by Elise Kova
The world shifts around us.
The stale air of my castle room fills my lungs as I exhale the Fade in plumes of black smoke. Tremors wrack my body, causing black ice to fall off my shoulders. The condensed magic evaporates to steam, dissipating.
“W-what?” I say through chattering teeth. I grip my knees, trying to catch my breath before righting myself. Eldas is unfazed. “What was that?”
“Fadewalking. It’s a skill very few are capable of.”
I wonder what other incredible feats he can perform. Before I can ask, the air at Eldas’s side writhes like heat off a brick street. From between the shadows and light, a wolf bounds forth. The now-familiar beast happily trots over to me, rounds my feet, and sits at my side.
“What the—” Oh, good, Eldas is as confused as I. The king scowls at the creature. “Yet another sign the Fade is weakening. It’s becoming unruly,” he mumbles. Then, louder, “Go, beast.”
The wolf tilts his head to the side.
“By the order of the Elf King, you are a creature of the Fade, and there you shall remain.”
The wolf wags his tail and I don’t bother suppressing a giggle. “I guess he does what he wants.” I bury my hand in the wolf’s fur.
“Like someone else I know.” Eldas gives me a side eye and somehow I laugh. For the first time, it feels as if we’re working together—as though we’re equals.
“If it’s any consolation, he didn’t listen to me either.”
Eldas looks up to the heavens as if silently beseeching the gods for assistance and then heaves a monumental sigh. “He’ll go back soon enough. He was likely just following our scent through the Fade.”
“Fadewalking seems a lot less impressive when an animal can do it too.” I can’t help a grin. Eldas narrows his eyes at me, but his scowl has lost some of its bite.
“He can Fadewalk because he is of the Fade—a creature caught in the rift when worlds were severed.”
“He’s a good boy, that’s what he is,” I coo to the wolf.
“Fine. It is now my choice to allow this beast to stay as long as it pleases.”
I don’t know if he’s saying that to me, the wolf, or himself. “Of course it is your choice.”
“If you destroy anything in my castle, I’m sending you back by force,” he says sternly to the beast.
“I’ll look after him.”
“Don’t get too attached. He’ll be gone before morning,” Eldas grumbles, and starts for the door. “And you, Luella, we will practice your magic again tomorrow.”
“You’ve given me even more incentive to learn,” I say earnestly. He seems somewhat startled by my shifted tone and gives a small nod. I bite back the urge to tell him that if he gives kindness, he’ll likely get it back.
Eldas yawns. “Now, I will make an effort to get some sleep, if the Human Queen will stay put long enough to let me.”
“I’ll allow it, I suppose.”
He clearly wasn’t expecting me to answer. A smirk pulls on the corners of his lips. Eldas puts his back to me before I can enjoy the expression.
“Eldas,” I say right as his hand falls on the door handle.
“What is it now?”
“Thank you for our agreement… It’s a good start in proving that you’re not so terrible, after all.”
As soon as I say it, I dip my head and focus on petting the wolf to hide my smile. I don’t want to make him even more uncomfortable. The sight of his icy facade crumbling at someone else’s gratitude is satisfaction enough.
He says nothing and slips out of my room, leaving me and my unexpected new companion alone.
Chapter 16
Rinni cracks the door. “Your Majesty? Are you ready?”
“Yes.” I’m perched at the edge of my bed. Alice’s journal is balanced on my knees and I’m scouring through for any information that could give me a starting point for how to approach my predicament.
I’ve already managed to figure out that the “Being” is the mirror of the “Knowing” in that it is the essence of existing rather than just understanding existence. It’s a tricky concept, but the important bit is that I now know my powers can change the true name of something.
A useful discovery to dedicate my morning to.
Rinni says nothing. The silence drags long enough that I glance over to her. Her eyes are focused on the wolf that’s taking up nearly the entire foot of my bed. She has a confused, bewildered, and slightly afraid expression.
