Queen of Wands (The Tree of Ages Series Book 4)

by Sara C. Roethle

  He followed Finn through the open door of the entry room. A fire was burning in the hearth. Perhaps Bedelia had lit it, as she was the least injured. The roaring flames gently illuminated the space, though the heat mostly slipped out the open door and high windows. Naoki hurried ahead of them and curled up close to the flames, seeming to fall asleep almost instantly.

  Halfway across the room, Finn stopped and turned toward him. “Iseult, I’d like to sit in the garden for a while,” she said softly.

  He looked her up and down. “You should warm yourself first. You may fall ill otherwise.”

  She shook her head and turned away, continuing across the space toward the corridor leading to the garden.

  With a heavy sigh, he caught up to her. When they arrived at the door leading to the garden, he held it open for her, then trailed her out.

  The overgrown garden was soggy from the rain, with thick, waxy leaves reflecting the moonlight. Finn walked forward toward the small pillar topped with a green stone, crossed her legs, and sat.

  Unsure of her intent, he stood at her back for several silent seconds.

  “She spoke to me during the battle,” Finn finally explained, her gaze on the pillar. “The Druid goddess, I mean. She wanted me to make a choice, and I chose to be like the Cavari. I chose the power to protect my friends.”

  He moved forward and sat on the damp earth beside her, slowly lowering his injured arm to his side. He suspected some muscle damage from one of the Dearg Due slamming into him, but nothing overly serious.

  Finn turned to him. “It was the only way to protect all of you,” she explained, as if justifying her decision. “The Druids were peaceful, connected to the earth, but they were not fighters. All they could do was hide, and it got most of them killed. I’m tired of running away.”

  He watched her sad expression, hoping she would explain further. When she did not, he asked, “What does this decision mean to you?”

  She wiped her damp hair away from her pale, tired face. “It means that I’m just like the Cavari, but I have no choice. If Oighear is still alive, I must have the power to fight her.” She looked sadly to the pillar. “The goddess spoke to me during the battle, but I cannot hear her voice anymore. I no longer feel the same connection to the earth that I once did.”

  “But you can control it,” he prompted. “Surely that means you are still connected.”

  She shook her head. “The earth is not meant to be controlled. It’s why I struggled with my magic before. I hadn’t chosen my new path. I could have chosen that connection, and lived in peace, but I chose power and control. The peace I longed for, the reason I became a tree, is gone.” She turned her gaze to him. “You should run far away from me. I am no longer the person you thought you knew.”

  He sighed. For a wise, ancient being, she truly understood very little. He leaned forward, wrapping his good arm around her waist to gently pull her toward him.

  She moved willingly, pressing her hip against his, then twisted to lean against his chest. He wrapped his arm around her clammy skin, wishing he had more warmth to give.

  “I will not run,” he muttered. “I told you once that I believe fate brought us together. There are things stronger than war, stronger than queens and entire nations.”

  She buried her cheek against his damp chest, hiding her face from him. “What things?” she asked after a moment.

  “Loyalty,” he replied softly, “and friendship . . . love.”

  She pulled her head away from his chest to look up at him. “And which of those things do we have?”

  He smiled, realizing that if there was ever a time to be honest, it was now. She was teetering on the brink, and he needed to bring her back.

  “All of them,” he answered. “We have all of them.”

  “Will you help me?” she asked, surprising him. “Help me to not drown in power,” she clarified. “I may have chosen the path of my people, but I—” she hesitated, lip trembling. “I do not want to be like them,” she finished. “I do not want to lose who I choose to be, when I become what I must.”

  He pulled her gently to lean back against him. Tears in her eyes, she obliged.

  “All you ever had to do was ask,” he muttered, kissing the top of her head.

  They stayed like that for a long while, until Kai and the others came to find them.

  Everyone was wet and exhausted, ready for sleep, but someone still needed to stand watch. Eventually, Iseult left Finn in a warm room by a fire, with Kai and Anna to watch over her, and with Naoki snuggled at her feet.

