A Court Bright and Broken (Age of Fae #1)

16. It’s Time

Chapter 16

It’s Time

R aewyn

My heart stopped for a moment then resumed beating but at a much faster rate.

There was surprise in Stellon’s eyes followed by a shift to something that looked a lot like determination.

He pushed his chair back and stood, leaving the head table and moving in my direction.

Oh no.

My heart was beating so hard now it was nearly painful, and I was overcome by a sense of claustrophobia.

I turned to Ronia. “Do you know where the nearest washroom is?”

“Oh, yes. It’s just outside that door and down the hallway a bit in a corridor on the right.”

She pointed to one of the doorways in the wall behind us. Thankfully it was close by.

“Would you like me to go with you and show you?”

She was so nice, not at all like the tales I’d heard about the “evil” Fae. Some of them, as it turned out, were just people and not wicked and selfish otherworldly creatures.

I pushed back from the table and put my napkin on my chair. “No. Thank you. I’ll find it. Be back soon.”

But would I?

Rushing from the dining room, I wondered if I shouldn’t just flee the palace now. Maybe I could pay my debt to the Earthwife in some other way.

As I wandered down the hallway, searching for the right corridor, I realized this washroom trip had been a very good idea.

I needed to splash some water on my face. The Nymphian version had definitely dulled my senses, and I felt a bit unsteady on my feet.

So unsteady I almost ran into an elderly human servant leaving the washroom.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said. Then added, “My esteem shines upon you,” for good measure.

The woman stopped and stared right into my eyes.

“Hello Raewyn. You’re a quick learner. And you’ve done a rather impressive job of getting close to the royal family tonight. Far better than I would have expected.”

Confusion reigned for a few moments as I tried to understand what was going on. How did she know my name? And apparently she’d been watching me tonight?

And then a spark lit in my brain. Though I was sure I’d never seen this woman’s face before, there was something familiar about her eyes.

“Sorcha?” I asked tentatively. “Is that you?”

“Yes child, it’s me.”

“But…” My protest died of confusion.

“Are you really so surprised to see me in disguise?” she asked. “You’ve seen yourself.”

That was true. Her magic had made my own appearance as unrecognizable as hers. It was disorienting to see eyes I knew in a face I didn’t.

Also, I was a little woozy from the intoxicating water.

What was that she’d said about the royal family? She’d wanted me to get close to them tonight?

“It’s time,” the Earthwife announced.

Delving a hand into the pocket of her skirt, she pulled it out again and opened her palm. In the center of it were four tiny glass vials containing a fine, almost transparent powder.

“And this is what you’ll need.”

Moving automatically, I held out my own hand. Sorcha carefully placed the vials into it.

“What is it?”

“Poison.” There was a distinct note of pleasure in her voice.

My eyes flew up to meet hers again. “Poison? What’s it for?”

“Not what. Whom,” the witch corrected.

“You will assassinate the royal family tonight—what remains of it. Our allies did a good job of eliminating the mother during the rebellion.”

Suddenly I felt completely sober. Assassination?

“Now only the Crown Prince and his younger brother and King Pompous remain,” Sorcha said. “Oh, and the sister too. Better take her out as well. She seems a gentle sort, but you can’t be too sure–the throne can do strange things to people. You’ll kill them all then escape.”

All of this was delivered in a matter-of-fact tone, as if she’d instructed me to hang out the wash and then sweep the floor instead of telling me to do something atrocious followed by something impossible.

My body froze in instant resistance.

“I can’t do that.”

Yes, the royal family and their fancy friends had lorded it over us, levied unfair taxes, and conscripted many humans into service here in the castle, but they weren’t all bad.

Well, not Mareth and Ronia anyway.

And even if they all deserved it, I wasn’t a killer.

“Oh you can, and you will. You’ll be a hero to your people. They’ll praise your name and write ballads in your honor,” Sorcha said.

“I don’t want praise and ballads,” I said. ‘If you’d told me beforehand that this was the payment, I never would have made that bargain with you.”

Which was exactly why she hadn’t told me. It was so clear to me now.

I wished desperately I’d never gone to her cottage that day.

“Yet you did make it,” Sorcha reminded me. “And you must pay your debt. I warned you… if you don’t, the penalty will be beyond imagination—your family will be worse off than before.”

“No, please.” I shook my head, reaching out toward her on instinct before withdrawing my hands. There would be no comfort from her direction.

“Put the substance in their drinks before the evening ends. The Randalins will conduct no more witch hunts after tonight.”

What? I’d heard nothing about the Fae hunting human witches. Had I stumbled into a personal battle between the Earthwives and the Elves?

That was a whole different matter than “saving” my people from our oppressive overlords.

After I’d managed to gather enough air to speak, I asked, “Could you not do it yourself and let me accomplish some other task for you instead? You’re here. You’re in disguise as well.”

Sorcha shook her head vehemently. “There’s only so much our spells can do to change someone’s appearance. I couldn’t increase your height by much, and as you can see, I’m disguised, but I still look my age. The High Elves don’t let elderly humans serve anywhere near the royal family. Apparently old age disgusts them.”

Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen any guests here at the royal ball who were older than middle aged, at the oldest. Most were much younger.

“There are no old Elves?” I asked, aghast.

Did they leave their elders out to die of exposure when they reached a certain age? Did they send them off to a holding camp for the decrepit until they finally died, ostracized and alone? If so, they really were evil.

