by LJ Rivers
“By the Lady,” I mumbled.
“Quite right.” Morgana smiled wistfully. “This is where my sister resides. Not truly dead, yet not alive.” She stepped to the water’s edge and slipped out of her white sandals, crunching the sand between her toes.
“It’s remarkable.” I sat on the sand, brushing my fingers through it, and Morgana sat next to me.
“Oh, it’s much more than that. This is where Merlin and Nimue both met their end. Together.” She stared blankly ahead of her. “I would trade my throne and all my powers to have an Awr Bender erase these sixteen years since that terrible day. Honestly, Ruby, I would give it all up just to hold my sister’s hands and see her enchanting smile once more.”
I knew exactly how she felt.
The queen gathered her skirt, lacing her fingers in her lap. “Speaking of enchanted. The power in this place—or rather, the Enchantium—is why Nimue came to be known as the Lady of the Lake. Her Essence never left these waters. A few skilled Goblins once carved the pillars, the stairs, and the fountain itself from the Enchantium, which back then jutted out from the surface like a momentous boulder. The stones they removed were left in the lake.” She sucked in a breath. “This is what Auberon wants. This is what drives people to commit heinous acts. It is also where our magic comes from. We once believed this was the only place Enchantium existed, but during the past eighteen dark moons, we have discovered that there are veins of Enchantium stretching through the ground and mountains all around Gwyn Fanon. In smaller quantities, I might add. There have been rumours that the Sorcerers of Mynydd found a large source of the stone somewhere in their mountains, which is why they have taken more slaves than ever before, for mining whatever is there.”
“Like Halwyn’s son.”
She slid a finger through the sand. “Precisely.”
A meow issued from somewhere to my right. Kit was bouncing across a few rocks by the edge with Nefari on his heels. My cat scurried back and forth, and the two animals sent sand swirling into the air as they leapt by.
“Kit!” I said in a stern voice, but he didn’t slow down. Nefari growled, throwing his paw out. I scrambled to my feet before I realised he was trying to stop Kit from falling in. He failed. My cat slipped through Nefari’s black paws and sailed into the water with a yowl.
I stepped forward, but Morgana grabbed me and pulled me back. “Do not step into the water, Princess.”
“But my cat!”
A splash sounded as Nefari jumped in after Kit. Bubbles rose to the surface, and ripples multiplied in the water. Nefari emerged, water showering the sand, and Kit hanging limp from the skin of his neck in the Faeguard’s mouth. The large animal stumbled onto dry land and dropped Kit at my feet.
I stroked my hands over his wet fur, tears pushing behind my eyes. “Kit. Are you all right?”
Tiny vibrations tickled my palms as his purring engine revved up to new heights. He turned his head to me. I stilled, and my jaw slackened. This didn’t look like my cat at all. He stood, shaking himself, droplets raining through the air. His thick, orange fur had grown thicker, the tips of his ears nearly as pointy as Nefari’s. He now looked like a lynx, apart from the long tail that encircled all of him. His whiskers were as long as my fingers, and his yellow eyes shone like two suns.
“What in the Lady’s name—”
“Interesting.” Morgana crouched next to me. “I must say I had my suspicions. Now, however, I’m convinced. Your Kit is a guardling, or at the very least a descendant of one. How curious. Granted, he is still a bit small.”
I snorted. He used to be small. The animal in front of me was not. Compared to Nefari, sure, but I couldn’t quite imagine Kit the size of a jaguar. “But how?”
“Enchantium,” Morgana said matter-of-factly.
I pulled Kit into an embrace. It didn’t matter; he was still my Kit, albeit a little more than the handful he had been when I saved him from being hit by a bus about a year earlier. My very own Faeguard. Who would have thought? And what a blessing he had been. Morgana had said a guardling connected to a Fae through an act of profound kindness. Saving him from the bus must have been the beginning of that bond, but something told me that Mum had brought the connection home by sheltering him and feeding him when he had nowhere else to go.
I reached out to Nefari and raked my fingers through his dense fur. “Thank you for saving Kit!”
