by Unknown
“And it was her who killed him!”
I looked up, wondering who the culprit was, and was even more shocked to find her pointing directly at me. I actually turned to look behind me but Arach put his hand on my arm and gave it a warning squeeze.
“I believe she means you,” he said in a low tone.
“You had best offer some proof,” King Cian stood slowly, all boyish charm gone from his expression, “to accuse a Faerie Queen of murder.”
“He's been burned,” the woman snarled, “burned with heat so intense that only ashes remain. Just as she threatened to do to him.”
The room gasped and all faces turned toward me.
“What does that mean?” I whispered to Arach.
“It means-”
“How do you know it's King Liam?” Cian's voice cut off whatever Arach was about to say.
“The body still has its form,” she turned accusatory eyes on me, “and it wears the King's ring.”
More gasps.
“Are you kidding me?” I couldn't keep quiet anymore. “I haven't had a moment alone since I've arrived here. When exactly would I have killed King Liam?”
“Only dragon fire could have done what was done to our King,” my accuser spat. “So pretend all you like but there's only two fey in all of Faerie who could have killed him. Either it was you or your husband.”
Another twitter of reaction through the crowd.
“Everyone please calm yourselves,” the High King looked nervous. “We shall first go and see this body before we come to any conclusions. Queen Vervain, King Arach, you may attend us but the rest of you,” he sent a glance down the table to the other royals, “will please remain here and keep control of the populace while we're gone.”
“Come and find us later,” I whispered to Roarke and he nodded.
The royals murmured their assent and Cian, Meara, Arach, and I all got up to make the long trek out of the spiral so we could look at the burnt body. I sighed as we walked on and on. What would they do if there was an emergency? Would they just jump over the table like Patraicc did that time I killed Aodh for threatening to make me into soup? I guess a dead King wasn't emergent enough to leap over tables though. So we regally, translation: slowly, made our way through the spiral.
When we finally got to the end, the obnoxious cat woman led us out of the castle and into the gardens. I wasn't surprised to find that she led us straight to the fire garden. I had surmised by this point that I was being framed and what better place to leave the body than in the garden associated with my element.
Wrought iron gates opened onto a lush tropical garden, filled with plants that did well in the heat. Giant ferns grew across the ground, surrounding heavy trees with slick multicolored bark. There were tall palms and mangroves with their branches trailing down to turn into roots. Flowers were abundant, adding bright spots of color to the deep green background. Undergrowth crowded the path so we had to make our way down it in single file.
Finally the path opened up to a sitting area. A simple stone bench was placed beside a pool of bubbling magma, lovely waves of heat filling the air. My muscles soaked it in, relaxing and settling so much that it made me realize I'd been tense. They tightened back up immediately when I saw the body laid out in front of the pool.
It was completely black, like a charred piece of wood or a statue carved from rough stone. It was still in the shape of a man, laid out on his back with one hand reaching up as if to ward off a blow. On that hand a gold ring gleamed against the black. I didn't recognize the insignia but King Cian did.
“It appears to be King Liam's ring,” Cian said reluctantly. “I must admit this looks bad for you, Queen Vervain.”
“I didn't murder him,” I looked straight into his eyes. “I had no need to. You sent him from the hall last night, he was in disgrace, not I. It makes no sense for me to kill him.”
“Unfortunately,” Queen Meara looked upset. “The entire court saw you argue and then threaten to do this very thing. Royalty has been known to kill for lesser slights and normally it would be forgiven.”
“Except that it's another royal who's been killed,” King Cian finished.
“I did it,” Arach admitted and we all looked at him in shock.
“No, you didn't,” I protested. “You've been with me the entire time.”
“Be silent, Vervain,” he hissed at me and I narrowed my eyes on him.
“I admire your desire to protect your mate, King Arach,” King Cian sighed, “but you know who everyone suspects.”
“She is innocent of this,” Arach growled into Cian's face. “You know it as well as I.”
“What if Faerie vouches for me?” I asked and called for her in my head.
“That may help,” the High King frowned, “but all know how she favors you, so it won't count for much.”
You will not accept the word of your Goddess? Her voice thundered in my head, as it must have in Cian's because he lifted his hands to his ears as if he could stop it.
“Goddess?” Cian frowned and looked to his Queen. “We've never used such a word to describe Faerie.”
Then it is long overdue because I am your Goddess. I created you all. I am the keeper of the magic, the source to which the elements return and you will respect me!
“Holy shit,” I whispered. “Faerie, no one's trying to disrespect you. These are your fey, remember? They love you.”
Love me, do they? She snarled. “All they do is whine and complain. All day long I hear them talking, on and on about how they hate the changes, how they don't understand why I can't just give them back their fertility. Well I'm done! I've tried and tried to help them. I've brought you here, Vervain, gave them someone who could help them, who could usher them into a new future, and what do they do with you? They plot against you, they frame you for murder.
“If you could just tell King Cian that I haven't even seen King Liam since he stormed out of the throne room yesterday,” I was trying to work with this new irrational version of Faerie. “I'd really appreciate it and they wouldn't be able to frame me.”
