“Okay.”
Vidar kissed my cheek and headed down the hallway, away from me.
Anders started to follow but hesitated and looked back at me. “Be careful.”
“You too.” I watched his retreating form as he ran after Vidar.
7
A jolt of magic shot through the castle, making the furniture in my room vibrate. Morlet must have learned that Vidar and Anders were free from the dungeon. I knew he’d be furious, but I hadn’t expected to feel such sorrow emanating from his magic.
A door slammed. Instead of sitting in my room hiding from what I’d done, I decided to face him. After all, I needed to locate the third sapphire and sleep with Morlet.
I opened my door. “I’d like to see the king.”
“He’s in a foul mood,” one of the soldats said.
“I know. And that is precisely why I need to see him.”
He shrugged and led me to Morlet’s office.
I stepped inside, closing the door behind me. “Are you done throwing a fit?” I asked.
He didn’t acknowledge me.
“Now that I’m queen, we will no longer hold prisoners here unless they’ve committed a serious crime.”
“Where’s your crown?” he asked, sitting at his desk, scribbling on a piece of paper. The act seemed too normal for him.
“It’s in my room.”
He looked up at me, his eyes narrowing. “That is a valuable family heirloom. You will wear it.”
“I don’t want to.”
Morlet rubbed his temples. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t screaming at me. I expected to find him in here throwing things and acting like a toddler. “Why did you free them?” he asked.
“Because I wanted to. They did nothing wrong.”
“I needed them in there,” he mumbled.
“And I didn’t.”
“Why are you always so difficult?”
“Excuse me for not complying with your every whim. Should I be on my knees thanking you for forcing me to marry you? For being here against my will?”
“You chose to marry me,” he snarled. “And no one is forcing you to stay here.”
“Why am I here?” Why had Morlet married me?
“So we can have a child.” He stood and went to the fireplace, removing his cape and leaning against the mantle as if sacks of potatoes hung from his shoulders.
“You didn’t have to marry me to have a child.”
The muscles in his back tensed and the veins below his skin darkened as he wrestled with his magic, trying to keep it under control.
While he was occupied, I glanced about the room looking for the sapphire. I didn’t see anything on his desk. I needed to keep his focus elsewhere so I could examine the bookshelves. “Did you force me to marry you to hurt Anders? To torture me? Why? I don’t understand.”
He slowly turned and faced me. “Have you once considered the possibility that I want this? That I want you?”
I almost burst out laughing. I hadn’t considered him wanting to marry me because there was no way he cared for me that way. He loved Linnea, my great-great grandmother, not me.
He cocked his head to the side, carefully watching me. I tugged the hem of my tunic, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. An image of Anders flashed in my mind. I pictured him leaning down and tenderly kissing me on our wedding night. I closed my eyes, willing those thoughts away. A future with Anders was never going to happen. No matter how much I wanted it to.
Morlet snarled. Instead of running away, I took a deliberate step toward him and he tensed, shock flitting across his face. “I guess there’s no point in waiting,” I said. “We might as well get this over with.”
“So you want to…”
“I want to know why you married me. I want to know why you threw Vidar and Anders in the dungeon.”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Then I want to go to my own room and have a good night’s sleep. Alone.”
“You would deny your husband on our wedding night?”
“Until you’re honest with me and answer my questions, I plan to deny you a great many things.”
He chuckled as I left his office, making me feel off balance. I’d gone in there expecting a huge fight. What had happened instead was odd.
When I opened the door to exit my bedchamber, a soldat greeted me. “Good afternoon, Your Highness,” he said. “I was sent to inform you that Damaris requests a moment of your time.”
“She’s here?” I asked, stepping into the hallway alongside him.
“She’s in the courtyard waiting for you.”
I stumbled. The courtyard was where Morlet had burned Anders in a magical fire until I rescued him.
“Fine,” I mumbled. “Please lead the way.”
He nodded and escorted me through the castle. The six soldats who had been assigned as my personal guards followed me. Earlier today, a servant had brought bundles of dresses to my room. I refused to wear any of them. Not only did I despise dresses, but I had a horrible suspicion they’d once belonged to Vidar and Espen’s mother. Then, when I attempted to leave my room to confront Morlet, the soldats blocked my way, claiming they were under strict orders to only allow me out of my room with my crown on. Furious, I’d shut myself in my room where I’d remained until now. Since I hadn’t eaten all day, I’d intended to find the kitchen to get some food, but that could wait until after I spoke with Damaris.
The courtyard was just as I remembered it. The same dead plants lined the stone pathways, the crumbled water fountain with burned wood piled on top of it, and in the corner, the hidden exit Anders and I used to escape. Damaris sat on one of the benches situated in the middle of the courtyard, patiently waiting for me.
I ran over, wrapping my arms around her.
She laughed. “That’s not very queen-like of you.”
I plopped on the bench next to her. “You and I both know I never wanted to be queen.”
Damaris patted my leg, still smiling. “That may be. But you are the queen nonetheless.”