The Faeguard purred, then pranced off to sprawl on the sand.
Shifting my attention, I stared at the shimmering, magical surface of Nimue’s lake, and cried out. A blinding light seared my eyes, and I shut them, squeezing my lids together. It was of no use, as I could still see it in my mind. The bright white light intensified, bathing the mountaintop like the rays of the summer sun. My breath quickened, and someone said my name—a familiar voice.
“Ruby.”
Someone shook me.
“Ruby!”
I opened my eyes and looked into the deep ocean of Morgana’s gaze.
“Where did you go, Princess?”
“Huh? Uhm, I’m not sure.” Kit licked my face with his rough tongue, and I smiled. “I saw the sun.”
Chapter Eighteen
Morgana peered at me over the leather binding of the Phoenix book. The one which, according to Morgana, the Phoenix left in her care before the young Flynn went through the portal. It felt like being reacquainted with an old friend. The leather binding was similar to the one on William’s book, equally tattered and old, and they both contained accounts from a long line of the Phoenix’s past lives.
“I think it’s time,” she said with a glint in her eye.
“Huh?” I sat on the steps to the throne, stroking Kit’s soft fur, marvelling at a woman of my blood who I had once thought dead for more than a thousand years. It took some getting used to.
“The people must know I have an heiress.”
I cringed. “You’ll have to beg my forgiveness, but I’m not staying. At some point, I’ll want to go back to Earth.”
She closed the book, placing her palms on it. “Why in Merlin’s name would you want to do that? I saw the hardship you’ve been through in your life on the other side of the portal. I’m offering you comfort, wealth, a people to rule and protect. Isn’t that enough?”
Kit meowed and scampered off, sliding across the white marble with Nefari close behind.
“This isn’t my home.”
“You have a family here. What’s left for you back on Earth? And once I’m gone, who else would be fit to rule my queendom? Certainly not your father. Our people will worship the ground you walk on and rejoice in your return.” She gave the book to a Juniper who placed it in its usual spot. “Tomorrow, dear, I’ll take you on a tour through Avalen, and you can see for yourself what this land has to offer. Here, your powers will be revered, and you will never have to hide the wonderful things you can do.”
“Except for being Auberon’s daughter.” The words came out a little more harshly than intended.
Her lips thinned. “Well, there is that, but I have given it some consideration. As you are aware, I have Sorcerers in my court, and there are a few still living in Avalon. That said, most of them stay away from my land because of our history with them. But wouldn’t it be grand if, by your heritage, you would be the one to unite us all once more? One bad seed does not taint the entire harvest. Besides, Merlin and I were once close friends.” She had a faraway look in her eye, one I couldn’t quite decipher.
“Would you tell me about him?”
“I think I would. Come, let’s walk and talk. I can’t very well show you off in this outfit.” She smiled, gesturing at my brown leather garments. “I suppose I can see the appeal of wearing trousers, though I usually only wear them for training practice and horseback riding. Or if the occasion requires, on the battlefield.”
We strode side by side out of the throne room and through the castle. “Did you fight?” I had somehow convinced myself that Morgana would stay in her castle while a
battle raged at her doorstep, protected by her guards and other defences. Then again, she didn’t strike me as someone who would hide behind her walls when her people suffered.
I nodded briefly at a couple of Junipers who inclined their heads as we stepped into a long hall and continued through an archway.
“Of course. I do not and will not cower inside a fortress. If the enemy attacks, I fight alongside my people, and they will know their queen is one of them. The battle of Avalen, some eighteen dark moons ago, is not the only one I’ve fought.”
I stared at her demure posture as we ascended a stone stairwell in one of the towers. While the queen was gorgeous and graceful, I could imagine her swinging a sword, and perhaps throw a few force fields around.
“Would you mind telling me what really happened between Merlin and Auberon? My father told me his side of the story, but I’m not sure what to believe.” The wind whipped my hair as we stepped onto the battlements. Morgana gestured for me to follow. From where we stood, we had a good view of the city from between the merlons. It was quiet now, and a few dim lights glimmered in the streets far below. Above us, stars dotted the dark night.