  For Iseult, all was as well as it could be. Finn still seemed to be Finn, despite her decisions. The Cavari would still need to be dealt with, along with all the Faie, but at least they had a unicorn in the stables if negotiations got out of hand.

  As he walked across the silent courtyard toward the wall, he couldn’t help but wonder what his mother would think of him now. She’d sent him on a mission to free their souls, but instead had not only his soul, but his heart, entrapped by the woman who had stolen them.

  He listened for sounds of the Faie outside the gates as he ascended the staircase toward the top of the wall. He heard none, but when he reached the parapet, he observed some smaller Faie dragging the inhuman bodies of their kin away. He wondered if they would mourn the dead like humans do, and was surprised to feel sympathy growing in his chest.

  Finn may have stolen his soul and taken ownership of his heart, but she had somehow given him more emotion than he had ever hoped to feel. Perhaps she’d returned his soul long ago without him knowing. It was the only explanation he could think of as he looked up through the drizzling rain, and felt a single hot tear slip down his cheek.

  Though the battle weighed heavily on her mind, Finn finally managed to rest. A fire had been built in one of the smaller rooms of the fortress, and three bedrolls laid side by side for her, Kai, and Anna.

  She’d been more than happy to have her two friends near, and especially relieved to learn the Aos Sí had fetched clean running water to clean Kai’s wound, and that he was expected to recover fully.

  She drifted in and out of sleep, reveling in the fire’s warmth and taking comfort in Kai and Anna’s gentle snores. Everyone had been utterly exhausted, including her.

  Eventually she fell asleep fully, only to awake in a misty marsh, overlooking a large lake, shining with moonlight.

  She took a deep breath and exhaled. How on earth had she ended up here? Was it somehow Anna’s doing? The night air was warm here, with no sign of snow, though she knew anything could happen in the in-between.

  “We’ve been waiting for you to come here on your own,” a voice said from behind her, whipping Finn around.

  A few paces away stood Keiren and . . . Ealasaid?

  Finn stared at them. “W-what are you two doing together?”

  Keiren smirked, then smoothed the fabric of her flowing burgundy dress. “I thought you two should address each other,” she explained, gesturing to Ealasaid, “one queen to another.”

  Finn snapped her eyes to Ealasaid, who blushed, wringing her hands in the skirts of her ornate emerald gown. She certainly looked the part of a queen with her blonde curls freshly groomed and pulled away from her face.

  Finn resisted the urge to blush as well upon glancing down at her dirty breeches and the fresh tunic she’d donned before bed. “I don’t understand,” she replied.

  Keiren rolled her eyes, but before she could speak, Ealasaid stepped forward. “Keiren has been helping me,” she explained. “She helped me realize that I’m the final queen from the prophecy. Oighear is still alive, and she attacked Garenoch.”

  Finn gasped, flicking her gaze between the two women, still not fully understanding.

  “Keiren showed me how to come here,” she gestured around at the dark twisted trees. “We’d hoped you would come here in your dreams, and we were right.”

  Had she truly managed to reach the in-between on her own? She narrowed her gaze, training it
on Keiren. “Why not just douse me with dust again?” she asked bitterly.

  Keiren rolled her eyes again. “I tossed aside my original plan as soon as I learned your blood was not fully immortal, even though it was when you first returned to this land. Out of curiosity, who did you share it with? Whose mortal blood has tainted you?”

  “She gave it to Kai,” Ealasaid answered. “He was near death, and she saved him.”

  Finn flinched at the sting of betrayal. She peered at Ealasaid in disbelief. “I told you that in confidence.”

  Ealasaid cringed. “I apologize, but Keiren has become a friend. She wants to help me protect the mages.”

  Finn shook her head in disbelief. Could Ealasaid truly be so foolish? “This woman,” she began, pointing at Keiren as she took a step forward, “has been stalking me since I arrived in this land. She abused Bedelia, trapped me in the in-between so she could threaten our friends with Reivers, and turned her own father into a—” she cut herself off, given Àed was not stuck as a tree on a distant island, but safe inside her fortress.

