Chapter 5 #2
Merrick’s gaze flew across the room, quick and sharp, but it carried something, a hint of worry that Frelina could only attribute to fear of how what he said next would make Elessia feel.
You have great instincts, little Rantzier. He doesn’t give a shit about the rest of us, not if she isn’t safe.
Can you blame him? Frelina shot back. He just got her back. We just got her back. Besides, you need to stop calling me little Rantzier. I have given up the name, if you didn’t hear. The Rantzier name shall fall into oblivion.
Something strange flitted through Raine’s mind, not hurt but something similar, something that formed a knot within her gut.
What should I call you, then? he asked softly.
My name? Frelina didn’t understand what roiled within the red-haired, burly Fae, but as she was about to finally look at him, Merrick started speaking once more.
“When we went to the gods… they warned me something would happen if I tried to save her. They told me I’d regret it, and… fuck, I thought maybe my punishment would be you not choosing me in the end… that’s what they showed me, but—” Merrick’s voice broke.
Frelina couldn’t look away as Elessia clumsily shifted her legs over the Death Whisperer’s long ones, moving closer until he pulled her into his lap and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
It seemed like they didn’t care that the room was full of people as Elessia leaned her forehead against his. “There is no choice, Merrick. From the moment I met your eyes, there was only you. As there will only be you in my future.”
So mushy. Raine’s words in her mind were halfhearted, and when she threw a glare his way, he thankfully had the decency to turn a shade darker, his skin nearly mirroring his hair.
“Idiot,” Kerym mumbled, and when Frelina found his eyes, she realized he’d followed her and Raine’s silent interaction, probably reading his friend too well.
He was right, though. Raine was an idiot. Frelina might be naive—might have fallen too quickly and decided not to get up—but he felt something for her. She knew he did. He was just too stubborn to let himself be happy.
“What did the gods tell you specifically, Merrick?”
Frelina’s head snapped up to the witch sisters, to Pellie, the one with long, beautiful copper hair that shone even in the darkness of the storm, who’d spoken.
Merrick didn’t look away from her sister’s eyes as he responded. “They said there would be consequences. Ones that would harm both me and her.” The muscle in his jaw feathered. “I told them to go fuck themselves.”
“I’m so sorry.” The Death Whisperer’s voice lowered, but the urgency in it was apparent. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise you. I will do anything and everything to keep you safe.”
Elessia placed a hand on his cheek.
“I know,” she whispered before turning toward the sisters. “We… we haven’t had much time to speak since that day, but do you… do you know anything about this? About what is happening? Why… why I can see them?”
“We all can see those fucking souls,” Kerym muttered. “And they are terrifying.”
So do I, Raine said in reply to Frelina’s thought that she agreed with the Siphon Twin. I thought Merrick’s whispers were bad, but actually seeing them? No, thank you.
Frelina huffed a breath while she eyed the two sisters, who whispered something to each other before focusing their eyes on the room again, and Frelina remembered what they had said that day when they had also dropped to a knee.
And so a soulbinder shall help her rise to take her throne—her right as a veiled queen.
“What is a veiled queen?” she blurted out.
Soulbinder seemed straightforward enough.
Death Whisperer. Soulbinder.
Wasn’t that what Merrick did? Bind those souls to him or wherever he kept them?
The room quieted again, and Frelina fought a blush until Pellie finally responded.
“Please remember that we were taken out of our realm when we were very young. Soria and I…” She glanced at her sister, who nodded for her to go on. “We don’t remember that much, but our mother—our real one—used to tell us these bedtime stories about veiled queens.”
As Pellie hesitated, the tension in the air was so palpable that Frelina wouldn’t have been surprised if it formed thick, dark clouds—like the ones rushing outside their window, dancing and tangling over the wet black cliffs of Korina.
The witch sounded… scared wasn’t the right word, but her tone was apprehensive.
