Iron Heinrich

by A. B. Keuser

  “We only ran into the three places where it might have been an issue….”

  Heinrich held up a hand, his palm was covered by the silver shine of a mirror.

  “All I need is a single beam.”

  “If only we could catch moonlight in a jar and keep you around indefinitely,” Silvia said.

  Max brushed her cheek with the back of his gloved fingers. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Ivy cleared her throat nearby. “Silvia. You’re neglecting the other guests.”

  She rolled her eyes and looked at the knight who wore a dress that echoed her normal gear. Forest green, sewn with a vine and leaf pattern in a delicate silver.

  “They’re not here to see me.”

  Heinrich stepped between them, movement’s still too stiff. “I recall you threatened me with a dance. It’s time you fulfilled that promise.”

  Ivy frowned, glanced away from him and then turned back with a defeated nod. “I can’t go back on my word—even if I don’t remember giving it—now can I?”

  She took his arm, but glanced backward, “Don’t forget to mingle.”

  Silvia watched them go and silently thanked Heinrich as he stepped onto the dance floor with her. “I would ask you to dance, but Heinrich has already warned me that you have the grace of a toddler in soupy mud when it comes to moving with music.”

  She winced when Heinrich closed his eyes in that telltale sign that the metal dug into his skin once more.

  Max placed his hand on the small of her back and leaned in close.

  “We’re so close,” He said. “I know we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

  “And then we’ll still have your problem to solve.”

  “It’s inconvenient… but it’s not going to kill me. If I have to spend the rest of my life like this… at least I will be able to spend it with the two of you. Assuming you’ll have me.”

  “I’m not okay with it. You shouldn’t have to suffer because she is an awful creature.”

  “Who is an awful creature?”

  Silvia flinched as her mother descended on them, eyes searching as she studied Max.

  “You have not introduced me to our uninvited guest.”

  “I invited him, therefore he was invited.” Her mother smiled and Silvia knew there was no point in keeping him from her any longer. “May I present, Maximilian Defreaux, prince of Ferrian.”

  Max bowed. “Deposed prince of Ferrian. I would kiss your hand, but even through gloves, I fear the iron in my blood might harm you.”

  “How considerate.” She paused, looking him over. “Deposed, are you? I assume then that you are not Hagnesophia’s son… you are certainly too old if the reports are true. “

  “My stepmother did not want competition for her progeny to take the throne.”

  Smiling, her mother turned to her. “If you like him, you can keep him…. He comes with the added bonus of annoying Hagne. I enjoy that more than I probably should.”

  She moved away, her dress dragging behind her like a wedding veil.

  Silvia let out a sigh, “Sorry about that. Sometimes she even thinks of me as a possession.”

  “But she thinks of me as yours. That’s not so terrible.”

  He returned his hand to the small of her back, and she had to stop herself from leaning into him. The only thing that kept others from joining them was the uncertainty that still filtered through the room around them.

  They eyed him as though he was something to be feared, or avoided. As though they thought of him as an iron toad, and not the man he was.

  Even in the glittering room that surrounded them. She couldn’t forget the trials ahead of them.

  “If we don’t figure it out tonight, I am telling my mother.”

  Before he could answer her, the entire ballroom went silent, every head turned toward the stairs.

  Silvia grabbed his hand and tried to remember how to breathe. “She was not supposed to be here.”

  *

  Max had considered a lot of different ways the evening could have gone wrong. There was always the possibility that the sky would be so overcast the moon’s light wouldn’t be able to peek through. Her mother could have decided his presence was an insult. Heinrich could have been in too much pain to move.

  But it was supposed to be a happy night. A chance for the three of them to enjoy each other’s company outside the walls of the tower before they were forced back to work.

  He had not considered that his father and stepmother would attend. Snubbing Miranichelle’s invitation would have made more sense.

  They were incredibly late, and luckily, they had not yet seen him. He glanced quickly around the ballroom, but Miranichelle was nowhere to be found. Without her, they were all three at risk.

