Blaise’s eyes grew wider than I’d ever seen them. His eyes reflected a scene of wisps, of the dead rising in an illusory dance. I whipped my head around and saw them. Standing in the tree line, close to the river, were the souls of lunas who were trapped in the spirit realm. Or so I thought.
My brother walked out from the middle, his expression sad as he watched us. I closed my eyes, then opened them, blinking twice. They were still there.
“Do I go to them?”
“I think they’re following us,” he said, taking a few steps forward.
My eyebrows knitted together. “André.”
My brother’s spirit pointed past me. I nodded, swallowing thickly, and moved forward. “He wants us to keep going.”
I kept looking back as the spirits followed. André had been right about always being with me. Even though their souls were trapped in the spirit realm, it didn’t mean they weren’t looking out for us as best they could. It wasn’t all a lie. My heart ballooned as I felt their energy guide me forward. André couldn’t speak. Souls didn’t, unless they were in the veil, which only existed in the river. He always stayed several feet back with the others. I stopped, and so did they.
“Blaise,” I said softly. “That’s my brother.”
Blaise half waved, and André gave him a quick nod. “I have to say, for the first time meeting the dead family of my girlfriend, it isn’t all that awkward.”
I laughed, and André looked happy. For a moment, I forgot he was in pain. André pointed forward again, urging us to move, so we did.
“Why don’t they walk beside us?” he asked.
“I think they’re watching for threats.” I didn’t know how I knew. Perhaps it was intuition, or I could sense their intentions. Either way, I felt safe with them.
“Incredible.” Admiration softened Blaise’s features as he glanced behind us. “Remarkable really. Your dead are helping you. All the talk of your culture being a lie isn’t all true.”
He was right. Them being there had actually worked to Blaise’s advantage. I was calm as we stalked through the tall trees.
Blaise’s hand on my lower back earned a look from my brother as Blaise guided us through the darkness of the forest at night. André shot me a knowing look. Even in death, he managed to make me chuckle. The souls were almost transparent, but they were alight in a pure white, brightening the forest, illuminating the skulls and bones sticking out from the undergrowth and soil.
We slowed when we saw three dark figures moving in the shadows ahead: one tall, one short, and the other Vahaga. His robes gave him a sacred appearance. They moved back from gusts of winds as they swept through, blowing leaves in our direction.
André’s angered stare forced me into action. Holding onto the dagger, I inhaled sharply. “I don’t want to kill the guards.” They would be yet more collateral damage, but I didn’t see how else I could do it. Once they saw my face, it would be game over. I could leave no loose threads this time.
The spirits danced past me, glowing brighter as they raced toward Vahaga and the two men. My next breath caught in my throat when they reached them. The spirits drained energy from the two men, bringing them to their knees, and left them asleep on the ground. Vahaga’s staff burned brightly, sizzling against his skin. They must have used the energy they’d stolen from the guards to force enough sparks of magic to destroy his staff.
Vahaga shouted something at them, and I screamed. Elder ancestors came, several of them. Dark fingers grappled the dead ones who helped me, pure white forms. My brother fizzled out, leaving me crying into the night.
“Love!” Blaise tugged me back, and I looked toward where Vahaga stood. Guardless. My brother and the rest of the dead had forced the guards to sleep so they wouldn’t die. They saved them so I could kill Vahaga.
I made sure whatever punishment they would receive wouldn’t be in vain. I sprinted forward, uncloaking myself when I reached him so he’d know it was me who’d bested him.
The dagger trembled in my fingers as his snakelike eyes latched onto mine, surprise in his as I thrust the dagger downward. He caught it in time and twisted my wrist until I screamed.
“I knew you were treacherous, to your father and now to your high priest.”
“I know about the spirit realm and the elder ancestors,” I spat. “You, my father, and the former kings all know.”
“Most knew. Not all. Your cousin didn’t.”
“Or me! Because you knew I’d fight you on it.”