She seemed awfully calm given all that had happened yesterday. I pulled the tunic away from my neck, suddenly not getting enough air. “You’re the Grei Heks of Nelebek,” I said, the fact suddenly dawning on me.
She didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at me.
“You’re bound by the treaty; your loyalty must be to Nelebek now, not wherever it is you’re from.” Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner?
“Sonvel,” she replied.
“What?”
“I’m from the kingdom of Sonvel.” She folded her hands on her lap.
“As Nelebek’s Grei Heks, you had the authority to stop Cyrill’s death, but you didn’t.” Her features remained impassive. “I thought all Grei Heks were good and merciful beings. But letting an innocent man die isn’t kind at all.” Damaris had acted as if she loved Cyrill. I shivered, realizing how little I knew her.
“I hadn’t wanted to reveal my identity to Morlet yet.” Her eyes flickered to a window above. I didn’t see anyone, but the curtain fluttered ever so slightly. “Sometimes right and wrong, just and unjust, are in the eyes of the beholder. Heks magic is not as simple as good versus evil.”
“Whose side are you on?” I asked. Nelebek’s? Sonvel’s? The Krigers? Who was she loyal to?
“That is a complicated question.” She stood and walked over to the crumbled water fountain in the center of the courtyard, the farthest place from the soldats standing guard around the perimeter.
I went after her, compelled to know more.
“I was on one path before I came here,” she explained. “I didn’t believe it was possible to save my race any other way. Then you told me about the curse. Now that I’m here, I can feel the previous Grei Heks’s intentions and I’m certain her plan will work. It will take years for the new breed of Heks to amount to anything. But the mere idea of free will and choice can’t be dismissed.”
“What are you saying?” I asked, keeping my voice lo
w so it wouldn’t carry.
“I will continue to teach you to use your power to ensure you defeat Morlet and end the curse.” Damaris looked at me for the first time, a fierce determination filling her eyes.
“On what condition?” I asked, realizing she’d been around for decades and was the head Grei Heks in Sonvel for a reason.
“After you break the curse, you will help Heks by agreeing to give us a better future.”
“How?” My one and only goal had been to end the curse. That was it. Helping Heks, being a queen, leading a kingdom—none of that mattered to me. I just wanted to be free. But every day my shackles grew tighter.
“By working with us.”
“Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work now?” I asked.
“Yes. But I want you to advocate for Heks. Make sure our race thrives. Since you will have a child with Heks magic, you are the perfect person to aid us in our quest to be free.”
“What do you mean to be free?” I had to make sure I advocated for humans as well—especially since they didn’t have any magic.
“We don’t want to be bound to humans any more than you want to be bound to us. We need to find a way to peacefully coexist.”
I wondered if that was even possible. We were so different. Could we live together without one race enslaving the other? “The power I have within me is enough to end the curse. Why do I need you to show me how to wield the magic in the world?”
“Your power isn’t enough. Your power combined with the other eleven Krigers’ power is as strong as one Heks’s magic. The twelve of you have to fight a man wielding Heks magic. A man who has had a hundred years to learn, use, and perfect his magic. You will be like toddlers against him.”
Damaris had told me the final battle would occur in the Tower Room. I had assumed that once we were there, we’d know how to destroy Morlet.
“And have you even considered what happens afterwards? How do you raise a child with Heks magic when you don’t have any yourself? How do you protect yourself from what’s coming? How do you bring peace?”
My head started pounding as I thought about everything she’d said. Why did life have to be so complicated?
She placed her hand on my shoulder. “Before any of this can happen, you need to embrace your own feelings for Morlet. Until you admit that you love him, you will not conceive a child. No matter how many times you sleep with the king.”
“We’re humans, not Heks. It’s just mechanics; we don’t have to love one another.” I still couldn’t shake the bonding ceremony with Morlet—the pure love I’d felt radiating for me inside of him. I hadn’t known such emotions, especially from him, were possible.
Damaris chuckled. “Oh, my dear Kaia, you are so naive.”
“I’m realistic and practical.”
She shook her head. “In order for you to create a child infused with Heks magic and end the curse, you must share a love for one another.”
I didn’t say anything because I did have feelings for Morlet. What scared me was that after surrendering myself to someone I loved and cared for, I had to turn around and kill him. Was I emotionally strong enough to go through with this?
“Don’t cry,” she whispered, wiping the tears from my cheeks.
I hadn’t even realized I was crying. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I understand what you see.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, leaning my head on her shoulder.
“You can see the person he used to be before he was cursed, that part of him that is good.”
“That’s the problem I’ve always had with him. There is good—but there is also evil.”
“The evil is not his fault,” she said.
“I know. But it’s there.”
We went back to the bench and sat down. I placed my elbows on my thighs, resting my head in my hands. How stupid I’d been to assume breaking the curse would be the end of it. That I’d be able to walk away when this was finished. My child would be a constant reminder of Morlet.
