magic in me. I can pretend a little longer. I straighten away from Davien. Even though I’m making every best effort, I still regard the water warily. I can’t see those ghostly figures from above. But I know, if I opened my eyes underneath the surface, I would see them once more.
Closing my eyes, I choose to focus on the sound of music still thrumming. The more I focus, the louder it becomes. The sound gives me strength, makes me think of my birth mother. I imagine her looking fondly at me from the great Beyond, proud of her daughter for all she could accomplish.
I clutch the necklace with both hands to my breast and let my consciousness detach from my body. Somewhere, between his words and the music, I will find the magic. And once I can hold that power as tightly as I hold this pendant of glass, I will be able to hand it to the man I have given everything else to.
“I am ready for my oath.” Somehow, my voice no longer sounds like my own. It’s smoother, more confident than I have ever heard it before.
“Do you swear to guard and guide your people? To protect them with the ancient magic that has been bestowed on you by fate and family? Will you rule with righteousness and justice as your weapons? To strengthen our borders, and defend our cause?” Davien repeats the words from the pages Vena gave us. He finishes with one of my additions: “Do you take these oaths with reverence and severity?”
“I do.”
“Will you forsake all temptation that could lead you astray?”
“I will.”
“And will you use every last recess of your power to further, uphold, and revere the way of our people forevermore?”
“All this and more, I swear to you.” My eyes flutter open and I meet his emerald gaze. Davien’s lips part slightly. He can feel it too. I wonder if he can even hear the music that is reaching its crescendo. It fills my ears like the water; it fills my soul like the magic of fae kings. “I take these oaths freely and sincerely.”
“Then draw your last breath as the woman you are, and arise as a queen.” He leans forward and places both his hands on my shoulders. I suck in a breath and Davien pushes me back. This time I’m ready for what awaits me.
Underneath the water I hear cheering, a joyous symphony soaring around me as though it is playing in a hall three times as magnificent as the keep we slept in last night. The applause of kings and queens from long ago bolsters me and the magic that I can feel crackling from my every pore.
I am pulled back above the water by Davien. I take in a greedy gulp of the crisp air. I blink up at the sky and relish in this feeling of immeasurable power.
If I wanted, if I dared, I could change this world.
And then, my eyes fall from the heavens and land on him. The first and only thing I do with this power is pour it into the necklace still clutched in my hands. I stand and Davien kneels. Now is the part we wrote together.
I move to the sounds of music—of the magic that lives within me. I step around him, making mirrors of the shapes he drew on my body with the water earlier. I come back to a stop before him and hold out the necklace.
Davien stares in wonder and anticipation. He slowly lifts his hand. Everything he ever wanted is within his grasp.
The magic begins to drain from my body. I feel heavier by the second and wonder if I’ll have the strength to say what needs to be said next. But we are so close. “I abd—”
Out of nowhere, a shadowy arrow knocks the necklace from my palm and the power the ritual had been building breaks with an almost audible snap.
Chapter 29
For a second, I’m too stunned to do anything. Davien stares at my outstretched hand where the necklace just was, blinking as though our eyes have deceived us. Then, simultaneously, we react.
Davien jumps from the water, spinning toward where the arrow came from. I lunge for where the necklace has sunk beneath the lake’s glassy surface. The song I heard earlier has come to a halt. The water is cooling, frigid once more. Even though I open my eyes underwater, I don’t see any of the ghostly figures. It’s as though not just the magic that was within me was placed in the necklace, but the magic of the lake itself, of this entire place.
My horrible theory is confirmed when I resurface, pendant in hand.
The mist that surrounded and protected the keep is evaporating in the sunlight. Like a shroud being pulled off, it reveals the sparse, skeletal forest we rode through with pristine clarity. Lining those trees are ten Butchers, their cowls radiating angry shadows around their necks and shoulders.
I had intended to gather the power of Aviness…but I hadn’t dreamed or wanted to be this successful.
Davien is in motion toward the nearest Butcher. Two others break away from the line, disappearing in the shadow of one of the nearby trees. Motion at my right distracts me from Davien. The two Butchers have reappeared in the shade of the keep, racing toward me.
I scramble, looking frantically between Davien and the necklace. Three Butchers have descended on him now. Davien is strong and has become more powerful during his time in Midscape. But without the power of kings I know that he’s too outnumbered. I look back to the two that are nearly upon me, stepping hastily away into the deeper water.
“Don’t come any closer,” I say. “I have the power of kings.”
“That’s exactly what we came here for.” The man approaching me smiles thinly.
“Don’t force me to use it.” I’d sound far more threatening if my voice wasn’t quivering.
“As if you could. You already separated the magic from your body. You’re nothing more than a pathetic human now.”
“Katria, run!” Davien booms at the top of his lungs. Without warning, a flash of light radiates out from him. I look away at the last possible second. The Butchers are blinded. I sprint for the horse, kicking up water in my haste. It’s slow going until I hit the shallows. But by then, the Butchers are already recovering. I hear the sounds of struggle coming from Davien.
I glance over, seeing him dodging attack after attack. He rears back and claws—long and deadly—protrude from his fingers. He sinks them into the side of one of the attackers. But I don’t get to see the woman go down because in my periphery the two men are charging for me with the speed of angry boars.
The horse is our best chance. We can’t fight. We have to run. Luckily, they haven’t thought to kill the stallion yet. I thank my past self for thi
nking of keeping the mount saddled.
Using the steps that lead up into the keep, I grip the vines that grow around the open doorway, and use them to help hoist myself up as I jump. I land awkwardly on the horse’s back, scrambling to get my feet astride and in the stirrups. I manage to just as the Butchers are on me. Between their lunges startling the horse, and my shout, he shoots off faster than the arrow that caught Davien and me by surprise.
I clutch on, staying low and swerving as more arrows whiz past me. “Davien!” I scream. He glances over his shoulder, seeing me coming right for him.
Davien brings his hands together once more, clapping them with a boom of light. Once more, I shield my eyes at the last second. The horse is not so lucky; he startles, rearing back. I hold on for dear life, soothing the beast as best I can while still spurring him onward. Trust me, I plead silently with the stallion.
He’s truly a well-trained mount, fitting for a king, as he presses on even though I’m sure he’s still partially blinded. I hold out my hand for Davien. Three of the Butchers are hot on his heels. His flash of light trick is less effective than last time, and I doubt it’ll work a third.
We clasp each other’s forearms and I let out a grunt as I help swing him up. Davien gives a mighty leap and lands as awkwardly as I did—nearly knocking me off in the process. The horse swerves as I lose control while I readjust my balance.
“Do you have it?” The question is filled with desperation.
“I do.” The pendant is clutched in my right hand. I don’t dare unfurl my fingers from it or the horse’s reins to show him.
“Ride like the wind,” he urges, clutching me tightly. Still in our small clothes, soaking wet, we begin to flee.
Seven of the ten are far behind us, but the three that managed to shield their eyes from Davien’s last burst of light dart between the shadows of the trees we sprint through. They launch projectiles with shouts and cries of maniacal laughter.
I swerve the horse right and left, trying to avoid as many shadows as I can. The last thing I want is for one of them to pop up right in front of us. Our only hope is my skill in riding against their luck in hurling things at us.
