by Ivy Clyde
“Wait a minute,” said Jennifer’s voice. “If you’re home, why not come over to my house? We can have a chat.”
“I’m sorry, Jen. I can’t. Just know that I am doing fine, okay? Goodbye.” I placed the phone back in its place. Looking toward Isla, I gave a nod. “We can go now.”
We walked out of the house and into the dimly lit neighborhood. I led the way through a less used alley to reach the main street from where we could get a cab. Isla stayed silent on my side. I could feel her desperation to return to the safety of our own world. My hand squeezed hers tighter.
I was just as anxious to return to Aelia as her.
31
Rowan
A maid brought me a tray of delicate sweets and a jar of wine. Without needing any command, she poured a silver chalice with the wine and presented it to me.
“Thank you,” I said, accepting the cup.
The maid bowed low and scurried away. This seemed to be a norm in the Coran household. The servants were timid and scared, running away in a moment’s glance. I took a sip of the sweet, spiced wine and waited in the lavish guest chamber.
Deirdre sent me a messenger, asking me to visit her. Her note said “urgently”, forcing me to come to Lord Coran’s manor this early in the morning. I didn’t dare treat her lightly because a word from her could implicate Moira.
The recent incident involving Deirdre’s cousin was also weighing in my mind. Even though three girls had their magical cores ripped out of their bodies, it didn’t feel like an attack by an assassin from the lunar fae clan.
Even though these girls were from important families, none of them were elder daughters or women holding any major power. They were close to sixteen years of age and trained at Belenus Court. None of them had any special prowess with magic either. It was highly likely someone would send an assassin to murder these girls.
From my investigations, I knew Moira had gone to the village on the same day as these girls. While no one would believe a naïve, untrained young woman like her could commit such a terrifying feat, I thought differently. I’d seen what Moira could do with my own eyes. A part of me felt she was involved in the incident but couldn’t decide whether she would really have the ability to snatch magical cores out of someone’s body.
I was so lost in my thoughts, I didn’t hear the stealthy footsteps coming my way. The touch of a cold hand on my shoulder jerked my whole body.
A tinkling laugh erupted by my ear.
“What are you thinking about with such a serious face, My Prince?” said Deirdre. She came to stand before me and leaned down so that her face was level with mine. One half of her face was covered by a veil. The other half held a mocking grin and an eye glinting with malice.
I cleared my throat and looked away from her. “Have a seat.”
Her smile broadened as she stared at me a moment longer. Turning around, she went to sit on the chair on the other side of the small round table.
“What was so urgent?” I asked.
Her smile disappeared. A frown crumpled her features as she glared at me. “You didn’t even ask how I was doing, My Prince. Have you forgotten what that rotten bitch did to me?”
“Of course, not,” I said at once. “I only wanted to know what urgent business came up that you had to call me this early in the day.”
“You haven’t visited me,” she said in an accusing tone. “Why is that?”
“I’ve been too busy with matters of the royal court,” I said. “Any time I was free, I went to train with the visiting mages at Belenus Court. There was really no time to visit you.”
Deirdre’s frown remained on her face. “I heard what happened in the royal court the other day. The queen commanded you to marry the whore.”
“If you heard the whole story, you’d know I rejected her suggestion,” I said coldly. Anger rose in my chest, hot and swift. How could a vile woman like Deirdre force me to sit here and answer her? How could her father gain so much power over me, a legitimate prince of the kingdom? This was truly unacceptable but there was nothing I could do at the moment but continue to succumb to the whims of the woman before me.
“I heard it but how long can you keep rejecting the queen?” asked Deirdre. “Eventually, you will have to accept.”
“You should talk to your father so he supports my decision,” I said. “He shouldn’t be siding with the queen.”
A frustrated huff escaped her. “I know! My father wants me to marry Cade. I don’t like him one bit. He is always flirting with everyone. He will never pay me any attention even if I become his bride. I want you, Prince Rowan. I want someone as dedicated as you.”
I wanted to grab the dagger at my side and slice her throat for speaking about the royal heirs so crassly. Suppressing my urge, I focused on the key information she’d just let out. Both Lord Coran and Queen Brenna wanted her to marry Cade. This way, they would combine their powers and influence against me and eventually snatch the throne from me. No wonder the two were so bent on getting me married to Moira.
“Be mine, Rowan,” whispered Deirdre. Rising from her seat, she crossed the distance between us and stood before me. Reaching out, she brushed a finger over my lips. My whole body stiffened at the unwelcome touch. “Once I am healed, take me away from my father’s house. Make me yours. There is nothing I want as much as you.”
I wanted to push her away but endured the pungent odor of her perfume assaulting my nostrils. There was something about her that alerted the magic in my veins. My intuition warned me against her, urging to get away from her. Resisting the urge to walk out of there, I said, “Be patient.”
“How can I be patient without knowing you’ll be mine for certain.”
“I don’t know,” I said, trying to make up an excuse. “Matters of the court are complicated. It can take weeks to solve an issue but sometimes, it can take centuries.”
“I can’t wait that long!” She stomped her foot and threw herself on me. Locking her arms around my neck, she almost kissed me.
