by K. M. Shea
“Do we need something?” Rein repeated, anger crusting his voice. “Are you mad? You were using your magic!”
“Yes,” Angelique said with a patience she didn’t feel. “You have already said that. And?”
Rein made a few choking noises. “The Council ordered you to refrain from using your core magic!”
Angelique frowned and felt her thin veneer of good manners start to wear thin. “Why does that surprise you? Much of what I’ve done has been against the approval of the Council.”
“Your magic is dangerous.” Blanche’s voice shook, and she shrank in her saddle. “You are dangerous! You can’t just go around using it without supervision.”
Quinn narrowed her eyes, and it took several seconds for Angelique to realize the quiet hissing noise from behind her was actually Odette.
Thankful for her friends’ reactions, Angelique was also so dumbfounded by Blanche’s statement, all she could do was stare at the weather mages.
Once upon a time, such comments would have deeply hurt me. Not anymore. The Veneno Conclave—mages in general—have done nothing to help the continent. They have no right to look down upon me like this, and just because they choose to do it doesn’t mean I have to let it affect me.
“Perhaps,” Angelique said, keeping her voice the calm and bright tone she usually used when talking to frightened mages. “Or perhaps you both need to practice, seeing as how you let the only Chosen Mage we’ve ever captured—Carabosso—escape when you were charged with taking him back to the Veneno Conclave.”
“You cannot possibly judge us,” Blanche said.
Angelique pushed back the hood of her cloak so she could casually scratch her head. “Why not? You seem perfectly fine with criticizing me—and I’m not the one who lost our only lead.”
“How dare you,” Rein snarled. “I thought that for all the darkness of your magic, you were still a respectful person. It seems I was wrong. Your magic is so vile because you are vile! We shall report your conduct to the Veneno Conclave.”
Yes. Angelique flicked her eyes from the angry mages to Quinn and Odette. Perhaps that is the greatest change. Quinn, Odette, Elle, Gabrielle—they’ve made it perfectly clear that they appreciate and like me. They don’t care if I’m sarcastic or don’t act like the perfect, genteel enchantress. I’m done with this farce, and after all of the chaos of the past few years, I know the Conclave isn’t going to do anything to reprimand me anyway.
“Oh, dear.” Angelique slapped a hand to her cheek and spoke in the deadest of tones she could muster. “Whatever will I do?”
Rein leaned back in his saddle and glanced at Blanche. The way he hunched his shoulders spoke just how uncomfortable he felt—which Angelique took more than a little glee in.
Blanche, however, was gawking at Angelique. Not like one who was frightened, more as a person who’d just received a great shock. “You…what?” She shook her head as if she couldn’t understand. “You’ve changed.”
“I do feel freer,” Angelique said. “Thank you for noticing.”
“That wasn’t a compliment,” Blanche snapped.
Angelique clicked her tongue. “Now that hurt my feelings,” she said in a tone so sorrowful it was an obvious farce.
Blanche stopped trembling and instead mashed her lips together—as if Angelique’s careless attitude sparked something more similar to irritation in her rather than the fear she’d previously displayed.
“You’re going to become a menace,” Rein said.
“What, because I don’t use pretty smiles and say pretty things to cover up ugly truths?” Angelique asked.
“You’ve lost your mind—and your pride as a magic user. We’re called to be better than this! To act with respect and good manners.”
“Nah.” Angelique casually rested a hand on Pegasus’ shoulder. “It’s merely that I don’t care what you think, so I have no incentive to use respect and good manners.”
It surprised Angelique when she felt the truth of the statement in her core.
I really don’t care anymore.
Not about the Conclave, not about how other mages perceive me. It doesn’t matter.
“Why should you act respectful when they’re being downright shameful, anyway?” Odette asked—surprising the mage pair.
“Indeed.” Quinn rested her hand on her belt quiver, and Fluffy’s eyes seemed to glow in the morning sunlight as he stomped a hoof. “Mages always seemed courteous—to the public, anyway. It’s a pity to see what they’re really like.”
