by Elena Lawson
An icy fist gripped my lungs, though it quickly burned to nothing more than steam as my frustration took over. Could I not have just one day—one day of peace in this godsforsaken place?
I tempered the rising heat with a glance at my crown. It sat atop a deep purple cushion, tucked away above my armoire. I never wore it, but the weight of it seemed particularly heavy lately.
I nodded to Tiernan, disrobing to pull on a proper gown. Tugging my hair into a twist and knotting it into a ball at the nape of my neck. Imagining all sorts of vile things that could have happened. Was it to do with Valin? The Mad King? Perhaps they’d learned something more about the blade, or the stone reflecting the morning sunlight on my finger. I supposed I’d have to wait to find out. “Then let’s go see Finn.”
The guards’ barracks weren’t as I had imagined them. I wasn’t sure what I had imaged, or rather, if I had given much thought to it at all.
It was quaint. Simple. A central living area with horribly poor lighting was what one walked into upon going through the door, furnished with nothing more than some chairs and a table. A half-empty decanter atop it with three glasses strewn around.
Beyond that were three hallways—leading, I assumed to three bedchambers.
Tiernan didn’t bother knocking before entering Finn’s chamber. We found the Draconian in bed, but not asleep. Scrolls and tomes were open around him, a parchment wreath around a Finn center, sitting cross legged and shirtless atop blankets of fur. Trimmer than his twin, but not by much, the Draconian exuded power just as much as Kade. In every glorious muscle.
That’s not why you’re here, Liana.
It took a moment for his gaze to focus on us, but then he was shaking his head, and setting the scroll in his hand back down atop his bed, “What are you—”
“Tell her what you told us last night,” Tiernan said, shoving a pile of parchment out of the way so he could sit down.
The room was made up of nothing but a bed and armoire. I could walk from one end of the bedchamber to the other in no more than six or seven paces. Without disturbing his work, I sat down too, pulse pounding as I waited to hear what he would say.
“It’s a theory,” Finn said solemnly, “But one that seems to make sense no matter how you look at it.”
“What is it?”
Finn pulled out a tome and flipped through the pages until he settled on a drawing of the Blessed Blade. A sharp dagger with an ornate hilt. The hilt set with four—not five—stones. A depiction made before the Mad King had it altered.
“We know what the Blessed Blade does. It steals Graces,” Finn said, pointing to the drawing, “So it would be safe to assume that is the Mad King’s goal. To steal the Graces of other Fae for himself. To get stronger. Or to strengthen any followers he may have.”
I nodded.
“Okay, well a few days ago a female from the North came here to submit a request to the palace guard to help find her missing daughter.”
Why hadn’t I heard about this?
As though he could read my thoughts, Tiernan interrupted Finn, “With everything that was going on with Valin’s return and your training, we thought it best to let the palace guard deal with it.”
“Anyway,” Finn began again, “I started digging—trying to help the palace guard find her,” he rubbed at the back of his neck, averting his gaze, “But—but then I learned something. There have been Fae fourteen reported missing from the Night Court over the last few months.”
My brows furrowed, “That many?” We had known a few were missing, but had chalked it up to simple explanations like elopement or other less nefarious causes.
He nodded, “I’m afraid so. And they all have two things in common.”
“This is the fucked up part,” Tiernan said.
Finn swallowed, “They were all Graced nobles. And they were all last seen within an hour’s ride from the border of the Wastes.”
“The Wastes?”
“If the Mad King lives, he wouldn’t be able to hide for long within the borders of your court. It’s the only place he’d be able to live, unchecked, and without worry of discovery. And it was where that other Draconian was headed—the one who tried to—”
The one who tried to take me.
I knitted the pieces together in my mind, not liking what the finished product would become, even as I saw it all coming together, “So, you’re saying the Mad King is taking Fae nobles from my court. And he’s killing them?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, but yes, that is exactly what I’m saying.”
“How will we find him? We must stop him.”
Tiernan covered my trembling hand with his, “Alaric has already sent two scout parties. They left this morning at first light. If he’s over there—we’ll find him.”
Finn covered my other hand, the both of them lending me their strength. Offering me a silent promise. “And once we know where he is. We’ll destroy him. And this time he won’t be coming back.”
But every moment we wasted. Every moment the Mad King went unfound was a moment he gained. A moment for him to take another life. To steal a Grace. To grow stronger than he was before.
If Finn was right—and he almost always was—we’d have to tell Silas he’d never see his sister again. I’d have to break the same news to thirteen other families. I wouldn’t accept adding even one more name to that list.
And so long as he was growing stronger—so must I. Because I was the only one who could defeat him. I understood then. Why Morgana blessed me with all her Graces—with the Graces bestowed on our family line for generations, all the way back to the gods’ first Gracing. I understood why it had to be me. Because it was time for King Ricon to die.
Chapter Nineteen
It was time to go. The memorial awaited.
My males had convinced me, just for tonight, to set my worries aside. There was nothing we could do to speed up the scout teams’ search. It would be days, or perhaps even weeks before they returned with any news. That was disappointing enough. What was more disappointing was I still had yet to see Aisling. She hadn’t come by, and when Finn and I had gone looking for her that afternoon, Loris said to send her straight to the infirmary if we found her.
