by Sarina Dorie
Sure. I just had to find her first.
I slept in. I only woke because Elric shook me and asked whether I’d seen Vega.
His eyes were full of desperation. “The servants have checked the local graveyards. There’s no sign of her. She’s come and gone as she pleased in the past, but she’s never stayed away for so long.”
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “Did you check the crypt?”
“Indeed.” He swallowed. “There’s something else. Dress, and I’ll show you.”
I hurriedly dressed, forgoing the Regency-era dress Elric’s servants always laid out for me in favor of my normal clothes that took far less time. Elric escorted me to the nursery. I noticed he wasn’t shuffling or walking like an old man. I wondered whether that meant he was stronger. Perhaps worry gave him energy.
In the new makeshift nursery, a room that hadn’t been destroyed when the Raven Court had attacked, a dozen children played or read books to each other. The nursemaid bounced one of the babies on her lap. The room looked perfectly ordinary at first glance. One of girls waved to me. I waved back.
I didn’t see Vega or any sign that she’d been present. There weren’t any diamond-studded coffins or skulls decorating the room.
Elric inclined his head toward the children on the floor playing a game in the corner. It looked like the pebble board game the dragon children had been playing with them. Sitting with the other children Elric and Vega had adopted was Dora.
This was the little girl the Raven Court had smashed against the wall and killed. She was alive.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
A Rising Tide of Trouble
My stomach churned. Vega had successfully performed necromancy just as she’d always wanted. It wasn’t temporary like the times I had done it. Vega had brought Dora back to life.
Tentatively, I reached out with my mind, feeling for her soul. It was there and whole. Did that mean Vega had robbed others of their souls to return Dora’s?
What else had Vega done?
Dora looked up from her game and saw us. She ran over, arms outstretched. Elric flinched back. He’d been taught to fear the dead. He had no experience with necromancy as I did. I crouched down and hugged the little girl.
“Hello, sweetie. How are you feeling today?” I asked.
“Good! I ate two eggs all by myself this morning. But I’m still hungry.”
Elric squirmed back farther. I shot him a dirty look. For someone so openminded about Red affinities, he was being silly about this.
“The dead like to eat Fae flesh,” he whispered.
“That’s zombies. There aren’t any zombies here.” I patted Dora’s back. “We can go to the kitchen to get you some more breakfast. What are you hungry for?”
She pointed to Elric. My heart lurched at the implication he might be right. He backpedaled, his foot landing on a toy car. He tripped backward in a very inelegant and unroyal way.
Dora giggled. “Daddy is silly. Do it again!”
“See,” Elric whispered. “Vega has done something horrible.”
There was probably a perfectly reasonable explanation that didn’t involve Vega creating zombies with the Ruby of Divine Wisdom.
I turned back to the child. “Why did you point to your daddy when I asked you what you were hungry for?”
“He always gives me candy.”
“So you want candy?” I chided myself for thinking this sweet little girl wanted to dine on flesh.
“Yes.”
Elric laughed nervously. “Oh, I see. I don’t have any candy with me today.”
The nursemaid called Dora over. “Honey, it’s almost lunch. See if you can wait another twenty minutes.”
Lunch? That made sense. I’d slept in and missed breakfast.
I gave Dora another hug and kissed her chubby cheek. I turned to Elric. “I think Dora will be fine. I’m not too worried.”
Not about her anyway. Vega was another matter.
Using the ruby wouldn’t go without consequence, though I didn’t exactly know what that consequence would be at this point.
I returned to the brew I needed to make for Hailey. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but the unicorn horn was also missing from my stash of supplies. The only other person who knew I had it in my possession besides Thatch was Vega. It was possible Thatch had hidden it after I’d gone to bed because he didn’t want me making more than one batch of the potion to turn another Witchkin into a Red affinity. Or perhaps he didn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands.
My new bargain with the Raven Queen involved telling her the secret of making a Red affinity. If she had the spell and all the ingredients, she could make a Red army—a risk if I failed to kill her.
It was possible Vega had used the unicorn horn for her do-anything spell and needed it to resurrect the dead. She had succeeded in resurrecting Dora. I didn’t know who else she would need my unicorn horn to revive. She was married to Elric. Surely she was over Dox Woodruff. He didn’t even have a body to revive.
I was miffed about the horn. I had always secretly imagined impaling the horn into the Raven Queen’s heart, but in truth, that would probably have been a mistake. As satisfying as it would be to impale the evilest Fae in all the land, unicorn horns were known for their healing properties. Using Bart’s horn would probably heal her physical injuries.
Too bad the horn couldn’t heal her blackened heart and soul. I didn’t know whether the Raven Queen even had a heart.
That got me to thinking. Could a unicorn horn heal someone without a heart? Odette, Thatch’s sister, no longer possessed a heart. It had been removed, and her body ran on the Raven Queen’s magic. When the Raven Queen died, surely she would die as well.
I would have asked Thatch and Vega, but he was at work, and she was absent. I searched for Elric, but he was napping. Either that meant he was weaker than he’d let on or he’d exhausted himself searching for Vega.