“Rinni, meet Hook.” I named the wolf after the hook shape of his one, damaged ear.
“Hook… You have a wolf?”
“Yes, and his name is Hook.” I close up the journal. “Before you ask, yes, Eldas knows Hook is here. And yes, he’s all right with it.”
“Eldas… I’m missing something.”
“Maybe.” I smile sweetly and saunter over to the closet. I feel better than I have in days. “Hold on just a moment while I get dressed.”
Rinni studies me when I emerge.
“What? Did I pick poor clothes for a queen?” I ask.
“It’s not that. I like that you went with green again. It complements your hair. Perhaps you do have a bit of fashion sense to you.”
I gasp. “Rinni, did you just say something nice about me?”
She rolls her eyes. “You say it as if it’s a shock.”
“Well, I didn’t think you liked me much.”
“I like you fine.” Rinni’s eyes fall to Hook at my side. “You’re not bringing that beast into the throne room.”
“You want to try and tell him he can’t come?”
Hook tilts his head at Rinni. His eyes say, “pet me.” But his long muzzle full of razor sharp teeth says, “try me.” It’s only been a day, but I think finding Hook was one of the best things I could’ve done. It’s like we were meant to be together all along.
“Fine, but if Eldas asks, I said he should stay in your room.”
I shrug. After last night, I’m already more confident around Eldas. As long as he keeps up his end of the deal, maybe there’s hope.
Maybe, somehow, we got through to each other. A little?
We walk through the main room of my apartments. It’s still barren, and getting furniture slots higher onto my to-do list. It’s solidly underneath “figure out my magic” and “stop the cycle of the Human Queen.” But it may be more attainable than either of those goals and, moreover, having a furnished apartment might make me more comfortable during my—hopefully short—three months here. At the very least, it’d be nice to have an actual desk to read journals and take notes at.
We go down the same path to the throne room. Just like before, Rinni listens at the door before opening it. “Your Grace, Her Majesty and…Her Majesty’s wolf.”
Eldas stands before the great window behind the two thrones—one crafted by nature, the other by mortal hands. His hands are folded behind his back and his long silhouette is cut sharply against the morning light. I think I hear the echo of a sigh.
“Thank you. You may leave, Rinni.”
Rinni bows and departs through the side door we entered through.
Eldas turns to face me, looking down his blade-like nose. His face is so severe that I wonder strangely if it would be painful to kiss it. I already know his words are sharper than glass. Would his tongue match? I push the thoughts from my mind. I’m here to work.
His gaze shifts to Hook.
“The beast is still here.”
“His name is Hook.”
“Very well.” He shakes his head, resigned. “We have work to do, wolf or no.”
I summon my courage and say, “Yes, we do.”
“Come here.” He senses my hesitation and adds, “I’m not going to force you to sit on the throne.”
“Really?” This is already going much better than the last time.
“Truly. It’s obvious we need to start with the bare minimum. We’ll begin with you exploring your powers and becoming familiar with them. We need to learn just
how much of the past queens’ strength you inherited,” he instructs as I cross over. “Close your eyes.”
I oblige him. With my eyes closed I’m somehow more aware of his presence. I hear his footsteps. I’m keenly aware of the exact moment he crosses the line of my personal space. He’s achingly close and the air shifts as he moves around me.
A low growl breaks the trance. “Hook, shh,” I hiss. Maybe Rinni was right about leaving him behind.
Is that a soft chuckle I hear? Eldas smothers the pleasant noise quickly. I peek through my lashes, but he’s not in front of me any longer.
“Reach within you.” The resonance of his voice behind me, nearly close enough to move the tiny hairs on the back of my neck, makes me shiver.
Get yourself together, Luella.
“Feel the power that’s there.”
“I feel nothing.”
