She wanted to stop in the middle of the hallway and demand he give her more detailed answers, but she wasn’t going to press her luck with the queen. “I guess that’s why no one would train me.”
Shayan cursed beneath his breath. “We are artisans, not healers. If any close family had the gift—”
“But they don’t. And no one else would work with a half-human.” Maddy glanced at the ancient tapestries lining the walls. It had made less sense until she’d come here. Until she’d seen how very different their societies were. “It’s probably for the best.”
He scanned her face, his expression darkening with each bruise he spotted. “Who hurt you? I will demand redress for each mark.”
Maddy snorted. “I’m afraid it’s mostly on me. They might have put a hood over my head, but I’m the one who tried to explore the room with her face. Anyway, it sucks, but I can’t really blame them for the bruises.”
She heard a choked sound from Fen, and Anna gave her right wrist a light tug. “You know it wasn’t your fault.”
“No, it was not,” her father affirmed. “I would love to know why General Tobenn is so jumpy. Blindfolding is not standard without good cause, and nothing I’ve heard would warrant it. Did they do the same to Meren?”
Maddy thought back to when he’d been brought into the holding room and shook her head. “Not as far as I know.”
Her father’s eyes hardened. “Yes, redress must be demanded.”
She couldn’t stop glancing over at him, even as they passed through a hallway lined with stained glass windows. But she couldn’t have said what the designs looked like since Shayan’s face held a story more fascinating than whatever the artist had designed into the glass. On Earth, her father was quiet and steady, but here, he was different. Harder, more unyielding, and a tad bit uncomfortable.
“Are you ever going to tell me why you left?”
He blinked in surprise. “Perhaps, but not today. Probably not tomorrow, either.”
“I’ll tell you when you’re older?”
“Basically.” Her father smiled. “But I will say that I don’t regret a moment.”
At least there was that. “I’m sure Mom will be happy to hear that.”
Shayan chuckled. “I’m sure she would.”
With each step, the hallways became finer, and the sheer grandness of the place finally captured Maddy’s attention enough for closer examination. Like on Moranaia, even the walls were carved with decorations, in this case tiny, exquisite leaves and flowers. Hard floors gave way to thick carpet that softened their steps, and the windows overlooking the city below were interspersed with priceless statues and fine tapestries. She’d assumed the queen had planned to take them to a formal receiving room, not the actual family wing, but now Maddy wasn’t so sure.
Before she could ask her father if this was normal, Queen Lera led them into a small sitting room. One guard left, closing the door behind himself, and the other stationed herself against the wooden frame, her hand on her sword hilt. The queen gestured toward the chairs grouped in a loose circle near the fireplace on the far wall.
“Shall we?”
Maddy exchanged what the hell? looks with Fen and Anna, but all three of them found seats. This time, Fen placed himself at her right side, and Anna sat on her left. How long would it take them to stop hovering over her after this? Anna shifted her seat slightly closer while Fen stretched his foot out until it almost nudged hers, and she smiled.
Probably a long time.
After Shayan took the chair beside Anna, the queen plopped down in the other seat like a teenager pleading exhaustion, and Maddy couldn’t do anything but stare. Especially when Queen Lera tipped her head back against the cushion and shoved her fingers between her tight braids to massage her scalp. Where had the icily formal woman gone?
“Your Majesty?” Shayan asked, shock lifting his tone.
“It’s really ‘Your Highness,’ you know.” The queen’s fingers rubbed at her scalp so hard it had to hurt instead of help. “Of course, you know that. You’re older than I am. Please just call me Lera. For the love of the divine, I miss being called simply Lera.”
Not even Fen seemed to have a comeback to that. He, Anna, and Shayan all stared at the queen with the same shock Maddy felt. Something was going on here. Something important.
Finally, Lera sat up, straightening her spine until it looked ready to snap. She lowered her hands to her lap so calmly that the previous moment was almost an impossible memory. “Forgive my lapse. I am weary beyond words, and now there is Meren’s claim on top of it all.”