“Stop!” I gasped, feeling like an idiot for being forced by a woman like her. “We will both be questioned if someone sees us.” It was a difficult feat to get her arms away from me without breaking her wrists but I managed to push her away.
Deirdre stood there, her chest rising and falling in a rapid rhythm. Rage flared in her eyes. “Kill that girl,” she hissed. “It shouldn’t be much of a trouble for someone like you.”
“What girl?”
“Moira.” Her lips curved in a malicious grin. “I want her dead. It’s the only way I’ll be certain I won’t lose you to her.”
Cold spread through my chest. Moira was in danger despite my struggles to stay away from her. Rage boiled in my veins. I wanted to kill the woman before me. “She is not of any importance,” I said through clenched teeth, trying to control the way my magic surged to my fingertips. “Why sully our hands with her blood?”
“She is a witch,” whispered Deirdre. “You don’t know this but I sent Desiree to kill that girl. She and her two friends would have been enough to kill that magicless whore but the complete opposite happened. My cousin and her friends were the ones who were murdered in the most gruesome way. They had their cores wrenched out of their bodies. Everyone is saying it was the work of a powerful assassin but I know better. It was her. It was Moira. She did it.”
“That’s impossible,” I said.
“As impossible as a fae not being burned by iron.”
I met Deirdre’s gaze. Violence and madness swirled in that one gleaming eye. “Kill her, My Prince. Do this for me and I’ll stay quiet. Otherwise, I would have to let my father know of this.” She watched me closely for my reaction.
“Fine,” I said. “But you must give me some time. I won’t do anything in haste.”
Her bottom lip jutted out as she openly fumed. I didn’t like that look on her at all, knowing she was impatient enough to hire assassins to do the job herself. She’d already sent her cousin to carry out her command
. While Moira could fight off some unsuspecting teenagers, could she stand her ground against a trained assassin?
“Is this the reason you asked me to come here today?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Deirdre, sitting down in her chair. She seemed calmer than before but her eye continued to watch me.
Getting to my feet, I gave a courteous bow. “I will consider your request. Until then, please stay patient.”
“You will be mine, Rowan,” she said in reply.
My hands balled into fists to keep myself from casting an attack on her. My patience was never tested as severely as this moment. I wanted to kill the person who posed such a naked threat to my mate, yet I could only turn around and walk away.
I have to get Moira away from here, I decided at that moment. She can’t stay in the palace. It’s not safe there. What happened to my mother can never happen to Moira.
32
Moira
The chirping of crickets sounded too loud in my ears. Sitting on a stone boulder, I looked up toward the vast sea of twinkling stars stretched over my head. Isla’s body sagged against mine.
“What am I going to do?” she moaned, burying her face in my shoulders.
By now, we’d come back to Aelia. On our way down from the hill which housed the Veiled Gate, we’d stopped to sit down and catch our breaths.
I patted Isla’s shoulder. “You won’t be doing anything. That’s all. You will go back to the castle, eat some food and go to sleep.”
She raised her head to look at me. “That’s it?”
I gave a nod. “That’s it.”
She let out another breath and leaned against me. Neither of us wanted to get up and walk away yet. There was too much in both our minds to simply ignore the urge to talk. While I’d pieced together a loose story of what happened to my parents, there was still a lot more I needed to know.
“Before you go, can you explain some things to me?” I asked.
Isla straightened up, looking at me expectantly. “What do you want to know?”
“Selene was Lord Coran’s sister,” I said slowly, measuring each of my words. “Do you have any idea who that man was?”
“That man…” Isla was quiet for a few seconds. “I never saw him personally but I think that was King Arian, the late king of Amaris.”
“The lunar fae kingdom?”
“Yeah.”
His beautiful face flashed in my mind. His skin had shimmered like moonlight in the dark alleyway. He’d looked like the embodiment of the moon. It was hard to believe that man could be my father but then, it explained the source of my darker magic. Cade’s suspicion of me having a parent from among the lunar fae was proven correct. Only it wasn’t just an ordinary person but the king himself.
“He is dead, isn’t he?” I asked the obvious question. No fae could live without their magical cores absent from their bodies. There was no chance of either of my parents being alive. They’d both given up their cores to me, accepting death in a bid to protect me.
“Yes,” said Isla in a grim tone. “The king died eighteen years ago. They say he’d contracted a mysterious disease which took his life.”
“Do you know who Vishen is?” I asked, remembering the name of the person who’d betrayed my father.
“Lord Vishen is the chief ruler of Amaris now. They call him the Elder Statesman,” said Isla. “Even though he is not the king, he’s the supreme power in the lunar kingdom.”
“I heard there was a new heir.”
Isla shrugged. “There is supposed to be one but they haven’t been officially introduced or coroneted. For all official purposes, it’s Vishen’s word and command that is followed in Amaris.” She glanced at me. “Don’t you want to know about your mother too?”
“She was Coran’s sister,” I said in a hard tone. “He betrayed her in some way. Did I miss anything else?”
“You missed a lot,” said Isla. “Did you know there had been no wars between the solar and lunar fae for over a thousand years? While ancient skirmishes kept the two factions separated, no wars broke out between them as long as Lady Selene was the foreign minister?”