She had likely gone to visit family is what Loris said. She did that often, leaving on a whim, saying something about missing her younger brother who had still not completed the change.
I didn’t even know she had a brother.
I hoped she would return by the time we got back from the memorial. If she didn’t, I was prepared to ride to her family home and retrieve her myself. At least to see that she was alright.
My males offered me assurances and words of comfort, but I couldn’t help feeling as though something terrible had happened to her. She wouldn’t just skip out on a planned meeting with her queen—with her friend. At least, not without sending word. Would she?
So, naturally, I was quick to accuse Valin of having done something to her. But Kade had seen Valin just the previous night, alone, and the great war hero had told him he hadn’t seen Aisling since that morning when she left his chambers.
And I was supposed to believe that. Not only that he had nothing to do with Aisling’s sudden departure from the palace, but she’d also lain with the brute. I shook my head at the thought, furiously scrubbing my hair over the edge of the sink. No, she wouldn’t have done that. He was old, and not even remotely attractive.
Not to mention an utter ass.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Relax. Aisling is fine.
Everything would be fine.
Blackened water swirled down the drain as I finished rinsing the oily elixir out. Finn got it from a trader in the village of Elmvale. It would change the color of my hair, but only for a few days. The mixture was clear, but on contact with my hair turned it instantly black as the darkest sky—with a hint of blue when I beheld it in the lamplight.
I had toyed with the idea of cutting it as well but decided against it. The change of hair color and clothi
ng as well as the lack of finery or any coal liner or stain on my lips was enough to hide my true identity.
“Almost finished?” Alaric called from outside the bathing chamber.
“Almost!”
I vaguely heard him mutter something about females before he moved away from the door to wait with the others.
Since discovering my Grace of fire, drying my hair had been a breeze. Sending a gentle wave of dry heat up through my body and into each hair follicle was enough to have it fully dry and tumbling down my back in ebony rivulets. I slipped into the dress Aisling lent me, pulling the laces at the front tight across my chest. The sleeves belled near the ends, and the hem was a little long, but other than that, it fit almost perfectly.
And at least the hem would hide my boots. They were expertly crafted and anyone who knew a thing or two about cobbling would realize their value on sight. I beheld myself in the mirror before leaving, happy with the look of the female reflected at me. She was plain and yet pretty. Her dark hair accentuated her currently lavender eyes. And her simple dress hugged her curves as though it had been made for her.
She was a peasant girl. Through and through. No one would think otherwise.
I swung the door open and traipsed into the parlor where my males waited by the terrace—the two Draconians stretching their wings—readying for the flight.
They turned one by one. And one by one they froze, slack jawed at the sight of me. Alaric was the only one who maintained composure, a silent applause in his eyes and the quirk of his lips.
“Well done,” he finally said. “You look—”
“Normal?”
“Yes, that. But you’re still the most beautiful female I’ve ever seen,” Alaric cleared his throat. Turned to Tiernan, “Keep a close eye on her. I’ll be watching from a distance, but even looking like that, you’ll be fighting off males left and right.”
“Don’t worry. She’ll be well looked after,” he promised, a sly smile stretching across his face.
I huffed, rolling my eyes at them. “Are we all just going to stand here or are we ready to go?”
The flight was a little awkward. Since the five of us were going, Kade and Finn had to take turns carrying Tiernan as well as either me or Alaric. We also had to take regular breaks along the journey, stopping every twenty or minutes or so for them to rest their wings.
“I should have just ridden there on horseback,” Tiernan said for the second time, Arrow coming to land on his master’s shoulder, “I could have already been there waiting.”
“We’re almost there now,” Kade panted, stretching his wings wide and then tucking them in tight against his back, and then out again. “Just another fifteen minutes or so.”
“Come on,” Finn said, reaching out for me, “The memorial will have already begun.”
“You should rest a little longer,” I said, but he shook his head, “Look.” He pointed into the distance, out into the night. We were resting atop a flat plateau of rock and could see in almost all directions. “Higher,” Finn said, tilting my chin up.
And I saw it, a mountain, twice the height of the one we stood on. The top of it vanished amid the clouds. But I could see it, the glow of what I was certain must have been a hundred fires through plumes of white. And I could hear it, too, the cacophonous roar of music, and voices, and the pop and sizzle of flame.
Chapter Twenty
I didn’t know what I expected, but as we rose through the damp clouds and the memorial came into full view, it wasn’t this. It was so unlike anything I’d ever seen. Not a bunch of Fae sad and mourning, no, this was a celebration of life. The top of the mountain didn’t peak as I’d have thought, either. It ended in a wide flat expanse of stone. A plateau.
And at its center was the largest fire I’d ever seen. A hundred yards in diameter at least, with the tallest flames reaching for the stars. The gathered Fae drank and danced and shouted and sang. There seemed to be no differentiating between rank or importance. Nobility and peasant alike wove seamlessly together. If the palace was the head of the Night Court, this was its heart.