  A gasp from the crowd told him they would not be able to disappear back into the castle.

  Hagne’s power flowed over him, dark and oily.

  “It seems this party has vermin that needs to be exterminated.”

  Silvia turned before he had a chance and placed herself in front of him. “You are in Argentelle. You have no authority here.”

  Hagnesophia stood to full height and Silvia took a step back, bumping into his chest.

  “I still have some authority, Silverblood.”

  Silvia stood her ground. “Not within these walls.”

  Hagne studied her for a moment, her eyes flicking to him and Heinrich. Something wicked passed through her iron eyes, and he knew that she knew. Falling in love with Silvia had only made her a target of Hagnesophia’s wrath.

  “Too bad your lovers are days from death.” She held up her hand claws wiggling at her. “I could speed that process along.”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  Max gripped her arms tighter. He couldn’t imagine what Hagne might do to her. Where was her mother?

  “Don’t you think you’ve done enough?” Max tried to step around her but she wouldn’t allow it. “I’m never coming back—why would I want to? You won, now go home and put more of your subjects on strings. I have cut mine and your rule is something I will never deign to respect again.”

  “She doesn’t care that you’re gone.” Heinrich said from somewhere behind her. “She wants you to suffer and then she wants you to die. Cruelty is the only thing that brings her satisfaction.”

  Hagne smiled, the expression confirmed Heinrich’s statement.

  She clenched her fist, and his world went dark.

  THIRTEEN

  The room fell into a heavy silence, all eyes turned on the dark fairy queen. Her iron wings wavered rigidly as she cast a cruel smile around the room. It sent a shiver down Silvia's spine. She wasn't supposed to be here.

  Max gripped her arms pulling her back against his chest, and she looked for Heinrich. He was still with Ivy and the expression on both of their faces was enough to tell her Ivy knew more than she let on. Heinrich, no doubt, wanted his sword. He glanced their way, but did not move. If he came to them in so still a crowd, it would only draw attention, and if the iron fairy wanted both men dead, she would have to go through Silvia to accomplish it.

  Hagne didn’t wait for Heinrich to come to them. She twisted her clawed fingers and Max went rigid behind her. A sweep of her hand, and dark magic dragged Heinrich to them. Hagnesophia smiled and glanced around as though she expected applause.

  Silvia felt sick from that smile.

  A ball of black and iron spun itself together in Hagnesophia’s hand and she threw it toward them all. Heinrich grabbed her, throwing her out of the way.

  The magic was strong, the metal tasted wrong, and it sped from her, hitting Max and Heinrich in the chest. They were thrown like rag dolls.

  Max’s head hit the far wall with a heavy thunk, his body followed a second later, and he hit the floor with a sickening crunch.

  Heinrich slammed against a column, his eyes wide as he gasped for air.

  The other guests hurried away from them, shrinking back to the far edges of the room. Her mother was
irritatingly absent.

  She started forward, but Druan Kimmler grabbed hold of her arm. When she shook him off, he lunged at her. Thanks to Mina's training, she caught him. Even in her tight dress she managed to twist him around, using his momentum to let him crash to the ground.

  His shoulder bled through his dress jacket. “So you’re the first one.”

  Ivy was at her side in an instant, green gown fluttering with the quick movement. She had a sword, though Silvia couldn't imagine where she'd gotten it.

  "Move again and I will stain the floor with your blood." Ivy held the blade to the man’s throat.

  Silvia glanced back at Heinrich, pressed back against the wall, gasping for air, his face was ashen. Despite the overwhelming urge to rush to him, she knew the only way to stop his pain lay in Hagnesophia's magic.

  The fairy was sipping champagne as though the rest of the room had not plunged into chaos. She spoke quietly with her king as others moved to try to help Heinrich and Maximillian. The flow of movement was away and around her, like she was a rock in the middle of a rushing stream.