Good grief. Hopefully, there was an explanation forthcoming, because Maddy had no clue what ‘it all’ might entail. “It’s okay.”
“No.” Lera sighed. “It isn’t, but I am beyond my endurance to make it so.”
Maddy’s father leaned forward. “Is there something I can do to help, Your…”
“I meant what I said about calling me Lera, at least in this room. I can certainly trust Sen’s—” A curious blush reddened the queen’s cheeks. “Lord Senolai’s brother, and by extension, the rest of the family.”
Her father didn’t question the slip, but Maddy wanted to learn the story behind it almost as much as she wanted to find out about her father’s past. She knew better than to question, though. “Trust us with what?” she asked instead.
Lera grimaced. “I need you to examine my mother.”
“Queen Tatianella?” Shayan asked. At Lera’s wry glance, he snorted. “Of course. Who else?”
Maddy couldn’t look away from Lera’s exhausted, almost defeated, expression as every rumor she’d ever heard flipped through her head. No one knew why Queen Tatianella had yielded her power to her daughter, and although there had been some grumbling, the Seelie had accepted Princess Lera as regent. Most had assumed that the queen had been afflicted with the energy poisoning, but Arlyn of Moranaia had cleared that months ago.
Right?
This made no sense. “You were about to lock me up in the prison tower, and now you want me to examine the queen?”
“I saw the way you and your mates fought Meren, and the way you purified that poison… I believe you might be able to help, if only to bring clarity to the situation.” Lera skimmed her gaze across the three of them, finally settling on Fen. “And you. Whispers tell me the lost prince of the Unseelie worked with Kien during the energy poisoning that affected both realms. Is that correct? If so, you will be able to identify Kien’s poison if that is the cause.”
Fen’s foot twitched against Maddy’s. “I owe you nothing, especially after the way you treated my mate.”
“Did my general strike you, Maddy?”
“No,” she answered honestly. “But the hood didn’t exactly help me navigate.”
Lera’s eyebrows lowered with temper as she inclined her head toward Maddy. “General Tobenn is perhaps overzealous with humans. She will be reprimanded.”
“I am as much Sidhe as human,” Maddy said softly.
Lera nodded. “So I believe. But the general is…older. My grandfather’s ways were different.”
Damn. The general hadn’t appeared that old.
Then Shayan spoke—and blew Maddy’s mind. “Only different among the unpleasant. There’s a reason I avoided Tobenn during our schooling.”
How…how had she not known her father’s age? She’d been aware he’d lived a long time before coming to Earth, but over a thousand years? Maddy struggled to remember what she’d learned about her Seelie history, but after the day she’d had, she couldn’t pull up anything resembling an exact date for the old king’s death.
“I give my word that she will be dealt with.” Lera said, her comment seemingly for Shayan but her focus on Maddy. “So. Will you help me? It is much to ask, but this boon would do a great deal to solidify peace between the Seelie and Unseelie. Similar to your unlikely union.”
Maddy closed her eyes as fear and doubt assailed her. She was nowhere near mastery—or even com
petence—and this was the queen. The most important person in the Seelie realm. Who was she to try to help?
Anna’s hand closed around her left and Fen’s her right. As their energies mingled, her mind flashed to the moment they had stood against Meren. Maybe if they worked together like that, they could find out what was wrong with the queen. They didn’t have to be able to solve it, after all. They could always call in Lial or Vek, who had helped with Sparrow.
Maddy took a deep breath and opened her eyes. “An examination is all I can promise.”
Chapter 36
Anna let Fen and Maddy take the lead as they followed the queen through a door hidden behind a panel and then down a narrow passage. It was only the four of them—Shayan had stayed in the sitting room with the guard. Being shown a secret tunnel was a surprising display of trust. Then again, Lera was counting on them to help with the true queen, so this trust wasn’t really bigger than that.