I found Errol, captain of the guard, pacing around the perimeter. Even with Fae healing magic, he was still bandaged. One eye was swollen shut, an arm in a sling.
“Have you found any sign of Vega yet?” I asked.
He hesitated, looking uncertain about talking with me. I wasn’t Fae, and I wasn’t his master. I had no authority over him, and he didn’t need to share information with me.
“Have you found any missing . . . corpses from graveyards?” I asked.
His eyes widened. What I first took to be fear in his eyes at the idea of necromancy, I realized was surprise when his voice came out a croak. “How did you know?”
Vega didn’t return for reenergizing. Not with me, anyway.
After Thatch came home from work, I went with him instead of her, arriving at an electrical station we had frequented twice in the past. There had been a fire since that time. The trees around the station were blackened columns. The electrical transformers had melted into molten lumps. The fence surrounding the facility was gone.
I wouldn’t have recognized this as the same facility except that the mountains in the distance and the view of the city in the valley below was the same.
Thatch performed a simple spell to detect magic. I watched as he waved his hand, sparkles drifting from his palm. I smelled formaldehyde and the bitter almond of cyanide, tasted starlight, and felt the longing for dancing fill me.
The magic was Vega’s.
“Interesting,” Thatch said.
We moved on to another power station, and another, finding those in similar states. I had a bad feeling about this.
Thatch surveyed the third facility, his brow crinkling in concern. “I imagine this will be drawing Morty news coverage. They’ll probably blame it on organized crime or terrorists. If we’re lucky, no one has caught her on camera.”
“She’s using up all the electricity and not leaving any for us.” She was gaining power and leaving us weak. I feared I was going to have another enemy in addition to the Raven Queen that
I would have to deal with.
“Possibly,” Thatch said in a cool monotone that didn’t give away what he might be feeling. “Or perhaps she has simply gone on an energy spree, feeding on what she needs to fuel herself. In any case, we need to move on to someplace Vega has never been. I can’t keep transporting us like this without recharging.”
Thatch hugged an arm around my waist, black mist spiraling around us. The air was sucked from my lungs, and my insides felt as though they’d been turned inside out. As the world rematerialized, we found ourselves in a parking garage. The area where we stood next to the stairwell was dimly lit. I didn’t recognize this parking lot with the crab painted on the wall, indicating we were on B3 floor.
Thatch took my hand and guided me to the wall farthest from the stairwell. I suspected we would be safe from being caught by Morties, but it was daylight outside. There was still a risk of being caught. If we were, he would have to erase someone’s memories. Using more magic wasn’t ideal when he had expended so much energy already.
He found another shadowy area with a broken light over an outlet for an electric car. He gestured to the charging station and bowed. “Ladies first.”
I stuck my pink-and-white striped wand into the outlet and recharged my magic. I was careful as I fueled myself, sucking up the electricity slowly. I didn’t want to overdo it and shock myself. As I settled my awareness inside my core, I became aware of the life growing inside. My body brought this developing baby nourishment. By using my magic, I was feeding it with magic. This child would be a Red affinity, like me. Through my actions, the baby was already learning how to use electricity.
Thatch stood feet away, vigilant. He pressed his wand against his side, out of sight but on hand in case he needed it. I thought it was the Morties he feared, but when he tapped me on the shoulder to take a turn at the electricity while I stood watch, he said, “If you should feel anything unusual, magical or otherwise, alert me immediately.”
“Magical?”
“Electrical,” he corrected. “Use your skills to remain aware in the likelihood of Vega’s arrival.”
“Why would she come here? She’s never been here.” At least I didn’t think so.
His tone was somber. “If Vega was at one of the other locations watching for us and followed, she may come here when we’re distracted. It would be best if we leave should she find us.”
“No. Elric’s been searching for her. We need to find her so we know what she’s been up to. She has my unicorn horn—the one Bart willed to me—and the Ruby of Divine Wisdom. I need those to—”
Thatch took hold of my face in his hands. “Listen to me. Vega once was your friend, but she will be different now. Vega is no longer the person you once knew. She has always been power hungry, but now she is full of an incredible amount of power and knowledge. She’s dangerous. If my suspicions about her are correct, she has turned into a demon.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Too Hot to Handle
“How can Vega turn into a demon just by gaining wisdom from—” I stopped short, startled by a sound.
The engine of a car started up around the corner. We waited in silence for the car to drive past us and toward the exit of the lot. I prodded the fabric of my surroundings for anything out of place. I sensed no danger.
Thatch gazed at me sadly. “Vega has done you a great service without even realizing it. You removed the Ruby of Divine Wisdom from its home in another realm, but she is the one who now possesses it. The knowledge and power inside it isn’t meant to exist in this realm. That magic will corrupt her, just as it did with Alouette Loraline. She will use her knowledge to perform horrible crimes against Witchkin, Fae, and Morties. She will become as powerful and uncontrollable as a free djinn.” He squeezed my shoulders. “It was folly to bring the ruby to our dimension. Yet I am relieved she is the one who has it and not you.”