“I’ll tell you what I know.” She smiled mirthlessly. “Seven and twenty years ago, Merlin became the king of Mynydd Dewin, and he chose a Fae for his wife. My sister, Nimue. I must admit, I disapproved.”
“Hold on.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I thought Fae could only have one child.”
“That is true. We were not blood, but we were sisters nonetheless, and she was the youngest of us.”
I smiled, able to relate to having sisters of my choosing, rather than being born from the same parents.
Morgana sighed, tucking a loose lock of hair back into one of its braids. “For years, I believed Merlin and I were destined to become companions. It seemed like the most obvious match. But alas, it was not meant to be. The heart desires what it does, and his wanted Nimue.”
I chewed on my lip, not wanting to interrupt again.
“During Merlin’s rule, the Nadredd besieged Avalon.”
“The Nadredd?”
“They are vicious creatures, kin to the Unhekal snakes. The Nadredd also have the spark of unhekal, so if you ever encounter one, flee like the Nethers are on your heels. Four years long, terror ruled this land. The Fae were enslaved, tortured, and starved. I could not look away. I pleaded, begged even, for Merlin to aid my quest and take back Avalon. Merlin believed it was a lost cause, and that going to war on Avalon would only suffer more lives to be lost and cause an uproar.” She gave an unqueenly snort. “Politics. I wasn’t as seasoned then as I am now, and perhaps today I would have made the same choice had I been in his position, though I doubt it. Since Merlin did nothing, I decided someone had to. That is when fate intervened, and I found a companion in Evenar. He was the most courageous Fae I have ever met, and together we devised a plan to save the Avalonians.” She sniffled, and a tear twinkled in her eye. She must have loved Evenar very much. “We succeeded, but before we were to be crowned, Evenar lost his life.”
I wasn’t sure what to do, so I folded my hand over hers. Morgana shook herself ever so slightly but didn’t pull away.
“Under my rule, Avalon thrived. By that time, Auberon had become a young man, and he believed Avalon belonged to his father’s kingdom. That with our enemies defeated, I should simply hand Avalon back to the Merlin line. Merlin, however, disagreed with Auberon, and I was not about to hand my crown over to a sullen Sorcerer who had barely reached maturity. The Fae and the rest of the Avalonians elected me queen, and Merlin himself condoned it. It would have been disrespectful to my people, and they would have never bent a knee to the Sorcerer prince.”
She gave a wry smile. “He has jumped back and forth between his titles, your father. First a prince, then a king, until I stripped him of his crown and banished him to the Realm of Shadows. If he has returned to his castle, I suppose he is King Auberon once again.”
I didn’t comment. Auberon still occupied a place in my heart, or maybe two—if both love and hatred can reside in the old ticker. Listening to Morgana talk about him spurred mixed feelings in me.
“Your father believed Merlin to be weak for allowing me to claim Avalon as mine, and he opposed his father.” She smoothed out her dress and stared into the night as if looking back through time. “This is where I’m uncertain of how events unfold, but what I do know is that your father worshipped Nimue, and Auberon would have done anything to protect her honour. You must understand, he was raised as a prince, promised to rule, so he was well educated and exceptionally well mannered.”
She leaned against the merlon, eyes downcast. “I suspect Auberon got the wrong idea about Merlin’s intentions. Since I had only one child, a girl, and my husband had perished, I became weakened in Auberon’s eyes when I never took another man. Auberon confronted his father by the Enchantium lake in Nimue’s Grove, after what must have been a difficult feat to get there. I’m not sure what he thought he would achieve, but he seemed to think the Enchantium in that place held some sort of key to his superiority. As it was, Merlin and Nimue tried to intervene. My sister tells me—in as much as she is able—that Auberon did not intend for her to die, though die she did. Auberon was the cause of their deaths, although I cannot tell you exactly how it came to be. Nimue’s memories of her life are a little clouded, and I suspect she is still trying to protect her son. As I said, the heart desires what it does. She says it was an accident, but I’m not sure I can trust her on that. Besides, it’s not as if she appears to speak with me whenever I want her to. Merlin tried to save her, of that I am certain, but in doing so, he lost his life. His power, combined with the Enchantium, is what keeps her essence bound to the lake. But it is just that, her essence. It’s not truly the woman she once was.”