  Isabelle appeared by her side. “We need to get our hands on her. The silver in our blood will burn her, even through our skin. She’ll have to focus on getting us off her and it will break whatever spell she has holding them.”

  Isabelle pulled off her gloves and motioned for her to do the same. “Should I get Mina?”

  “Not unless she’s at least half-fairy. A second dilution makes the gold in her blood a minor irritation.”

  Isabelle left her, circling out and to the side.

  Watching her a moment, Silvia pushed through those still heading for the men she loved... or the door, she had no idea which and couldn't spare the time to look. Her steps were cautious, methodical. She needed to get close enough to the fairy. Her blood, only partially diluted would save her from the worst of Hagne's spells, but there was no telling exactly what she could do. She cursed herself for not asking her mother about it long ago.

  She stood behind her, and saw Isabelle using the king to block her from Hagne’s view.

  The iron king glanced at Silvia once, his eyes filled with an emotion that did not match the flat expression on his face. He could have stopped her, could have warned his queen. Instead he stood idly by.

  Isabelle darted around him and shoved the fairy back. Her hands left smoldering marks on the woman’s opaline skin.

  Screeching, Hagne stumbled backward, all focus on the wounds that left dark handprints on her shoulders.

  Swallowing, Silvia grabbed hold of her too-pale arm.

  The sound that left the fairy's throat should have been enough to shatter the glass around them. She tried to wrench her arm away, but Silvia held tight. She pulled and grabbed Hagne by the throat. The sound stopped and she heard a body hit the floor behind her. Hoping it was Heinrich, released from the spell that threatened to crush him, she pushed the fairy back toward the doors that led out onto the terrace.

  The room around her was full of silver, but none of it was big enough for what she needed.

  The fountain on the terrace was the only thing with enough silver to stop her for good.

  She stumbled on a loose brick before she got three steps out the door and lost her hold.

  Hagnesophia turned on her and Silvia saw death in her eyes.

  In a flash of silver light, her mother stood in front of her, fury and ice. "Touch my daughters again and I will do far worse than drive you from this plane. You may be bound to this world by your weak-willed king and the child you carry, but I have five anchors now. You will not be able to stand against me."

  Hagne opened her slowly healing mouth, but before she could say anything, Silvia’s mother held up a hand, her fingernails lengthening to claws. "I will encase you in silver and display you in our courtyard. You'll be held fast until your king dies, suffering a thousand deaths."

  Shrinking away, Hagnesophia spared one last glare for Silvia and turned.

  "Aren't you forgetting something, Hagne?"

  The iron fairy stopped, her shoulders rigid, and threw her hand behind her, closing it to a fist and pulled, as though dragging something away. The dark oily magic washed over Silvia threatening to choke her, and then it was gone, trailing after Hagnesophia like a cloud of flies.

  As soon as Hagnesophia descended the steps and disappeared into the dark of the night, Silvia turned and ran.

  Slumped against a wall out of the way, where someone had dragged them , both Heinrich and Max were unconscious. She dropped to her knees between them and before checking Max's head—Ivy held a darkening cloth against it—she gingerly touched Heinrich's stomach. When she felt nothing but the softness of his belly, she pulled open his coat and dragged up his shirt. Bruises covered over his stomach and chest, turning his middle into a patchwork painting of purples and blues. But the corset was gone. A cadre of servants arrived and shifted nervously, waiting for someone to tell them what to do with the men.

  "Take them to my room. And be careful. Heinrich probably has several broken ribs, and Max..." She glanced at Ivy.

  "He's banged up, but I don't think it's serious. His head is a shallow wound, Mina says he hit it on one of the fainting couches as the rest of his body hit the wall."

  Glancing back toward her best friend, she gave her an appreciative smile. "Sorry we had to ruin your party."

  "Aside from them getting hurt, it was actually pretty fun. Didn't I tell you my attacks were for your own good?"

  FOURTEEN

  Silvia sat in her room, the dim light of dawn wrapping around her as she watched Max and Heinrich sleep.