“You’re not going to master anything with sixty seconds of effort,” he says dryly. I can’t help but smirk. “Try harder.” His hands rest on my shoulders, feather light. I shiver again as he trails his fingers over the velvet that covers my arms. “Feel the magic being drawn in through the air, the power that gathers in your hands. Feel it as your feet root to the earth.” His hand slips around my hip. I let out a gasp as his fingers spread across the flat plane of my stomach. It’s as if with every caress my magic activates, eager to respond to him, as if my power could arc from me to him. “Do you feel it? Gathering within you? A wellspring of life waiting to be unleashed?”
“I…” I feel something, all right.
“Shh,” he says, a little too gently. “Keep your focus, Luella.”
Why does my name sound so much better when he says it in that deep voice of his? I press my eyes tighter and try to shift my focus. The only things I’m feeling well up in me are dark desires I certainly am not about to admit to anyone—myself included—anytime soon.
“Breathe,” he whispers. I do as he commands. “Exhale.”
I’m putty under his hands. Breathe in, breathe out, focus. Eldas stands behind me, one hand on my stomach and the other resting lightly on the backs of my fingers. He breathes in time with me. And, slowly, the carnal urges he woke with his touch fade away.
We breathe together as one and, in the darkness, something new is blooming.
Power flows between us. My magic is more like a wide, shallow lake than a deep well; he stands on the far edge. We look toward different skies, broken by the other’s silhouette.
Our power is connected, but we see that power differently. And because we understand it differently, the power functions uniquely for each of us.
I see life. He sees death. Two sides of the same coin. Two halves that require the other to exist.
I imagine myself kneeling at the lake’s edge. Yet my eyes never leave him. Not even as I dip my hands into the water.
It’s not wet, as I would’ve thought. The water is warm and swirls around my fingers with a faint glow. When I take my hands from the lake, they have the same green shimmer on them.
“Little by little,” Eldas murmurs.
Does he see the same thing I do? Is this vision beyond my own mind? Is it actual, or just how I’m comprehending the shifting power that pulls between us like helpless tides trapped between two moons?
“The magic responds to you, Luella. You are its master. It is not the master of you. It exists to serve you and you are its sole commander; never think otherwise.” His hands leave my body and I bite back an inappropriate groan of frustration. My skin is flushed, hot under where he touched. “Open your eyes.”
I pry my eyes open as he walks around me. The light of the throne room is too bright. I blink several times, returning my mind to the here and now—the physical world.
“Was that real?” I ask.
“That was how your mind is attempting to comprehend your magic.”
“Did you see it too?”
He seems startled I’d probe for his experience. “I saw…something.” Eldas turns away from me, hiding the expression that accompanied those words. I take a step forward, drawn toward him as he moves away. He speaks before I can probe further. “Come to the throne.”
The gentle heat that filled my body vanishes. The redwood throne stands before me, tall and imposing. Threatening.
It’s softened only slightly by Hook’s presence. The wolf has curled up at its foot. His chin is on his paws and he looks up at me with golden eyes. Somehow, even the animal seems to expect something from me when it comes to this throne.
“You said I wouldn’t have to,” I whisper.
“This is your power,” Eldas says delicately. “You must commit to learning it. Especially if you want any hope of breaking the queen’s tie to the throne.”
“But…”
It takes only two of his wide strides for him to be before me again. Eldas slowly moves for my hand and I allow him to take it in his. Somehow, this touch is sturdy and reassuring.
“You can do this. You must.”
I shiver and force my body to move. It’s just a throne. A throne that nearly killed me the last time. Nothing to be worried about. Right. Maybe if I tell myself that enough I’ll believe it.
Eldas guides my palm to the throne, holding it just above the corner of the armrest.
“Just this, for now. Greet the throne and its might without giving yourself to it.”
I am frozen in fear.
“Are you ready?” he asks softly.
“Just one more minute.” My voice quivers slightly. He gives me the time and then some, standing patiently, holding my hand in his. When my composure is gathered, I nod and he presses my hand against the wood.