“My mother was a minister?”
“The coolest minister in the court of Aelia,” said Isla with a smile on her lips. She looked unseeingly in the far distance. “She was someone who wanted to bring change to the royal court and the kingdom. The society here is still quite feudalistic. The nobles and their families hold positions of power despite not being good or intelligent enough for the job. She wanted to hold nationwide exams to choose the best scholars for those positions. King Drustan approved of her ideas.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Of course, those who have enjoyed power for centuries wouldn’t sit back and allow such ideas to take root. Eighteen years ago, Lady Selene disappeared mysteriously. No trace of her was ever found.” A long sigh escaped her. “Now, I understand what happened. She was in a romantic relationship with King Arian and her brother found out about it.”
Her hands clutched at her skirt as her expression hardened. “Sometimes, it can take centuries for a fae couple to get pregnant,” she said in a low, anger-filled voice. “I can understand why both Selene and Arian would give up their lives to protect the life of their unborn child. They both knew you would be killed if they ever found out about your existence. You are the living proof that both factions can not only co-exist peacefully but that they can also mingle without fear. It’s a shame and a tragedy they couldn’t do much for their people or you.”
“My real parents loved me so much.” Bitterness coated my tongue. There was no relief to be had at the thought. They perished because of their love for me. I would miss their presence in my life forever.
“I would be killed for saying this,” began Isla. “But I think Lord Coran is heading the same way as Vishen. He wants to destroy the royal family so he can capture the ultimate power. King Drustan is severely weakened and the princes are fighting among themselves. He is playing them against each other and sitting back and enjoying the show. They would kill each other and do his dirty job for him. It won’t be long before there are no heirs to the throne of Aelia.”
“I will never let that happen,” I said without a hint of hesitation in my voice.
Isla glanced at me. “I believe you can. You have some powerful allies on your side.”
“You mean the three princes?”
“No. I meant Lady Demitria and Chantal.” Her answer surprised me. “They brought you into Belenus Court and didn’t allocate a teacher to you. They let you explore things on your own because an instructor or mage would eventually detect the powers hidden inside you. I thought they were being lazy but the truth is, they were protecting you. They even assigned you a human-born like me to mentor you. I have no ties to any of the noble families, making me a safe choice to introduce you to our world.”
“I want to speak to Demitria,” I said. “She would know so much more to the whole story than what we’ve guessed by ourselves.”
“Yeah,” said Isla. “I find it interesting how she is not tangled with any of the nobles either. She is a powerful woman and doesn’t answer to anyone. The only person she seems to care about is Lady Chantal. The two are inseparable.”
“I did notice that.”
“You should forget about that woman,” said Isla after a moment of silence.
I didn’t ask her who she was talking about. “It’s complicated.”
“It’s not.”
“Let it be, Isla,” I said, not feeling like delving into the woman’s reasons for not having an ounce of affection for me.
“I am going to say this at least,” she continued. “Don’t let it bring down your confidence. You are probably more powerful than anyone in this kingdom. You have two very strong magical cores pulsing inside you. Don’t let a wasted woman’s negativity sway you from your real motive.”
“My motive?”
“I have no idea how you will do it but you’ve got to make peopl
e like Coran pay for what they did. Support the princes so that Aelia doesn’t end up the same way as Amaris.”
“Are things bad in Amaris?”
A somber look came over Isla’s features. “The people are suffering terribly. The land is barren, the mines devoid of any precious metals. Rivers and lakes are drying up. A fae kingdom is dependent on the magic of the royals. They didn’t become royals because their ancestors invaded another country and started ruling over the land. No. Among the fae, the royals have the magic and blood of the deity who created the race. Without them ruling the land, everything falls apart.” She glanced at me with a wry smile. “It’s strange to say this but Amaris needs you too.”
“But Vishen will kill me if he knew who I really was.”
“Yep, he will.”
We stayed quiet for another few minutes. The breeze blowing by was making Isla shiver. It was time I sent her back to the warmth and safety of Belenus Court’s castle.
“You should go back now,” I said.
“What about you?”
“I’ll go back to the palace.”
“What will you tell them if anyone asks where you went?”
“No one will bother with that,” I said. “No one followed me until the hilltop, so I doubt anyone is going to care. The queen thinks I am a stupid girl who doesn’t know or understand anything. I will be fine.”
“Okay, then.”
We got to our feet and started walking down the hill. It was late in the night now. The village streets were mostly empty but there was light in the windows of the cottages we passed by. Reaching the main market square, we heard the sound of cheerful voices coming in from Poppy’s tavern. We moved further away to wait for the public coaches that would take us back to our different destinations.
A coach going toward Belenus Court came first. Isla gave me a tight hug before climbing inside. She rarely showed any signs of affection, so the quick hug meant a lot more than anything she could have said to me.
Once again, I felt a sliver of warmth cutting through the cold settling inside my chest. I wasn’t alone anymore. I had a friend in Isla, lovers in Leon and Cade, and protectors in Rowan and Lady Demitria. Even my parents weren’t completely gone. Their magic flowed in my veins, protecting me from the moment I stepped into the fae realm.