“You need to learn to connect to the magic of the world,” Damaris said. “Then, and only then, can I guarantee you’ll defeat Morlet. Also…it will allow you to permanently destroy the sapphire that creates more Heks. If you don’t, once Morlet is gone and the borders reopen, Heks will get ahold of the sapphire pieces and fuse them back together using the magic seeping into the world. Then they will be able to reproduce. When their numbers increase, they will wipe out the human race.”
I glanced at her. “Don’t you want your race to thrive?”
“I do. But not at the expense of your race.”
“And you can show me how to do this? Connect to the magic of the world?” It sounded dangerous to use such raw power.
“Why do you think I’m the highest ranking Grei Heks in Sonvel? It’s not because King Ferdin likes me. It is because I have the ability to control more magic than any other Grei Heks in my kingdom.”
I ran my hands through my hair. I wished my father was here to guide me. I suddenly remembered the book Anders and I had retrieved from my apartment after my father’s death. Maybe there was something in there that could help me. But I’d left it with my bo staff under Henrik and Stein’s care.
“How do I connect to the magic in the world?”
She reached out and grasped my hand. “Relax and feel it.”
Sighing, I did as she instructed, just to see. Whispers echoed all around me. The soldats were too far away for the sounds to have come from them. I tried to focus on what the whispers were saying, but I couldn’t make out any of the words. Were they words from the old language? The language of the Heks?
“Kaia,” Damaris said. “Open your mind so that you can direct the magic to your will.”
It felt like vines slithered over my feet and climbed up my legs. But nothing was there.
“Kaia?”
Invisible vines snaked around my waist, over my neck. I couldn’t breathe. Tearing at the vines, I tried to rip them off my neck.
8
The sun shone brightly overhead, warming the air. I found myself lying on a bed of grass, fragrant flowers all around me. A lake sparkled to my right, a small hut on my left. Feelings of peace, joy, and contentment filled me. My hands started to glow, my legs and arms humming with energy. The magic of the world sang to me, begging for me to use it. The desire to acquiesce inundated me.
“Kaia!” Morlet yelled, running out of the nearby hut. I sat up, staring at him as he sprinted toward me. He looked handsome without his cape on. I loved his bright blue eyes because they revealed so much. But right now, they were alight with panic.
“What’s going on?” I asked as he dropped to his knees before me.
“Look at me. Focus on my eyes. Don’t give in.”
That feeling of contentment slithered away, replaced by irritation. An inexplicable pull came from below me, and I groaned.
“Don’t use the magic, Kaia,” Morlet begged. “You must resist it.” He helped me to my feet. “Stay with me.”
“Is this my version of the swamp dream?”
“Yes. And if you connect to the magic within the world in this state, you’ll be lost.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Right now, you’re not in control of it. It’s controlling you.”
Bright green vines slid over my feet. My heart skipped a beat, panic setting in. The vines crawled up my legs, rooting me to the ground.
Morlet bent down, trying to pry the vines away from me, but they were too strong. He used his magic to sever them; however, new ones quickly took their place.
My feet sank into the ground, sending the vines into a frenzy. They reached my thighs, and I submerged into the ground up to my knees.
Morlet sliced through another vine, but two more took its place. “Look at me,” he demanded.
I descended into the ground up to my waist. The vines slid over my stomach, up to my neck. If I used my power, I would be able to control the vines. I could free myself
.
“Don’t,” Morlet said. “I know it’s tempting, but you must resist.”
“What other option do I have?” I couldn’t sit idly by while this magic consumed me.
“In order to master it, you must prove your mental worth.” Morlet sat and wrapped his legs around me, trying to hold me in place. “If you forget about the magic in the world, it will release you,” he whispered.
I needed to do something drastic to take my mind off what was happening. Morlet’s panic-filled eyes were right in front of me. So close. “Kiss me,” I whispered.
Without hesitating, his lips brushed mine. They were warm and tender, careful. He deepened the kiss, and I closed my eyes, letting the sensations overwhelm me. Desire, love, and intense happiness filled me. These were Morlet’s emotions. Could he feel mine? What did I even feel for him?
The vines released my body, and I gasped. Morlet yanked me out of the ground, his eyes wide with shock.
I woke up in my bed, Morlet hovering above me. When he saw my eyes open, he abruptly took a step back and turned away.
Damaris sat on a chair next to my bed. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
“What happened?”
“You fell over in the courtyard. A soldat carried you to your room.” She reached forward, feeling my face. “You’re not running a fever, but you don’t look well.”
“I need a moment alone with Morlet.”
“Of course. I’ll be back later to check on you.” She left.
Morlet didn’t have his cape on—just like in my dream.
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?” He wouldn’t look at me.
I propped myself into a sitting position. “For helping me.” For kissing me so I would be distracted and the magic’s hold on me would cease.
He shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. A loud bang came from one of the lower levels. Morlet’s shoulders stiffened. “Norill is here.”
“What does she want?”
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