His gaze narrowed. “Lunas are powerful because of me and the elders. You should be grateful.”
I heard Blaise come up behind me. “Don’t!” I shouted at him. “He’s mine to kill.”
Vahaga sneered. “You’re making a mistake. The ancestors will come after you.”
I shook my head. “So many souls are being tortured. Our people! You are the traitor, to our people.”
“Letting the people believe in something is the best thing for this kingdom. If you were any kind of queen, you would know it too.”
I spat through gritted teeth, “I’m the queen who will set them free. The ancestors, not the elders, will be set free, and when they are, they can choose to remain here if they wish, or they can find peace. It will be their choice.”
“Choices.” He laughed sinisterly. “They don’t know what they want,” he said, referring to the lunas and spirits in the spirit realm. “They need to be told what to do. If you begin giving people choices, they’ll bring the world down on themselves.”
“You underestimate people. My brother and other spirits of my ancestors helped me tonight. Because of them, I get to watch you join the place I will seek to destroy.”
“Kill me,” he spat. “You’ll be caught. There are those who know you killed Amos. I found out the truth. You were seen in Magaelor. You lied about being kidnapped.”
“I did.” My eyes widened. “I watched him die because he was wrong for this kingdom. He only brought Magaelor war and pain, and you bring nothing but corruption and lies.”
He weakened for a moment. Taking the opportunity, I swung myself around, pulling my wrist from his grip. I pressed the dagger against his throat, staring viciously into his soul. I wanted to watch it fade. “You can join your precious Amos and the elders, but I will still remain queen.”
He scoffed a laugh, and with an absence of fear in his gaze, he said, “You wouldn’t dare.”
I dragged the blade across his throat, relishing in his gurgled words as he collapsed like a puppet who’d had its strings cut. Crimson liquid soaked the ground, splattering leaves and twigs around us. I licked my lips. The anumi in this part of the forest would smell the blood sooner or later and wouldn’t leave any part of him left to find.
The dagger trembled my hand, my nails soaked in blood and mud. I bit down on my bottom lip, tilting my head as I stared at Vahaga’s body. Blood pumped out with each beat of his faint heart until it turned into a steady stream and the last breath left his thin lips.
“Blaise.” My throat dried at the end of his name. “Fly the guards out of here before they wake. I don’t want to leave them to the anumi.”
“Love?”
“Just do it, Blaise.” Tears blurred my vision. I thought I’d feel happy once he was dead, but instead, I felt nothing but hurt. He’d lied to us, and the betrayal made me numb.
I felt Blaise wrap his arm around my chest. I turned, and he pulled me against him. He held me as I cried. He must have thought I was mad to cry when I’d completed my mission, but truth was, I was grieving the loss of something sacred. I reminded myself the souls who had helped me tonight were still there, and I could help them.
Blaise kissed my temple, snapping me back to reality.
“Fly them out.”
He lifted me against him and into the air. The air whooshed from my lungs as the dagger tumbled from my grip. “Blaise!”
“You must have lost it if you think I’m not getting you out of there first. Like I said before, love. I�
��ll always put you first.”
We circled upward, and I watched the silhouette of Vahaga’s body fade away, merging with the shadows of the trees.
TWENTY-SEVEN
News broke of Vahaga’s disappearance. Nothing had been found of him; I was right, the anumi had come. Morgana eyed me across the bed. “They came here first.”
“As expected.” I lowered my voice to a whisper. Even though the chances of anyone listening in on us was unlikely, I wasn’t taking risks anymore. “Luckily, you had plenty of witnesses of you never leaving your room.”
“You did the right thing. The cards foretold a dark future with him alive.” She lowered her voice too and gazed over her steaming tea at me. Her brown eyes rounded, reflecting the window behind me, which was pouring with midmorning blue light. Her cards were shuffled on the round table between us. She was back to her old ways. I’d filled her in on everything she didn’t already know.