And you! She turned on me. I go through all the trouble of bringing you here. I orchestrate things so that you become a triple trinity being, the first of your kind in existence. I fill your body with my magic and let you house me so I can defeat your enemy. And what thanks have you given me? Nothing! You've never said one word of gratitude to me.
“That's not true,” I thought back. “I know I've thanked you. Haven't I?”
No, you idiot girl! You complain as well. “Why do I have to save them? Why must it be me?” She mimicked my voice, making me cringe. Never a thank you.
“I'm sorry,” I said seriously, feeling a wave a guilt flow through me. I had only thought about myself and how things would affect me. Maybe that's why I'd never thanked her. I hadn't considered it a gift. “Thank you, Faerie. Thank you for bringing me here and giving me back my heritage. Thank you for helping to make me into what I am and thank you for helping us defeat the Darkness.”
Too little too late. You can fix this mess by yourself.
“Faerie?” I was starting to panic. “Faerie? This is not funny! Come on, I said thank you!”
“I don't think she's listening any longer, A Thaisce,” Arach whispered.
“Shit,” I looked from the body to the stunned faces of the High Royals. “But you heard her, she said I've been framed.”
“I'm not sure what framed means.” King Cian blinked at me like an owl.
“It means that someone has set things up to make it look like Vervain is guilty,” Arach explained. “Someone did this specifically to make it appear that Vervain murdered King Liam.”
“We know you're innocent, Queen Vervain,” King Cian frowned. “But I can't be seen as favoring you after punishing Queen Aalish not so long ago. I must consider this accusation carefully.”
“Or at least appear to be considering it,” Queen Meara looked on me with sympathetic, if disturbing, red eyes.
“I'm forced to put you under arrest until this is sorted out,” King Cian nodded.
“You'd best give that a little more thought,” Arach growled.
“She won't be harmed,” Cian held up a nervous hand. “We'll simply confine her to the rooms you two already occupy. You may remain with your wife of course.”
“Your damn straight I'll remain with her,” he cast a look down at the body. “And we'll be conducting our own investigation.”
“Take a piece of the body,” I said to Arach. “We should have it analyzed.
“Now hold on,” King Cian started to say but Arach was too fast for him, he broke off the finger wearing the ring.
With the abrupt motion, the entire body collapsed in on itself, turning completely to ash. The piece Arach took was dust in his hands but he was still able to get it collected into a handkerchief.
“That was not well done,” Cian sighed.
“What else, Vervain?” Arach put the handkerchief in his pocket and handed the ring to Cian. “Is there anything else we can do?”
“Remember what you're smelling,” I waved my hand about the area. “I smell cat-sidhe but that's not surprising. Do you recognize any other scents?”
“I smell,” Arach frowned as the High Royals watched him carefully, “death. Rot. Whoever killed Liam did it prior to burning him. Much prior.”
“That doesn't exactly rule out Queen Vervain,” King Cian sighed.
“Why would Vervain kill Liam in another manner first and then burn him?” Arach narrowed his eyes on Cian. “That's ridiculous.”
“Tell me who else could do that,” King Cian pointed at the cinder pile. “You know as well as I that there's no fire that can turn a fey to dust besides that of a dragon's. How could they have faked this? Please, just give me an explanation and I will dismiss the charges.”
Arach's jaw clenched and he took my hand before turning around and leading us from the garden.
“Don't let anyone else in here,” I called back over my shoulder. “Post guards around this garden so we can be sure that anything found within it belongs to the killer!”
“I'll post guards,” King Cian met my eyes and nodded. “I'll do everything I can to find the truth, I promise you.”
“Thank you,” I had to yell a little as Arach had already brought us to the garden entrance.
Chapter Seven
“I swear it wasn't me,” I said to Arach as he closed the door of our suite behind us.
“I know, A Thaisce,” he took me into his arms and hugged me tight. “What I don't know is how they did it. How could they have burned a body to that extent without dragon fire? It's impossible.”
“And yet, neither of us did it,” I pulled away and went out onto the balcony.
I needed some fresh air to clear away the scent of burning meat and rot. Arach had been right, beneath the thick scent of smoke was that of decomposing flesh. It was just a whiff but enough to tell me that Liam had been dead at least a few hours before he'd been burned in that garden. Someone had killed Liam and brought his body to the fire garden to burn so everyone would believe I'd done it. It was a brilliant plan and I was scared to death that it would work.
Arach followed me out and took a seat on a chair positioned beside the railing where I was standing. We looked out into the forest in silence for awhile, both of us lost in confusion.
Then there was a pounding at the door.
“Oh, what fresh hell is this?” I wailed as Arach went to answer it.
“A hell of the cat variety,” Arach said as he swung open the door to reveal Roarke. “It seems that's all we're getting as of late.”
“Roarke,” I rushed over to him. “I'm so sorry. You know I didn't do this, right? I wouldn't have killed your father unless I absolutely had to.”
“I know, V,” he hugged me and we all went to sit on the couches growing out of the center of the room(they were part of the tree). “I just can't believe he's dead. He's always been a hard fey. He harassed and harangued me since my birth but he was my father and I loved him.”
“Of course you did,” I put an arm around his shoulders.
