The Waking Magic (Winter's Blight Book 3)

by M. C. Aquila

  “Right.” Iain nodded, then began after a breath. “I’m glad you decided to come with us to the Court—”

  “I’d like you to hold on to this for now.” The silver amulet glimmered in the fading light as Cai held it out to Iain by the chain. “So go ahead and take it.”

  His mouth parting, Iain looked from Cai’s earnest face to the amulet. As the trinket’s surface shimmered like a cold, clear pool in summer, he could not deny that he wanted to take it and he was drawn to it. It would feel right to have it.

  “Cai…” Iain gaped uselessly. “Why?”

  “I’ll want it back eventually, of course, but I think it is better off with you for the time being.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “The amulet, it chooses people and serves the needs of its keeper with the Water Magic contained inside. Sometimes words or images will appear on the surface to aid its chosen keeper.” Cai leaned back against the rock. “For whatever reason, it chose you and thought you were worthy of it.”

  Iain stared at the amulet. “Worthy?” He chuckled wryly. “But I’m not… You’re a living legend, Cai. A hero. How would it not be better off with you?”

  He started as Cai threw his head back and laughed. “Some things really never change throughout the ages!” He slapped his thighs. “You youths always think that there comes a certain moment when you become who you were meant to be. You think one day you wake up an adult, or faultless, or like a hero in a storybook.

  “It isn’t just a moment. It’s a constant journey, a battle you wage every day. The point is, Iain, you’re well on your way on that journey. And this amulet sees something in the person you’re becoming and have the potential to be, not necessarily who you have been.”

  With his throat constricting, Iain barely managed, “I think I understand, Cai.”

  “Good.” Cai held out the amulet farther, as far as his arm could reach. “This amulet—you said it had the word forgiven written on it. Well, all you’ve got to do is accept it.”

  Without another moment of hesitation, Iain took the amulet from Cai’s hand. He clasped it around his neck and tucked it under his shirt, feeling the cool, smooth metal against his chest. He would have thought the weight of it would make his chest feel heavier, but it did the opposite.

  A gentle autumn breeze passed them carrying red and yellow leaves with it, ruffling Iain’s hair. It was like it swept away the past with it and all the guilt and shame he’d carried with him up the hill. He could finally let all that go to focus on the person he was becoming and on the battle to be fought every day.

  “Thank you, Cai,” Iain said.

  The old knight waved his thanks away sternly, but Iain caught a glimpse of a pleased smile as Cai stood and continued to climb.

  As they started hiking in the dwindling evening light again, Cai said, “That amulet belonged to Arthur’s mother. It was a present crafted by a water nymph in gratitude to her after she protected the nymph’s lake. Then it was passed to Arthur, my brother…

  “Arthur had fine qualities. He was humble and loyal, a good leader. But when he was betrayed by those closest to him, his faults ultimately caused his downfall, as well as the downfall of his kingdom.”

  Pausing to wipe his brow, Cai turned to him. “I ought to have stopped it from happening, by any means. Arthur might have been my king, but I was still his older brother. And I let him down. Hell, I’ve been letting him and his legacy down for the past few decades…

  “So,” Cai said, “your brother—he’s ambitious and bright, but I don’t think he even realizes the depth of his own desire for power. That makes him unpredictable. I don’t want to see another clever boy become his own downfall.”

  Then Cai studied him closely for a response.

  “You’re saying James is in trouble?” Iain processed the words as he said them, his head spinning a little.

  “I am saying he seems damn determined to save your mother from that faery deal. He’s hiding things, and he knows more than he’s letting on.”

  “Yeah, he is determined,” Iain admitted. “But once we reach the Summer Court, Mum will be safe from the Cait Sidhe as long as she’s protected there. Regardless, I’ll keep an eye on him.”

  “I will do the same, if you will it. I’ve taken an interest.”

  “Sure.” Iain grinned. “The more eyes the better.”

  They were nearly at the top of the hill when Iain said, “By the way, about your brother—you may think you’ve let him down, but you’re getting involved now. That matters.”