If only Anna had a clue what she was supposed to contribute.
Maddy was a healer. Fen had knowledge of the poisoned energy spell that Kien had imbued in Earth’s energy. But what good was water magic? She could purify their drinking water, but that wasn’t going to help the queen. She would probably end up observing again as she had when Vek healed Sparrow. If nothing else, she could supply energy to her mates.
The room they entered was huge, and the right side was dominated by a massive bed on a raised platform. It was every medieval-enthusiast’s dream. Elaborately carved and painted bedposts held up a gorgeous canopy, and privacy drapes made of the richest fabric Anna had ever seen were tied against the posts with rope that might have been woven from gold.
There was so much going on that it took her a moment to spot the queen’s form beneath the piles of blankets. Anna had expected someone older-looking, even knowing about the long lifespans of the fae, but Queen Tatianella could have been Lera’s older sister. A very sick and gaunt older sister, anyway.
Lera stopped at the head of the bed and waited for the rest of them to step closer. Maddy and Fen went first since their powers were more relevant to the problem. As they studied the queen, Anna continued to examine their surroundings. She couldn’t help herself. Something was…off. It reminded her enough of Meren’s icky energy that she shivered.
Then movement from the other side of the bed caught her eye—an attendant of some sort. The lady stood, curtsied to Lera, and hurried from the room without a word, only pausing to grab an ewer on the way out.
The strange energy faded as soon as the door closed. Almost gone, if not quite.
“When Mother first became ill, she tossed and turned a great deal,” Lera began. “We struggled to keep her calm and quiet. But the more the energy poisoning dissipated, the more still she became. Now… Well, you can see the now.”
Anna didn’t know a great deal about analyzing another’s health, not the way Maddy did, but even she could see that the queen’s condition wasn’t right. The blankets barely moved with the woman’s breath, and if she was any paler, Anna would have thought she was dead. Why hadn’t Lera tried to find help before the queen got this bad?
“You’ve been giving her water?” Anna asked.
Lera gave her a perplexed frown. “Of course. Although it has been a struggle to get enough water and broth into her of late. It is only a matter of time before the ladies attending her break their oaths of secrecy out of concern.”
“And the water was out of that pitcher?” Now even Maddy and Fen were staring at her in confusion, but Anna kept her focus on Lera. “The one her attendant carried out?”
Clarity washed across the princess’s face. “Yes. It’s something in the water, isn’t it? When I learned of Meren’s betrayal, I began to suspect he was connected. He had worked his way to a high position in this court, even acting as my emissary at times. He was one of the few I let sit with her, in fact. I wanted him retrieved so I could prove his involvement, especially since it could also be a remnant of the other energy poisoning. I don’t know what to think.”
Oh, the poor princess. Something about her seemed younger than the other Sidhe, and she hadn’t had an easy time of taking over for her mother. If the lady hadn’t been a royal from a totally different culture, Anna would have dared a comforting hug.
“I’m not sure, but the water was definitely not normal,” Anna said, squelching her overly friendly instincts. “Maybe it’s just my inexperience using my magic.”
“How about we see what we can find?” Maddy asked, angling herself closer to the bed.
“Wait.” Anna grabbed her mate’s arm before she could touch the queen. “We’re going to join energy, right?”
Maddy nodded. “Right. Of course.”
As soon as they gripped hands and joined energy, Maddy’s worry hit Anna, along with a nice side of Fen’s guilt. “We can do this,” Anna sent.
The emotions she received in return weren’t exactly confident.
“Fen should connect first,” Maddy said. “And I’ll look through his senses the way I did with Meren’s polluted water in the throne room. Maybe that will provide some insulation if my power is troublesome.”
Anna expected Fen to argue, but he let out a soft, resigned sigh and shifted closer to the queen. Maybe their combined talents would work or maybe they wouldn’t. But in this case, action was better than the alternative.