Rein narrowed his eyes. “And who are you?”
“I’d choose your tone a bit more carefully,” Odette called out in a sing-song voice. “That’s Quinn of Midnight Lake, the future queen of the elves, you’re scowling at.”
“She’s—what?” Rein squinted at Quinn, then whipped his gaze back to Angelique. “Then why is she traveling with you?”
“Because we’re close friends.” Quinn nudged Fluffy closer to Pegasus, and together the two magical mounts loomed over Rein and Blanche. “And this is Odette, Head of the Black Swan Smugglers and soon-to-be princess of Kozlovka.”
Rein’s mouth slid open, like a barn door flapping in the breeze. Blanche’s face looked like it was carved from stone.
Hmm. They are genuinely shocked. Did they really think the rest of the continent held me in the same contempt mages did? It doesn’t matter. Odette is leaving today, and I’m not going to waste our remaining time subjecting us to their vitriol.
“Seeing how you have nothing useful to say, you should run along now,” Angelique said.
“You’re dismissing us?” Blanche said—the octave of her voice going higher.
“Your arrogance knows no end,” Rein snarled.
Feeling more than a little like Clovicus, Angelique flapped her hand at them. “How cute you both are. But I’m tiring of your charms. Now run along, shoo.”
The two mages didn’t move—they appeared to be too startled to do anything but continue to stare.
Angelique sighed. “Fine. Then it shall be us who take our leave from you.”
Pegasus started walking before Angelique had even finished speaking, and Fluffy stayed shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
Together—with their long strides and fast pace—the two magical mounts left the weather mages behind, rapidly putting distance between them.
Quinn twisted at the torso to hook her bow back on Fluffy’s rump—Angelique hadn’t noticed the soldier had even gotten it freed until then. She watched behind them for several steps before untwisting. “They’re not following us.”
“They have no reason to,” Angelique said. “They don’t like me—they legitimately fear me.”
“I’m not so sure,” Odette said. “At least, I don’t think they fear you quite the way they’ve led you to believe.”
“What do you mean?” Angelique asked.
Odette settled both of her arms around Angelique’s waist as she thought. “I think they treat you so poorly because it’s a way to control you. Rothbart tried to intimidate us Black Swan Smugglers every once in a while—I thought he just liked making us scared. But I think it’s more that he wanted to make sure we’d dislike him and resist him. I think this is the opposite. If they act afraid of you, they can make you doubt yourself. And wouldn’t that doubt affect how you use your magic?”
Angelique squinted up at the bright blue sky. “Maybe some mages treat me that way for that reason. Others are just plain rude—or only see the possibilities of my magic and don’t even think of me as a person.”
“Sounds like you’re thinking of a specific individual,” Quinn said.
“Not really—though there is a mage named Finnr that I don’t much care for because he’s willing to be careless with my life.”
“Why does he—a mage you said? So he’s not even an enchanter? Anyway. Why does he get a say on what you do with your life?” Odette asked.
“It was at the Summit—we were trying to decide how to best dispose of Rothba
rt. Finnr and a number of other mages decided it was best to send me to scout it out, and they’d send backup.”
Odette frowned. “Except backup didn’t arrive—unless you meant Stil and Gemma? But you specifically sent for them.”
“That’s just how things occurred,” Angelique said.
“Hmm,” Odette said.
“You are a Lady Enchantress. You have rank and power. You need to start telling others no,” Quinn said.
“Or you need to start charging for your services,” Odette said. “It will make them second-guess just how badly they need your help.”
Angelique laughed. “I’m not going to charge Prince Severin for helping him save the continent when he and the other royals are also investing so much into this.”
Odette made a grumbling noise. “You need to be more like me.”
“We already are alike—you run around the continent just as much as I do.”
“I meant be more selfish!”
Angelique laughed at the thought. “Odette, you might think you deceive others with that empty boast, but it’s far too late for that for anyone who has known you more than a day.”