“There are, but you can’t tell it by looking at them,” Sorcha explained. “The outward aging process stops for all the Fae once they reach about the age of forty. Unfortunately, their lives continue on forever—unless they’re ended by violence.”

“They never get sick?”

“No, so it’ll be obvious their deaths weren’t the result of accidental food poisoning. You’ll have to move quickly to get out of the castle once the deed is done.”

I was filled with an overwhelming sense of desperation. I had never hurt anyone on purpose in my life. Killing four people, Elven or not, was simply unthinkable.

“I won’t do it,” I told the Earthwife. “If you want them dead, you’ll have to find another way.”

I was actually entertaining the notion of warning Stellon somehow. The Elves hadn’t been kind to my people by any stretch, but he’d been kind to me . And even without that, this was wrong.

Of course Sorcha would likely cause our new garden to die immediately, and the venison I’d preserved would suddenly rot. I’d have to go work in a pleasure house after all to feed my family and pay for Papa’s pain medication, but all of that was more palatable than becoming an assassin.

The witch’s face darkened until she appeared almost plum-colored. Her flinty green eyes blazed at me.

“ This is the only way. And you will do it. What is four Elven lives compared to thousands of helpless humans?”

She was shaking with rage now. “Don’t forget what they’ve done to your people and your family. They’re the reason your sisters were starving. They’re the reason your mother and stepmother are dead, the reason your father is sightless and suffered for so long.”

Then the Earthwife became completely still, and her tone changed from enraged to eerily calm—friendly even.

“It would be a shame if his pain were to return. And worsen.”

My head was beginning to spin, either from forgetting to breathe or from breathing too quickly—I hadn’t been paying attention. All I knew was that I felt sick.

“There will be no more tonics and salves from me—or any of my sisters,” Sorcha warned. “He is not that old. He’ll linger… and suffer… for decades more. As for your sisters...”

She gave me a smile that sent chills down my back.

“I’ll leave it to you to decide which of them I’ll take.”

A hoarse whisper was all I could manage. “Take?”

My chest felt like it was caving in. I was shaking all over.

“One of them—your choice—will come and live with me and become my daughter, an Earthwife like me. Where do you think we village mothers come from? We don’t get many suitors.”

“So you barte r for little girls?”

My hands came up to clutch my own throat. They were trembling.

“It won’t be so bad,” Sorcha continued. “She’ll never marry of course or bear children of her own, but she’ll become powerful. Naturally, you and your father and the other girl will never speak to her again, even if you see her in the village. I can’t have you muddying the waters.”

This was a nightmare. In trying to help my family, I’d put them in more immediate danger.

I couldn’t let my father be in excruciating pain for the rest of his life. I couldn’t let one of my little sisters be taken away and raised by this horrid woman. She was as bad, if not worse, than the King.

I was in an impossible position. Maybe Sorcha was right—what were four Elven lives compared to all the humans they’d forced into dire situations like mine?

Compared to all the humans who were starving because of them?

Why were their lives any more important than those of my father and sisters? Than the humans in our village and countless others whose lives would be vastly improved if the cruel king and his sons were eliminated?

Of course if I went along with it, my life would likely end tonight. There was very little chance I’d be able to pull it off and get out of the castle without being caught.

But that didn’t matter. It would probably be impossible to live with the guilt anyway.

Before my foolish bargain with the Earthwife, I hadn’t really had much of a life, struggling and working myself to the bone day after day to meet my family’s needs.

And all my efforts had still been falling short. I was failing to support them.

They would literally be better off without me. At least they’d continue to be fed, and Papa would remain free of pain.

“Okay,” I said, barely able to move the words past my constricted throat. “I’ll do it.”

Sorcha smiled. “I knew you’d come to see reason. Hurry now. You only have until midnight when the ball ends.”

“I’m not sure how you expect me to put this in their drinks. I’ve been seated far, far away from the head table.”

“So wait until dinner is over,” she said. “Based on what I saw earlier in the ballroom, you’ll have no trouble getting close to either prince again.”

This was my chance to ask the question I’d been wondering about all evening.

“You said you’d make me into a beautiful Elven woman for the ball… but did you put anything else into the spell?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You didn’t add a… love spell or something?”

She gave me a speculative glance. “Interesting. Each spell is different because each person is different. It’s always fascinating to see how it turns out. You believe the young princes have paid you attention because of something I did.”

“Didn’t you?”

Sorcha shrugged. “It’s hard to say. As I told you, our magic is variable, particularly when it comes to altering people in some way. In either case, this is good.”

She paused, and a smile developed, growing on her face like a noxious weed.

“In fact, if you can’t manage to poison their drinks, you can rub a little of the powder on your lips. It won’t hurt humans—only the Fae. You can poison the Crown Prince with a kiss. Or even better, both princes.”

Her hands rubbed together in front of her as if her victory against her Elven foes was almost in her grasp.

“Perhaps even the King. He seemed to like you as well,” she said.

A shudder passed through me. I had never kissed anyone . I certainly didn’t want to start with King Pontus.

And I didn’t want to kiss either prince—not under these circumstances.

Could there possibly be a more cold-blooded way to take someone’s life than with a gesture of affection?

“I don’t think it would work for the girl, but it’s worth a try,” Sorcha suggested. “Now be off with you—someone’s coming.”

Dreading it with every fiber of my being but knowing I couldn’t let my family pay for my foolish mistakes, I left the corridor and started back toward the ballroom.

What I saw when I stepped into the wide hallway stopped me in my tracks.