My stomach knotted. “André wouldn’t have told me to kill him unless it was important.”
“Vahaga would have been the death of you, or you the death of him.” She sipped her tea through a small smile. “Fortunately for us all, you got to him first.” Wisdom aged her eyes, but the rest of her face remained taut and youthful for her forty years. “Moving on to the…” she whispered, “necromancer. I believe your plan will work. We shall go to Niferum, use the souls left behind from the battle, and kill him. I had some of the books you had in your library brought to me. Blaise helped me with that.”
“He helped you?”
She nodded slowly, the corner of her lips tugging. “Why wouldn’t he?”
“He just… surprises me sometimes.”
She sipped her tea some more, amusement in her eyes. “I never thought I’d see it.”
“What?”
“You. In love. Actually opening yourself up to another person.”
I rolled my eyes. “I opened myself to you.”
She shook her head. “Not completely.” She set her cup on the table. “I’m happy for you, truly.”
I inhaled sharply, fumbling my fingers on my lap. “Blaise needs to go back this week. He’s been away from Lepidus for too long, so we can travel with him to the border. But, Morgana, he wants to help us get rid of the necromancer.” I clicked my tongue, but she nodded.
“Of course he would. He’s in love with you.”
I pushed a lock of hair from my eyes. I would never tire of hearing that. “I know.”
She pointed at the small stack of books next to the bed, their ancient leather spines dull under the powdered light. “As I was saying, about your plan working, well, Winter, you were right. There’s nothing written about how to kill this necromancer, because no one has succeeded.” She placed her index finger in the air, halting my next words. “But there were others before him. One was killed with the Dagger of Ruin, and if an Object of Kai killed him, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t work on another.”
I’d gone through those books and found nothing. She always had a way of finding exactly what was needed. I stood, looking at the window. “Good.” The blue of the sea melted with the teal sky, waves crashing in the distance. “I’m so close to the end, Morgana. I can feel it.” My fingers twitched by my side. “With Vahaga gone, then the necromancer, that will only leave the spirit realm.” The weight of the last was crushing. “How am I supposed to tell all those people out there they’ve been lied to?”
She cast her eyes downward. “It wasn’t all untrue. You said there were ancestors who helped you take down Vahaga. The elders, and those in power who knew what was happening, are the corrupt ones, but not everyone else. Not the rest of the souls. We use spirit, the fifth element, and while the elders had us redirecting our magic into their created dimension, we can still use the blessed element when that realm is gone. It’ll just be different. Before the spirit realm was created, it is said many used spirit by harnessing the ashes and bones of their loved ones. It wasn’t the same as what we use now. We have immediate access to great power, and we know why, but all death leaves behind traces of energy and magic, and sorcerers used to harness it to protect their homes and create barriers to keep out creatures like the anumi.” She hurried to the bed, picked up one of the books, and licked her lips as she stared at it. “This is filled with the history of the earliest settlers of Magaelor. Read it. Learn from it. Use it to guide Magaelor toward a new understanding of magic.”
“I knew you’d have the answers.” Tears glossed my eyes, but I blinked them back. “You always do.” I took the book from her hands and hugged it to my chest. “I’ll read it each night.” I sat back down, blowing out a tense breath. Morgana had lightened the crushing weight on my shoulders, as always, but I still had one more thing to ask her, and I wasn’t sure how to broach the subject.
“Questions do best when not left to linger,” she said.
I pressed my lips into a hard line. “Do you think I’m a bad person?” I knew she’d tell me the truth, even if it hurt.
She quirked an arched eyebrow. “No.”
“But I feel no remorse for Vahaga or my father,” I said. I’d begun to wonder if after everything I’d gone through, all the pain had turned inward and blackened my soul. Even without the necromancer, I still felt so much anger and hurt.
“You did what you had to do. Besides, bad people don’t question if they’re bad.” She smiled softly. “There is a lot of gray area between heroes and villains, Winter. You fall somewhere in between, and it only makes you human.”