  Keiren tilted her head, observing her like a hawk. “There are two sides to every story, my dear, and you do not know my father as well as you think, but that is beside the point. Ealasaid and I have become allies, along with Maarav, and you are a threat to us.”

  A threat? Finn shook her head. “What are you talking about? Ealasaid and I are friends!”

  Ealasaid blushed. “Yes, we are,” she agreed, “but there’s also the prophecy to think about. If you and I are two of the prophesied queens, then one of us must die.” She looked down at her feet. “I do not intend to sacrifice myself.”

  Finn glared at Keiren. She’d obviously been whispering in Ealasaid’s ear for quite some time now to have her acting so differently.

  “I don’t care about prophecies,” Finn snapped, maintaining her glare. “I care about protecting my friends from Oighear,” she turned her gaze to meet Ealasaid’s, “and about protecting you from An Fiach.”

  Ealasaid dropped her gaze back down to her feet. “Then our goals are the same, and we must simply hope the prophecy does not come true. Either way, I think it’s best you do not return to Garenoch for the time being.”

  Finn frowned. Had it truly come to this?

  Keiren smiled smugly. “We know you have allied yourself with the Faie, and now have accepted the Cavari under your rule. Both are our enemies.”

  Ealasaid looked up with tears in her eyes, as if to verify with Finn that what Keiren said was true.

  Finn didn’t know what to say, so she simply stared back at her.

  “The Cavari killed so many of An Solas,” Ealasaid accused, her voice trembling. “They were drawn by you. We cannot risk another attack now. I must think of my people. They have to come before our friendship.”

  Finn almost laughed. Here she had chosen her friends over the good of all, while Ealasaid was prepared to do the opposite. Truly, Ealasaid had more right to call herself a queen.

  “I will not return to Garenoch if you do not desire my presence,” Finn agreed cordially. She turned her gaze to Keiren. “And I’ll have you know, now that Bedelia and Àed are both with me, I will strike you down if you ever come near us again. You may have fooled Ealasaid, but you will never fool me.”

  Keiren’s eyes widened in a brief moment of surprise, then she resumed her smug smile.

  Finn flexed her hands, infuriated. She’d hoped the news of Àed’s escape would phase her more.

  “In that case,” Keiren replied calmly, her smile still in place, “I will leave you with a final warning. Don’t expect your people to follow someone who willingly tainted her own blood with mortality. Don’t expect the Faie to either. You’re building your army in quicksand, and your friends will be the first to sink.”

  With that, she took Ealasaid’s hand, and the two women disappeared, leaving her alone in the dark marsh. She sat and wrapped her arms around her knees, mulling over all that was said, but focusing on how Keiren knew what had happened only hours before, and why the wicked sorceress was helping Ealasaid.

  Keiren had claimed her plans had changed, and that perhaps she no longer wanted Finn’s not-so-immortal blood, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to use her in some other way. She needed to speak with Àed about it, and perhaps Bedelia. One of them might have a better idea of Keiren’s hidden intent.

  She sighed, then curled up on her side in the scratchy grass. She closed her eyes, more than ready to return to her body.

  Just as she was about to drift off, she sensed a presence behind her. She quickly turned over and sat up, then exhaled in relief. It was only her mother, though perhaps, she should not feel relieved just yet.

  Móirne seated herself on the ground a few paces away, wrapping her loose black robes around her legs. She stroked a long lock of dark brown hair behind her ear. “My apologies for bringing you here,” she began. “I was unaware others might be waiting for you.”

  Finn wrapped her arms around her knees and peered at her mother curiously. “I was wondering how I came to be here accidentally. I didn’t think it was my doing. What do you want?”

  Móirne turned her blue eyes down to her lap. “To apologize. What you said to our people . . . you were right. I should have parted ways with the Cavari as soon as we awoke, rather than hiding in the shadows, feebly trying to protect you from afar . . . yet now here I am, once again meeting with you in secret.”