“What Pellie is trying to say,” Soria interjected when her sister remained quiet, her eyes drawn to Frelina’s before settling on Elessia’s, “is we were warned of the veiled queens… It was a cautionary tale our parents told us so we would never become spellbound by our own powers. I don’t know how much you know about guardians—or witches, as you call us? ”
Elessia started to say something, but after her gaze flitted toward her human—or mostly human—friends, she caught herself, instead offering, “Some of us know a little, but let’s pretend we’re all new to this.”
Amalise smiled while Ardow bowed his head in thanks. Frelina wished it didn’t, but the look the friends shared stung her chest.
I’m your friend. I’m here for you. Raine sounded as woeful as she felt.
Her head moved of its own accord, and her brows rose as she stared at Raine from where he appeared to have half risen out of the chair.
Are you? she challenged. It hasn’t felt like it.
When Raine made a move to approach her, she settled in further on the armrest, closer to Kerym.
A low chuckle—one that was still filled with sorrow—escaped Kerym, but he put a hand on her knee, leaning his head closer to whisper, “Good, little one. Don’t let him get away with it this time.”
As she offered him a small smile, she caught Pellie’s eyes again.
Frelina was about to wince—guilt tightening her shoulders at her intimacy with Kerym—when the witch’s kind eyes moved from her to the raven-haired Fae, and Pellie’s lips curved at the shadow of happiness that painted Kerym’s features brighter.
Pellie’s smile remained when her sister began speaking, even though Soria’s tone was low, as if the story she shared was too delicate to be spoken out loud.
“It was guardians that created this realm and all others—their magic fueling the creation of land and air and water and every creature that would walk or swim or fly within it. That beginning was so long ago that most have forgotten, and unlike the gods, who came later, we have never asked to be worshipped. We were created ourselves to keep balance—to keep magic from growing too strong, from anything honing it becoming too powerful. There always, always needs to be balance… or nature will force it.”
Pellie nodded. “It’s why we can cast spells only when certain elements are in the right place—like the moon or the sea, or the sun.
It’s why, unlike the Fae or the shifters, we can only access our magic in certain places.
Our power is balanced by the access to sacred ground—which we aren’t certain exists in Havlands. ”
Her hand waved toward the Fae warriors. “Your balance is that your magic isn’t limitless, and it’s the same for the shifters.
Those Fae in the prisons? They need access to anything created by the earth to dip into their powers.
Veiled queens… they are supposed to come forth only when they need to balance out another power—one that has become too strong, too dominant. ”
Pellie quieted for a moment, her eyes bouncing between Elessia and Merrick. “Lessia, does… does your other gift still work?”
Elessia’s brows snapped together, but her eyes shone their soft golden glow as they landed on Merrick’s, and she rasped, “Kiss me.”
And even though he would have done it anyway, it was clear to everyone in the room that Merrick’s eyes went unseeing, glossy, for a second before he captured her sister’s mouth.
That kiss continued, deepened, something passing between Elessia and Merrick that Frelina didn’t fully understand until Raine offered, She feels guilty that she compelled him that day. That she told him to let go.
It seemed as if the two had forgotten about the rest of the world, and Kerym finally cleared his throat loudly enough to break them apart.
“See.” Pellie nervously licked her lips. “That shouldn’t be possible. It shouldn’t be possible for you to have two gifts. It’s… it’s too much. It’s too much power.”
Elessia broke her staring contest with Merrick, her face still not back to its usual color as she locked eyes with Frelina. “So that’s what happened? It’s… it’s because I used whatever this new power is? But why did it affect Merrick, then? He doesn’t have two powers.”
“We don’t know,” Soria responded, her hands wringing in her lap. “Maybe because of your bond? The mate bond… love… it’s not a creation of the gods—it’s another balancing act from nature. Or perhaps… he’s affected because of what he did…”
Elessia nodded, her face calm.
Still, something cold started spreading in Frelina’s chest when her sister spoke again. “So that’s why we are so tired? My powers—or… our powers—are making us run out faster to counter how powerful we are?”
“No,” Pellie whispered after staying silent a beat too long. “We… we think using it is killing you.”