And all around, flying in entrancing patterns, or hovering in the air were Draconians. It must have been every single one that remained in my court. Come to memorialize their lost kin.
Alaric nodded to me from the arms of Kade before the Draconian took him in another direction. Finn flew Tiernan and I around the outer edge of the gathering, landing lightly behind an outcropping of rock. Arrow swooped by us, screeching his goodbye, before the falcon dove from the mountainside.
“Alright, take her in,” Finn said to Tiernan, “I’ll follow behind you at a distance.”
I grabbed Finn’s hand in my own before he could shove us off, “This is your night. Don’t worry about me. I’m no one,” I said with a wink.
Though he nodded, and even offered a smirk, I knew he wouldn’t let me out of his sight. At least, not until Alaric took over watch.
Tiernan tugged me away, “Let’s go,” he said, radiant in the light.
We rounded the corner of stone and were nearly swept off our feet by passerby. Tiernan tugged me out of the way, hollering at the others to watch where they were going. I beheld the throng of Fae before me. Some looked at me and some didn’t, but those who did only gave a cursory glance, their eyes flitting away to admire something else. I laughed. I couldn’t help it. And couldn’t seem to make it stop.
This. This was freedom. Wild and unchecked. A people come together for one purpose in peace, reveling in one another and in the beauty of life. Incredible.
To my right was a slab of rock, atop it a barrel. A male stood beside it, forming chalices made entirely of ice with his Grace. He spotted me watching him, and threw me a wink, filling a chalice and pushing it into my hand. It was cold and instantly began to melt against my warm palms.
“Drink it before it melts,” he warned, turning to the other approaching Fae.
Tiernan frowned, holding out his hand for the drink. I rolled my eyes but handed it over. He smelled it first, then took a small swallow. Then a larger one. By the time he handed it back it was half gone, “It’s quite good,” he said with a mischievous grin. “He’s right though, better drink it fast.”
Turning in to Tiernan’s chest, I forced a little ice of my own back into the chalice—just enough to refreeze what had melted.
“There,” I said, turning back around to face the awaiting crowd, “That’s better.”
Tiernan, realizing what I had done, scowled, “You’d better hope Alaric didn’t see that, or he’ll drag you out of here by your ears.”
“He would do no such thing.”
But I anxiously scanned the faces of those around us, looking for Kade, or Finn, or Alaric, but finding no one I recognized. Where were they?
Somewhere on the other side of the roaring fire the sound of drums began to rise. A primal kind of beat. I could feel it in my chest, pulsing as though my it was my own heartbeat.
I took a swallow from the frozen chalice, reveling in the sweet berry wine I found within. I finished the drink in two more swallows and turned, throwing the chalice over the side of the mountain. “Come,” I said to Tiernan, “I want to see.”
I pulled him through the close-knit bodies, weaving around them and the enormous fire. Even from this distance, its intense heat warmed my skin. Almost burning. On the other side of the fire was a group, dressed in nothing more than thin cloth and straps of leather. They beat against the drums in perfect harmony, lost in the rhythm of the thunder. Eyes shut and mouths agape.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” I said, mostly to myself. Watching as Fae began to dance—if you could call it dancing. They swayed their hips, arms raised as though they could feel the music in the air. Some danced together, grinding their bodies against one another. The looks on their fire-lit faces were expressions of pure ecstasy.
“I had no idea the Night Court could be like this,” Tiernan said, watching the dancers with the same awestruck expression
I was sure I also wore. “It reminds me of the Day Court.”
“But don’t you dance naked there? And I’ve heard they also—”
“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he interrupted with a wink. “It really isn’t much different from this court.”
“Dance with me?” I asked him.
He only raised a brow at me. A challenge, “Do you know how?”
My lips pursed, “No. But I won’t pass up the chance to try.”
Because who knew where we’d be next year, or the year after. We’d never be these same people in this same place ever again. I might never get the chance to be Liana the peasant girl ever again. I intended to revel in every second.
With a laugh, Tiernan pulled me toward the drums, “I am yours to command my queen.”
We danced for what felt like minutes but must have been hours. Our bodies tangled together. Sweat making my dress cling to my body and my hair stick to my forehead. I couldn’t remember ever having laughed so much. My cheeks ached from smiling.
“A drink?” Tiernan asked after a time, and I nodded.
He led me from the sounds of the drums, to a quieter area away from the fire so we could cool down.
“How long do you suppose this will go on?” I asked him after he’d finished filling two cups from a barrel and handed one to me.
He shrugged, still panting from the dance, “If it’s anything like Day Court celebrations it’ll most likely go until dawn.”
Wow. It seemed like a long time to spend drinking and dancing and flying about—if you were lucky enough to have wings—without falling down from pure exhaustion. Though I was certain it was close to or past midnight and yet I felt more energized than I had in weeks. Maybe in months. As if the memorial itself breathed life into every Fae in attendance.
A hundred paces away I spotted Kade and Finn, a filled chalice in each their hands, laughing with a group of males I’d never seen before. Bare chested, their skin stained umber from the crackling fire and their wings fanned out behind them to take in the heat.