  Cai nodded in reply but said nothing, not turning his head.

  Evening drew nearer. At the top of the peak, the hilly landscape that varied in shades of green and withering brown and gray stone was visible. The sky was a burnt-orange color at the horizon where the sun was setting that slowly cooled and melded into a dark dome above blue. The moon was faintly visible, a silver half sliver.

  But what was the most remarkable were the lights in the sky.

  “What is that?” Iain lost his breath for a second at the sight.

  Wisps of light snaked around the sky, shimmering. The streaks looked like winding pathways through the sky or like an ancient road walked by beings unseen. The first thing Iain wanted to do was rush back down the hill so he could tell the others to look up, so Deirdre could see it. The warm brightness of it reminded him of the star-shard flower from the Summer Court, and he thought it must be magic.

  By the time Cai and Iain returned to the campsite, the sky had darkened. Yet the lights remained, stretching farther and farther out, reaching the campsite. The group looked up through the trees at the sky, pointing. And Deirdre’s spirits did seem a little brighter as she clasped her hands together and gasped.

  Though James first scribbled notes down in his book, he then stood beside Alvey and described what the lights looked like in detail so she wouldn’t be missing out.

  “Ah, the lights you describe are familiar.” Alvey folded her hands in her lap. “I have seen them before, when I had eyes. They appear every waxing moon when my mother, Sybil, uses her Light Magic to bolster the strength of the barrier.”

  “Light Magic? It’s so beautiful.” Deirdre looked at her own hands, frowning, but then glanced back up at the sky. “We can see the light from the Summer Court from here… Imagine what it will look like when we’re there. We really are almost there, aren’t we?”

  The light was a new unknown, just as the Summer Court was. Iain had no idea what they would find beyond the barrier or how they would be received or if the faeries there would listen to their warnings about the Iron Guard. There were many uncertainties, but Iain knew they could face them.

  Together.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  There was a song in the forest. Vera could feel the vibration of it in the ground beneath her and hear the faint hum of it in the air. It spoke of change, like an earthquake shifts and shapes the earth anew with a violent rumble. There were creatures moving through the woods, crawling out of dank caverns, and emerging from festering, stagnant pools. Wanting Seelie blood.

  The Winter King’s Unseelie monsters, the human military, and the boy, James, and his group—they were all heading to the same place. They would all meet at the Summer Court, like the clashing of cold and hot air in the sky to make a storm. And the song whispered in chaotic verse that the earth would be changed.

  Still, as excited as that energy made her, Vera’s step lacked some of its usual spring. And as she walked about the manor that evening, after Cecil’s magic spirited them back from the festival, her brother noticed.

  “Why are you so dour, pet?” Cecil asked her. He was lounging across his favorite chair by the fire, sipping wine, careless as ever.

  Vera scuffed the toe of her boot against the stone floor. “It is only… I thought James would have come home with us. I thought we were to fetch him and that we’d have such revels together.”

  After setting his wine down, Cecil sat in his seat proper
ly to look at her. His smile caught the firelight. “Darling, I could not be more thrilled with how things played out. It was a marvelous success, and he’s even more of a protégé than I dreamed.”

  “How could it be a success if we did not take him with us?”

  “James is not ready for that yet, love,” Cecil explained, using his patient voice. “And when he does join us, which he will, I’d so very much like it to be his decision, of his own will. You see, Vera, our boy is right where he needs to be.”

  “Even if it’s the Summer Court where we cannot reach him?”

  “He can contact us if he wishes, and I may have some wee errands for him to run while he’s there. And once he’s done what I ask, he’ll have nowhere else to go but here. Home. To us.”

  Vera felt an odd chill in her bones that made her feel ill. “Brother… what do you mean? You won’t be putting him in danger, will you? He won’t… be hurt, will he?”

  At that, Cecil rose and padded barefoot over to her. He cupped her face and tilted her chin up to look him in the eyes. It reminded her of the way he looked at his thralls to command them.

  “Sometimes one cannot embrace his true self without a little pain.”

  Final Words

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