Vega hadn’t turned evil. She’d brought a child back to life. Yet, there had surely been a cost, just as I had sensed before. She must have stolen Dora’s soul from where it was housed to place it back in her body. She probably had robbed someone else to give her adopted daughter her life back. I had known that when I’d possessed the ruby. Vega had known it too. Not that Vega had ever been the most moral Witchkin on the block.
There were many skills I lacked: magic, pragmatism, and good judgment about when not to get involved in a fight I would lose. The one skill I prided myself in was the ability to tell right from wrong—and to do what was right in the end. That had to be why the brothers from the Dragon Court had offered me a place in their home. I was different from everyone else.
I was a good person. I was not Alouette Loraline.
I lifted my chin, certain of myself. “If I had the ruby, I could use that power to harness it against the Raven Queen.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “So that your soul could rapidly decay? So that you could take the queen’s place and rule the world in her stead?”
Is that what would happen if I possessed the ruby? Would I become evil like the Raven Queen? Did that fate await Vega?
“What will happen to Vega?” I asked.
“If she’s an evil demon and full of electrical magic, it is possible she will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Only I cannot fathom what she wants. She’s never been easy to predict.”
That’s because he didn’t know her like I did. I knew what Vega wanted—besides diamonds, dancing, and coffins.
Vega wanted necromancy. Now she was going to get it times one thousand, and the entire world was going to suffer.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The Scarlet Letter
It was only Elric, Thatch, and me at dinner. Vega’s empty chair felt like an ominous warning. I didn’t know whether to be relieved by her absence or hope for her return.
Dinner had just been served when the butler came in with a letter in hand. “I beg your pardon, Prince Elric, but this letter just came. It was delivered to Captain Errol as he stood watch.” The man glanced at Thatch and me and lowered his voice as if he didn’t want anyone else to know. “It comes from the Raven Court.”
Elric broke the seal. I rushed over, nearly shoving the poor butler out of the way in my frantic haste to see what had been written.
Elric retreated from the table, clutching the letter to his chest. “By Nimue! Give me a moment, Clarissa.”
Thatch stood up as well. “Is that Ms. Bloodmire’s handwriting?”
“You are mistaken,” Elric said.
I snatched it away, finding Vega’s signature at the bottom. I didn’t have time to read any more.
Elric removed the letter from my hands. “If you would be patient, I will read it aloud so that we all might benefit from hearing the content.” He seated himself at the table. I hovered behind him, reading it over his shoulder to ensure he didn’t change anything, in case he was afraid my sensitive ears couldn’t handle the truth about something. Thatch crowded behind him, eyes glancing over the page.
Dearest husband,
I confess I’ve gotten myself in quite the predicament. It’s actually quite humiliating, really. I’ve been naughty and got caught using magic in the Morty Realm, and I’m now a captive in the Raven Court. On the bright side, this has given me an opportunity to fully examine the superior architecture of a real Fae castle. It isn’t anything like the paltry cottage where we live. The Raven Queen has a graveyard, a torture chamber, a real crypt that was full of dead bodies, a dungeon, and a complete household of staff. Do you remember when you told me you were going to give me all those things? Not that I’m complaining.
Would you do me a favor and come to my rescue so that Queen Morgaine won’t behead me and send it to you on a silver platter? By the way, the Raven Queen says hello.
And she says she’ll be happy to see you tonight at midnight. She’s even willing to make the trade for Imani and Clarissa’s baby. Don’t forget to bring gifts for the queen, those you intend to tra
de, the information you promised, and those two fucktards, Felix Thatch and Clarissa Lawrence.
Toodles,
Vega Bloodmire
P.S. I’ve got blisters on my ankles and wrists from the cold iron of manacles. Would you be a dear and bring that unicorn horn to heal me?
That didn’t even sound the way Vega spoke—except for the swearing and complaining parts. She didn’t use elevated language, she never asked for help or admitted inferiority in any way, plus she was the most powerful witch in all the land. She could heal herself. She had a huge amount of electrical magic—if the evidence we’d witnessed earlier had been any indication. She could have electrocuted the entire court. Something was off here.
“I thought she already had the unicorn horn,” I said. “She stole it last night. Or this morning.” Perhaps it was some kind of clue.
Elric’s eyes remained locked on to the letter. “Did you notice how Vega said the crypt was full of dead bodies? Do you think she’s now implying now it isn’t?”
Of course, that would be the detail he would focus on. I had never realized how afraid he was of necromancy until the skill had fallen into Vega’s hands. Then again, who wouldn’t be afraid of that in Vega’s hands?
“It’s a trap,” Thatch said. “The Raven Queen has forced Vega to write this letter to lure us in. If Queen Morgaine truly agreed to our bargain, she would have written so herself. By using Vega as a go-between, she can back out later. I’ve seen her do this in the past.”
“But how did she capture Vega in the first place?” It didn’t make sense.
“Vega might have expended all her energy by raising the dead,” Elric said. “It takes a great deal of power to do such feats.”
“We should write another letter, insisting the queen agrees to the bargain herself,” Thatch said.
“But she might hurt Vega in between now and then,” Elric said. “I need to go at midnight. I must find an adequate offering to give the Raven Queen in the place of Vega’s life.”