“She’s right,” Quinn said. “Your character is obvious—you’re far too valiant.”
Odette made a few choking noises, then hurriedly changed the topic. “Isn’t Angelique supposed to be practicing magic? Quinn—you ought to continue drilling her!”
Angelique tilted her head back as she laughed from her belly.
In that moment, she felt freer than she had since the day her parents had died.
It’s not just that I have friends—as special as they are to me. It’s that I don’t have to pretend to be someone I’m not in order to keep them. I can be as sarcastic and rude as I want. And they encourage me to use my magic.
The only thing Angelique could think of that would make life better—besides beating the Chosen, obviously—was finding Evariste.
She wanted to apologize for how little she had valued his encouragement, and thanks to her time with her new friends, she was starting to understand just how much Evariste valued her as a companion.
But he didn’t treat me quite the same way Severin or Quinn treat me. What does that mean?
Dimly, the memory of her dream-that-wasn’t-a-dream rustled at the back of her mind.
“Angelique, are you ready for the next drill?” Quinn asked.
“Yes!” Angelique said with far too much enthusiasm, eager to shut down her thoughts. “Yes. Let’s do all drills—twice. Just to be sure I practice enough today.”
Odette gently poked her in the back of the spine. “What were you thinking?”
“Nothing of importance. Now—what’s the next drill?”
Angelique paused in the middle of dismantling a spell and sniffed the breeze. The wind felt damp and wet—still cold, but less icy and more like cold slush.
It’s the first thaw. I imagine spring will soon arrive.
The breeze played with the tips of her hair—which she’d quickly braided this morning—as impatient as Angelique felt.
Soon. In the next few days, we’re going to Juwel…and maybe…just maybe…he’ll be there.
“Is something wrong?” Quinn dumped snow on the sputtering fire—putting it out—then kicked the remaining embers into a snow bank.
“No—I was just thinking spring will soon come.” Angelique forced herself to dismantled the protection spell she’d put on the camp the night before. “Which means Emerys will come for you.”
Quinn shoved her bedroll into Angelique’s magic satchel, followed by Angelique’s. “Of course, he’ll come just as we narrow in on our target—after all of our careful searching,” Quinn said.
With practice brought from dismantling camp together over dozens of mornings, Quinn tossed Angelique a strip of jerky without looking, then set about brushing Fluffy.
“The pace we searched at was necessary,” Angelique said.
Except now it feels like we’re so close, yet we’re moving so slow!
“We needed to be careful,” Angelique added. She spoke with enough firmness to remind herself that they couldn’t afford to be stupid. “If the Chosen found out we know they have the mirror—and Evariste—somewhere in Mullberg, they’d hide both of them, and we’d have to start over again.”
Everything in Angelique wanted to go sprinting to Juwel and throw all the power she could muster at the place to find Evariste.
But this could be it.
Evariste could be in Juwel.
And I’m not going to mess it all up by being impatient.
Angelique chewed thoughtfully on her jerky, watching Fluffy and Quinn.
I wonder where Pegasus—
Before she could finish the thought, something slammed into her back. Angelique staggered a few steps, then wheezed, “Good morning, Pegasus.”
The star-studded horse exhaled at her, creating puffs of steam, then turned so his side faced her.
“Sorry to ask for it, but, Quinn?”
Quinn laughed. “Here.” She tossed the brush she’d been using on Fluffy to Angelique.
Angelique took it and started grooming the fussy constellation, who snorted his approval.
“At least we’re fairly certain that Evariste was sent to Juwel,” Angelique said.
A careful, spiraling search had shown that Dodge’s information was correct. The closer one got to Juwel, the less trouble there was with monster attacks and the like.
The tipoff that the Chosen were involved—and Evariste, hopefully—was watching the encampments.