“If I didn't know for certain that he loved life too much to give it up, I'd think that he sacrificed himself just to spite you,” Roarke huffed. “He could be so stubborn when it came to grudges.”
“Arach says that dragon fire is the only way to burn a fey body to ash,” I sighed. “Did they let you see him?”
“No but I didn't want to,” Roarke slumped. “I know what ash looks like and I know only dragon fire could produce that effect but there must be another way. There must be something that they found, some spell or...” he looked up at me. “How about something human? Is there anything that could burn a body so completely?”
“I don't know,” I blinked. “Probably. I know people are cremated all the time but I'm pretty sure they don't come out looking like he did. Plus, you'd need a big oven for that.”
“Humans cook their dead in big ovens?” Roarke's eyes were huge, like a child who'd just been told that the Bogeyman was real... and lived in his closet.
“It's done instead of burial,” I patted his arm, “many cultures do it and have done for quite a long time.”
“Yes, I remember the funeral pyres,” Arach nodded.
“The ashes are then collected and scattered someplace significant,” I continued, “or kept in a vase.”
“Humans keep their dead in vases? Like flowers?” Roarke looked even more horrified.
“Some people have a hard time letting go,” I shook my head, thinking that was an ironic statement coming from me.
“I think you need to use your ring to visit the Human Realm,” Arach interrupted. “I doubt the High King will let us use his laptop to investigate, so you're going to have to do it over there. Take this as well.” He handed me the handkerchief filled with ashes. “The humans can analyze this better than we can.”
“Wow, that's a lot for you to admit,” I gave him a little smile.
“I'll admit to anything as long as it keeps you safe.”
“Yes, so I've seen,” I transferred my hand from Roarke to Arach. “Thank you for confessing for me. That was the sweetest dumbest thing you've ever done.”
“Vervain,” Arach sighed.
“I love you,” I kissed him and Roarke didn't even try to ruin the moment. “I'll be right back.”
I asked my ring to take me back to the God Realm, to the moment right after I'd left it the last time. Then I felt the strange shift of my body tingling through the transition between realms and time.
>O<
And then I returned. I was standing in front of Arach and Roarke instead of sitting but it was obvious that I'd been gone mere moments. Roarke looked a little spooked by my reappearance but Arach was an old hand at my time traveling so he just gave me a confident smile.
“There's nothing human that would be able to achieve what was done to Liam,” I said as I retook my seat. “Not without involving some heavy duty ovens or a flamethrower and neither of those would leave us with a corpse resembling Liam's. I also had the sample tested and there was no trace of an accelerant found. An accelerant is a chemical used to encourage fire. However, there is a god spell that burns in such a way as to leave a corpse whole. There's even a picture. Here, look,” I pulled Ku's old spellbook from the bag I'd brought with me and opened it to the page I'd marked with a piece of suede.
“God magic,” Arach frowned and looked over the spell. “Could a fey even do god magic?”
“It's a possibility,” I shrugged. “I learned to do it before I was a god, although I admit I wasn't able to conquer the more difficult spells till I'd taken some god magic for myself.”
“So that leaves us with either a faerie who has learned to use god magic,” Arach started.
“Or another god who has sided with the fey against you,” Roarke finished.
“Brilliant,” I smirked. “I'm between a fey and a god place.”
Chapter
Eight
“I'm sorry but this isn't proof,” to give him credit, the High King did look disappointed.
“You said to to tell you how another faerie could have killed Liam,” Arach narrowed his eyes on Cian. “I just did, there's the spell right there.” He tapped his finger on the book that we'd laid out in front of Cian.
We were all sitting around the table in my cell, er... room, acting very civilized as we discussed King Liam's murder. We'd sent for Cian right after I'd returned, hoping that he'd see the light and set me free. As beautiful as our rooms were, I didn't appreciate the knights positioned right outside our door. Knights from the House of Spirit.
They wouldn't let our own knights into the adjoining chambers that they always stayed in, since they had to go through our central area to get there. So our fey had been given rooms down another branch. They didn't even want our army near us. I can't say as I blamed King Cian for being cautious after Arach's frightening display but still, I was annoyed.
“The spell is from your wife's book,” Cian lifted his brows like Arach should understand. “And the only faerie we know of who can do god magic is her. So I don't see how this proves anything. I need something solid that I can show the other royals.”
“You mean Queen Aalish,” I rolled my eyes. “Has it occurred to you that she's probably the one orchestrating this?”
“I've punished Queen Aalish for her misguided behavior already, Queen Vervain,” Cian sighed. “I cannot hold a grudge against my royals and I cannot accuse them without cause. Also, she'd have to kill her own King of Cats and I don't believe she hates you enough to do that.”
“Can't accuse a royal or acquit one, it seems,” I said softly. “What exactly do you plan on doing if no more evidence is found? Keep me here forever?”
“No,” King Cian sat back heavily. “If no further evidence comes to light, I'll be forced to treat you as guilty.”
“I will not hunt my wife,” Arach said simply. “Ask it of me and you shall have your first insurrection.”
“Of course I wouldn't ask that,” King Cian held up a placating hand. “We don't want Queen Vervain dead but the option of banishment has been brought up.”