  Their faces were slack, seemingly the visages of placid dreamers. She only hoped that was the case. Her mother had spelled them, the party finally beginning to wind down downstairs. They were free of their curses… free to leave.

  She swallowed the ugly thought that came with that. Choice was important.

  Ivy had left them… what felt like hours ago. She’d promised to check in later, but when the door opened behind her, she knew the knight was not the one who came to see her.

  Her mother moved through the room silently, a shadow within a shadow. Silvia didn’t react. Whatever she was here to say, she would say in her own time.

  “You love them, don’t you?” She asked as she sat beside Silvia.

  Nodding, Silvia said, “But I’m not sure if it matters anymore.”

  “It always matters.”

  Her mother scowled at the bed, and Silvia was certain she wanted to say something else. She wasn’t certain she wanted to hear it.

  “Why didn’t you come to me earlier?”

  “I was dealing with iron. You hate iron. And besides that… I have so few secrets from you, I wanted them to be something entirely my own.”

  “Did you know that since you’ve slept with Maximillian, it has been difficult for me to find you?”

  Silvia looked at her, wondering where this was going.

  “The iron in him… your connection… it clouds you from my vision. The copper in Isabelle’s husband—in their daughter—conceals her from me too.”

  “That’s why it took you so long to come back to the ballroom.”

  “With Hagnesophia in the same room, it was impossible to see you at all. I didn’t notice at first.” She smiled and took Silvia’s hand. “You held your own, though. Mina is proud.”

  “Maybe she’ll stop attacking me now.”

  “Probably not.” Her mother laughed lightly. “And you’ll be interested to know that she’s decided to stay on another month or two. She has it in her head that you’ll let me plan a wedding soon.”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself. They may not stick around once they find out they’re free men again.”

  Her mother shook her head and Silvia watched her watching Max and Heinrich.

  “How were things in the aftermath?” Silvia asked, just to fill the silence.

  “The guests are happy, Mina has managed to enthrall them all with a d
emonstration.” Her voice was light—amused. “She finally got Ivy to fight her.”

  “Did our timid knight win?”

  “Of course not. Mina toyed with her for a while, but there was no chance she’d win.”

  Silvia nodded and finally looked at her mother. Her hair glittered in the dim light, her onyx skin seeming a void in the darkness. She sat rigidly, her clockwork wings folded in and tucked neatly behind her back.

  “When you forced her out….” Silvia pursed her lips and tried to figure out the right wording. Before she found it, her mother spoke.

  “You know what the other anchor is.” Her mother glanced at her with a patronizing glare. “You’ve slept with them both, numerous times and you’ve neglected to be careful about it. It was bound to happen eventually.”

  Silvia did not want to ask how her mother how she possibly knew that.

  Smiling, her mother looked down at the two men in Silvia’s bed. “Did you know that when you’re completely and perfectly happy, I sense it?”

  “No.”

  “I haven’t felt that from you in years. I’m sure I’m partly to blame. After all, I’m not the best at hiding what I want for you.”

  Standing, her mother placed a hand on her shoulder. “They’ll come through this. I may not be able to undo all the damage the iron has wrought on them, but the worst is over.”

  Swallowing, Silvia nodded and turned her attention back to the men in her bed. She knew her mother wouldn’t lie to her. The door opened, spilling more light into the dim space.

  “I may come check on you again.” Her mother paused at the doorway. “When they’re back to fighting fit, you will move into the suite. You’re going to take over this kingdom when your father dies, and I won’t hear another word about it.”

  Silvia didn’t argue. The room they were in now was too small for three… or four. Swallowing the terrified excitement that came with that thought, she settled down in the chair and waited for them to wake up.

  She’d need to tell them.

  They’d need to decide.

  *

  Heinrich woke to bright sunlight and the sharp chirp of birdsong. He was in a familiar bed, he was naked, and he was definitely not alone. His ribs felt broken… but not breaking.