Fen stretched his hand toward the queen and hoped Lera couldn’t see how it shook. They were really going to do this. They were going to use their magic on the queen of the Seelie court, once mortal enemies to his kind and hardly friends now. Not only that, but he might be partially responsible for her current condition. Kien created the poison, but Fen had connected it to the energy field. He’d built part of the web that had put this woman in a coma, and there was every possibility that Meren had manipulated that work.
“Come on, Fen,” Maddy muttered into his head, her nerves heightening his anxiety.
Not that he needed a lot of help.
Quickly, he placed his hand on the queen’s upper arm and allowed Maddy’s power to move through him. A weird sensation like popping champagne bubbles tickled the edge of his awareness, but he didn’t mind. Maddy’s light could never be a burden.
After a surprisingly short time, she retreated. “I thought I would find a shard of poison like the one afflicting Sparrow, but I didn’t. I checked her body and found no mass of darkness.”
“But?”
“Something isn’t right. I just can’t tell what.”
Fen frowned. “Let me look.”
He wasn’t a healer, but he knew all too well what that poison looked like. He’d channeled it into enough crystals for Kien as the crazy fuck had spread his net of sickness around the world. He’d also been bitten by it when the spell had shattered. Unfortunately, he wasn’t adept at scanning people for anything besides the amount of energy he could gather from their blood.
Though Fen did his best, he couldn’t find anything conclusive, either. One moment, he thought he detected a hint of dark energy, but it rushed away before he could be sure. What the hell? There had to be something wrong with the queen. What else could sicken a powerful Seelie queen?
“You’re right,” he said. “But I can’t find it either.”
Frustration pooled between them. What if they couldn’t figure out the problem? The Seelie queen was in bad shape, and he had to assume the healers here had tried to help. He had no clue if their relations with Moranaia were solid enough that Lial or another healer there would have been called. Was there anyone else who could aid them?
“I’ll try again.” Maddy’s mental voice hardened. “As often as it takes.”
When his mate channeled through again, Fen stayed in the background, observing her work. Each section she scanned made him uneasy, but the cause slipped away like oil.
Dammit. Why couldn’t they figure this out?
Maddy knew she was squeezing Fen’s and Anna’s hands far too tightly, but she couldn’t stop hers
elf. It was that or scream, and that would draw a million of the Royal Guard into the room. But honestly, what else could she do at this point? Darkness freckled the queen’s blood like glitter in water, impossible to grasp or contain. What was sustaining it? Where was the origin?
She should have insisted they call for Lial.
After another deep breath, Maddy forced the thought from her mind and prepared to scan again. Maybe if she went really slowly, those trace hints of darkness wouldn’t float away. There had to be some solution. If her healing followed her will, then doubt wouldn’t help.
Anna’s thoughts nudged hers before she could. “How about we try this together? I found some of what sickened Sparrow.”
Maddy almost rejected the suggestion, but then her earlier comparison flashed through her mind. Glitter in water. If there was something in the blood, Anna might have better luck. After all, blood contained a great deal of water. Not to mention that Meren was a possible connecting point, having touched both Sparrow and the queen.
As soon as Maddy gave her assent, they merged more fully, and her ring warmed against her skin as it aided the connection. Together. Somehow, they had to manage.
Rushing through the queen’s body on a wave of Maddy’s power was…something. Anna gasped as Tatianella’s heart filled her awareness. Though she couldn’t affect any of the organs the way Maddy could, Anna was able to observe the rush of blood through tissue. The slow, steady beat was hypnotic, so much that she forgot her own task for a moment.
Anna separated her magic from the others’ ever so slightly until she could use it to examine the queen’s blood. Immediately, she caught sight of the flakes, more numerous than Sparrow’s but similar. Would they run from her as they had Fen and Maddy? She opened her power gently until it flowed and lapped with the rhythm of the blood. Only then did she try to draw near to the tiny intruders. She had almost touched one when she realized what it was and retreated.
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