“I get so mad sometimes,” I replied. “To the point where I want to hurt people.”
She closed her eyes for a few seconds. “I know you want me to tell you there’s a magical reason for your rage, but there’s isn’t. It’s a trait you have that you need to work on. We all have darker parts of ourselves we want to hide from the world. Be glad you’re aware of yours. Most people aren’t.”
I swallowed thickly. I didn’t know what to say. It was what I needed to hear, but every now and then, I had a horrible feeling like I was one more heartbreak away from tipping over the edge into becoming dark. “So all the bad things I feel is normal?”
She tapped her finger against her lips. “Like I said before, you’re human. We may be sorcerers, but we are humans first, and people are messy. There have been many times where I’ve wanted to hurt someone.”
“Like when?”
“When Licia lied to me about his plan to use the necromancer. I connected with him and trusted him…” Her eyelids flickered. “For him to turn around and not help when I needed it. I told him I was being possessed and was close to losing control.” She went quiet for a moment. “He didn’t want to involve himself, he said, and I knew why. He wants to use the necromancer for his own gain.” She scoffed. “I considered sending a small curse his way, and just the thought helped me move through the hurt quickly. But I am much older than you and have experienced the sting of heartache many times.” She paced at my side but stopped to run her hand along my hair, like she did when I was a child. “You have been through so much for a girl your age, and you have overcome obstacles that would kill many. If you didn’t want to occasionally shoot a curse someone’s way or hurt someone, I really would believe something’s wrong. You’ve not given into those urges born from hurt, and one day, you’ll realize you have more control of those darker thoughts than you thought possible.”
I ran my fingers along the leather cover of the book sitting on my thighs. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. I wish you’d be my royal advisor, but I know you wouldn’t say yes.”
She shook her head, a smile lingering on her lips. “An advisor is too extroverted for me, but Adius, I am certain, is a perfect candidate. You can always come to me anyway if you need advising. I’ll always be here for you.”
“I know.” I stood and placed the book on the table. She wasn’t shy of affection completely, giving into moments where she’d give me the odd hug or stroke my hair when I needed it, but Morgan
a wasn’t the most outwardly doting person. However, I could tell she needed to be hugged as much as I did. I wrapped my arms around her, and she glanced up, then sighed, smiling. She pulled me tighter, and I could smell the hints of heather, lavender, and jasmine on her dress.
“You need to go to Blaise,” she said, realizing the time. “It’s going to be midday soon.”
My eyebrows furrowed. Did I have a plan to meet him? Not that I didn’t want to see him, but I’d made no time to see him today.
She pulled away. “He received a letter late last night.”
I inhaled deeply. We had returned to the castle under the cover of night after I’d killed Vahaga. He’d taken my robes to burn, which were coated in Vahaga’s blood. I’d returned to bathe, then passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. “A letter from whom?”
Her forehead wrinkled. “Kiros.”
My stomach dipped. “Why would he be writing to Blaise?”
“You should ask him.”
***
The fire hissed when Blaise stabbed the poker between charred logs. They finally settled and crackled, emitting a warmth that pushed against the cold draft seeping into the office. The head of the anumi had finally been taken down. I didn’t want any reminders of the man who called himself my father.
Blaise sat back in the chair, kicking his legs up on the table, and swirled a glass of scotch in one hand. In the other, he waved a letter.
I rolled my eyes at his boyish grin. “Are you going to give it to me?”
“It was addressed to me, love.”
“Really?” I looked at him deadpan. “I know it’s from Kiros.”
“Patience is a virtue, you know.”
“Now is not the time for games.”
He smirked. “I’ll give it to you when you’re calm.”
Naturally, it made me the opposite of calm. “Blaise!”
The Fate of Crowns: The Complete Trilogy: A YA Epic Fantasy Boxset Page 74