Every day, workers from the two Chosen encampments that were located just outside Juwel rotated into the city. After recording the camps’ schedules and doing a lot of careful observing to pick out which of the Chosen employees had magic, Quinn and Angelique were able to put together a time table that showed at least one Chosen mage was always in Juwel—even at the late-night hours.
They’d searched one of the encampments when Odette was still with them and had uncovered the mention of a mirror being transported into Juwel months prior, in the summer.
It’s far too late to be the mirror the Snow Queen had tried to destroy, since the entry Odette told us about was years ago. Which means it must be Evariste!
But why keep Evariste in Juwel of all places? Were they doing something with his magic?
Angelique and Quinn still didn’t know where the ancient mirror was. It was possible it was in Juwel as well, being kept in the same location as Evariste. But they hadn’t seen any mention of it in their searches.
Angelique patted Pegasus’ shoulder.
I don’t have to wait much longer to find out. We’re supposed to enter Juwel tomorrow, unless we could do it tonight?
Angelique blinked. “Do we really need to buy rations before we head into Juwel?”
“Do we need rations? No. Will we buy them in a bid to establish our new disguise as Elle taught us to? Yes.” Quinn saddled up Fluffy, then strung her bow. “Unless you don’t think we should use disguises?”
“We should,” Angelique sighed. “If only to avoid me being recognized by a stray mage.”
Getting a disguise was my idea. I can’t cast it off just because Evariste might be in Juwel!
They were planning to enter Juwel as a lady—Quinn—and her guard, visiting Juwel to purchase gems.
“Do you hear something?” Quinn asked.
Angelique tilted her head and listened. Faintly, whistling on the wind, she thought she heard thunder. “Is that…horse hooves?”
They’d camped next to a thicket of trees that divided a snow-covered field in half—the trees made it easier for Angelique to cast protection and alarm spells without flashing magic around for the entire country to see, and they provided shelter from the wind that was so frigid, breathing it made Angelique feel like her lungs were bruised.
The hooves sounded like they were coming from the other side of the thicket.
Together, Quinn and Angelique scrambled arou
nd the trees, staying in the shadows. Pegasus followed behind, keeping so close that he stepped on the heels of Angelique’s boots.
Quinn pushed back several skeletal, barren branches, revealing the horses…and their riders.
Chapter 16
They were resplendent horses with brightly colored tack and coats that practically shone in the morning sun. Only half of the steeds had bridles—pretty things made of gold chain and ribbon. The other half pranced along with nothing but their saddles and riders, who directed the horses with leg pressure.
The riders, dressed in bright greens, dazzling blues, and deep reds were an equal match to their mounts’ beauty—with polished weapons, perfect hair pulled back into impossible braids, and their tapered ears lending them an air of grace.
Riding at the front of the group was a male elf in a dark blue and silver tunic, mounted on a massive, coal-black unicorn.
“Oh.” Angelique sagged, her enthusiasm leaking from her.
Quinn, however, couldn’t contain her joy. “It’s Emerys!” Her smile was so bright, she practically glowed.
“It looks like he’s come to collect you,” Angelique said. “Early.”
She tried to sound happy for Quinn’s sake, but she knew what this meant.
Quinn would leave, and Angelique would have to search for Evariste alone.
No—wait. This isn’t like it used to be. Quinn stayed with me for months, and I’ve gotten so much farther in my search than I expected because of her. Besides, if I can actually find Evariste, Severin will send me some help to free him!
Quinn charged from the thicket as the elves stopped a short distance away.
Angelique trailed behind her, taking the time to slap a smile on her lips—which was both genuine and a façade given that she was happy for her friend but disappointed nonetheless.
“Quinn!” Emerys slipped off his mount and scooped Quinn up, laughing as he twirled her around before enfolding her in a hug and kissing her soundly.
Angelique skirted a thorny bush, peered behind her to confirm Pegasus passed the shrub unharmed—no need to worry, when the constellation brushed past the bush, he set it on fire—and generally tried to waste time so she didn’t intrude on the couple’s happy reunion.