  Finn sighed. “It is not your fault. One hundred years ago, I ran away from my duties, away from them. I left you to fade away with all the others. You owe me nothing.”

  Móirne rose and repositioned herself to sit directly in front of her. Her hand reached out, landing gently on Finn’s, still wrapped around her knees. “I must warn you, while the Cavari bowed to your power tonight, they will strike at you the first chance they get. They will never accept you as queen, not after you stole their magic away for so long.”

  Finn nodded. She’d suspected as much. “I don’t need, nor want, them to accept me. I only need them to fear me enough to do as I say . . . for now.”

  Móirne gazed at her curiously. “What are you planning?”

  Finn observed her mother, wanting to trust her, but knowing she could not. Immortal beings were not immune to acting selfishly out of fear, and her mother was more scared than most.

  Reading her expression, Móirne sighed. “My apologies, I should not have asked. I only hope you will not anger the Cavari enough to revolt.”

  She schooled her face to remain calm, though sudden rage washed through her. She didn’t want to make the Cavari angry, she wanted to seal their power away forever, even if it required losing her own magic in turn. She just had to time things wisely. For now, she needed the power to defeat Oighear once and for all. If Keiren and Ealasaid wanted to stand in her way, she would defeat them too, as much as the thought of facing Ealasaid as an enemy pained her.

  “Your face betrays your thoughts,” Móirne commented, drawing her back to the present.

  Finn turned her face away to peer out at the calm, moonlit lake. Her plan meant stealing her mother’s magic too. Perhaps she would even fade away again.

  Perhaps Finn would too.

  It was a risk she had to take if she was going to end things once and for all.

  “I wish things could be different,” she muttered.

  Móirne sighed, gazing out at the lake alongside her. “As do I. After so many years, that is the only thing that hasn’t changed.”

  Finn nodded. Perhaps she and her mother were more similar than she thought, but it didn’t matter. It was far too late to save either of them.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Ealasaid’s eyelids slowly fluttered open. She groaned, lifting a hand to shield her eyes from the nearby candlelight against the stark surrounding darkness.

  After a moment, she lowered her hand, then turned her head to the side. Maarav sat in a wooden chair at her bedside.

  “You really stayed the whole
time?” she asked.

  He nodded, his black hair dropping forward to frame his face. “You were entering the in-between with a sorceress we only recently met. Of course I stayed to watch over you.”

  She sat up, glancing around the room. “Where is Keiren, anyway?”

  He gestured to the closed door behind his back. “She left after suggesting I let you rest. How did it go?”

  She slumped back against her pillow, debating her answer. Not as planned? She sighed. “Keiren has a tendency to rile people with her words. I feel we are now on worse terms with Finn than when we started. I only wanted to make sure she didn’t plan to kill me now that I’m part of the prophecy.” She bit her lip. “And to tell her she probably should not come back to Garenoch.”

  Maarav eyes narrowed in confusion, causing instant guilt to clench Ealasaid’s gut. She hadn’t discussed that part of the plan with him. It had all made so much sense when Keiren first suggested it to her.

  “Why?” he asked finally. “Finn is a powerful ally.”

  “She’s also allied herself with the Faie,” she sighed.

  “Did Keiren tell you that?” he pressed.

  She nodded. “And Finn did not deny it. She’s also accepted the Cavari into her ranks, even after what they did to An Solas. They are monsters, yet she still agreed to bargain with them.”

  He shook his head, seeming to mull things over, then met her gaze. “And Iseult? Is he still with her?”

  Ealasaid shrugged. “I believe so. No one has said anything to the contrary. I suppose I can ask Keiren since she has the sight.”

  He shook his head. “No, I do not want to place Keiren’s attention upon him, nor would I advise you to trust anything she says. You must remember who Finn and Iseult are. They are your friends. Don’t let Keiren twist them into enemies.”

  She frowned. “I thought you didn’t have friends.”

  The edge of his lip curled upward. “No, but you do. There is a difference between standing strong, and simply making enemies where once there were none.”