There’s a spark sizzling under my skin. Popping crackles my ears. But I stay grounded in my body. This time, I’m not pulled deep into the magical clutches of the redwood throne. I blink and breathe slowly. Hook lets out a low whine.
Eldas has unhanded me. I continue pressing my palm to the throne of my own accord. My connection with it is stable and calm this time. I can once more sense those deep roots fanning beneath me in the foundation of worlds.
“What do you feel?” he whispers. His hands are behind his back again and yet the ghost of them is still on my body.
“I feel it…stretching, reaching. I feel the earth, mighty and solid, coiled in the roots’ grasp. I feel…” Rock. A hard layer of rock that the roots can’t penetrate. Instead, they cluster just before it, around something, like a cage. I can’t tell what that “something” is. It’s a black spot in my awareness—a place where my limited senses go to die. I don’t remember it from the first time…but that whole experience is just a jumble of pain in my mind now.
“When you’re ready, close your eyes.”
I take a deep breath and do as he instructs yet again.
“Feel the Fade you crossed, just south of the city; we’re right at the edge of Quinnar. Traverse the plains and hills to the eastern mountains. Feel their white-capped and snowy ridges. Enter the deep forests of the fae. Find, at the water’s horizon, far, far to the north, where the Veil separates our world from the Beyond. See, but never touch.”
As he speaks, I go on a journey behind my eyelids. I’m jerked around from place to place. It’s as if I race between one location and the next to keep up with his words. As my thoughts change, so too does my awareness.
I shiver as the bitter cold of the mountains brushes against me. I hear the chirping of the birds awakening to spring in the forests. I smell the salt air as I look out to a vast, dark horizon at the world’s edge.
One place, and then to the next. Each location tries to tie vine tendrils of magic to me. The earth leeches from me on instinct. And a small piece of myself is left behind at every turn.
Opening my eyes, I pull my hand away and try to catch my breath. The world spins and I sway. Eldas moves in the corner of my vision. Hook is faster.
“I’m fine.” I bury a palm in the wolf’s fur. He comes up to my thigh and leans against me for support tha
t I hate I need. Just that little bit of magic left me drained. “I just… I need to catch my breath.”
“This is a significant improvement over last time.”
“Careful, Eldas, that sounds like approval.”
“Well, I am a king, I must be discerning with my approval.” He adjusts his coat, smoothing out invisible wrinkles. A movement I’m beginning to associate with uncertainty. I almost find it endearing.
A tired grin pulls at my lips. “Even with your wife?”
“Especially with my wife.” His eyes meet mine. “Because none have greater responsibility, or power, than her. I am the most discerning with those that are the most capable.”
“And that almost sounded like a compliment.”
“Take it as you will.” He looks to the throne as if my sly grin made him—the mighty Elf King—uncomfortable. “What did you feel?”
“The world, again. But this time with more control. I didn’t feel like vultures were picking me down to the bone.” I straighten, no longer leaning on Hook. The room has stopped spinning.
“Yet it still took magic from you,” Eldas observes. I nod. He frowns. “Tomorrow, we’ll work on shielding your magic from forces that would try and leech it away.”
“Are there more forces that would leech from me than the earth itself?” I ask.
“The earth may be the greatest force, but sheltering yourself from it may be the easiest task. Guarding yourself from an attack by a sentient being is much harder.” It sounds like he’s speaking from experience.
“Who would do that?”
“You are a queen now. Moreover, you are my wife. Both titles bring enemies.”
“This isn’t the first time you’ve brought up enemies… Who are they?”
“That’s not your concern.”
“Clearly it is.” I blink several times at him, waiting for his agreement. Eldas purses his lips.
“You will be safe in the castle. Stay here until your coronation,” is all he says as he strides away toward one of the doors on the opposite side of the room. It’s like he’s retreating from allowing himself to get too close to me. As though the very notion makes him afraid. “Come again tomorrow morning.”