“I’m not sure I understand it all,” I said.
“We have all the time in the world, Princess. I wish I could be more specific, but unless Auberon has a moment of candour and wishes to explain it in detail, I’m afraid we’ll never know the whole story. And even if he did, how could we trust his words?”
I looked down at the ships bobbing on the waves. “Do you think he’ll attack again?”
“I believe the son of Merlin will make himself known and gather his allies. When Mynydd Dewin was left with neither a king nor a prince, his warlord, Bellion the Satyr, took control of the land, and Auberon has many allies still. Whether he will strike right away is unclear. War requires preparation. Either way, you have given us an advantage by coming here to notify us of his return. We wouldn’t have been prepared otherwise, and the war would surely have been lost.”
“I sort of brought him here, though.” A ball of guilt gathered in my stomach.
“How he managed to break free from his prison and come back through the portal is irrelevant. The fact is, he’s here. Also, if he had not come, I would have never laid eyes on you. My sweet child.” She cupped my face in her hands. “I long hoped my Elaine would find her way back to me. Her time has long since passed, but at least I got you. You’re a blessing, Ruby. Don’t forget that.”
I didn’t feel like much of a blessing, but if my presence somehow gave Morgana peace, I was glad I had come.
The queen slid her fingers through my loose hair. “Now, I’ll send word to Berlomis that we require his skills and immediate attention. Tomorrow, I’ll be presenting our people with their new princess.”
Chapter Nineteen
It appeared blue was the colour they had chosen for me. Berlomis had whipped up an entirely new outfit, and when I studied myself in one of the Crimson’s breastplates, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I looked as if I was headed for some ten-year-old girl’s Disney-themed birthday party. The fabric of the cobalt-blue dress was heavier than the one he had made the first time around, and instead of silver, I was accessorised with gold. Gold bracelets, gold clasps, a gold necklace—though I refused to remove my sapphire and silver ring—and gold embroidery of the orna
mental M on the hem and sleeves. My hair had a few braids in it, but Cherise had said we needed to show off my red locks, so most of it fell loose around my shoulders.
“Gorgeous,” Morgana sang as she swept across the lower bailey to join us. She circled me, touching the dress, then my hair. “Something is missing.”
“Huh?” Charlie said, her head poking out under one of the unicorns’ heads. “She’s perfection personified. What could possibly be missing?”
“Well, Carolina of Earth, since you ask.” Morgana slipped her hand into one of her trumpet-sleeves and retrieved something. A blueish item about the size of my head.
“A tiara!” Charlie exclaimed when I went mute. She slipped underneath the unicorn’s head to get a closer look.
Morgana winked. “We may not have had the coronation yet, but—”
Coronation? What the fudge?
“I can’t parade the princess through the city without the utmost symbol of her position.” She raised the tiara in front of my face. The elegantly cut Enchantment stone was studded with rubies and sapphires. “May I?”
I lowered my head, and she gently buried the ends of the tiara into my hair, fastening a few of my braids around it. The surge of magic was immediate, filling every pore of my skin, and I involuntarily shivered as the spike of power fuelled my energy.
“There.” Morgana beamed, and I tilted sideways for another glance of myself in Anwinar’s breastplate. The centaur’s nostrils flared, but he stayed still.
Yep, Cinderella was all set for the ball.
“Only missing the glass slippers,” Charlie quipped.
Morgana frowned. “Glass slippers? How inconvenient.”
“She’s just having a laugh.” I poked Charlie’s shoulder. Her dark hair had only two braids in it, clasped together with a silver pin at the back, while the rest fell in wild waves, spilling over her shoulders and to her waist. Her yellow and crimson dress was cute but simple, as if she wasn’t supposed to outshine the royals.