Chapter 26
Delphi had never seen the plants growing around her before, not in real life or any book. Unlike the rest of the garden, the beds and rows of plants looked as if they had been tended to.
"All of these are from Faerie?" she asked, staring around in wonder. There were some in shades she didn't think could exist.
"Many of them," Tenebrys replied, looking around him, eyes soft.
"Some are from places like Kisharu. My ancestors on my father's side came from there.
All the cat shifters do, apart from the snow leopards in Runefjell.
When they moved, they brought their plants with them.
Whenever my father and mother traveled, she would seek out rare plants and flowers. "
"How could she keep track of them all? This is incredible." Delphi went to touch the petal of a bright pink bloom and thought better of it. Usually, the most toxic plants looked the prettiest.
Tenebrys pulled a palm-sized book from his pocket. "This is how. I found it in my parents' room, on the bedside table. It will also help you figure out what they are all for. If you're determined to break the curse, then maybe there is something in it that can help."
Delphi took the book from him and reverently touched the cover.
She opened it gently, but the pages didn't feel brittle despite the age.
Inside were wonderful little sketches and watercolors of the plants, along with information on where Maela had gathered them, their uses, and the best time to harvest them.
"This is...thank you, Tenebrys," she said, and hugged him again.
"You are more than welcome, little flower. You will get better use out of it than I, that's for sure." Tenebrys stroked her braid. "My mother always said this was the only place she could get any peace and quiet. Shifters can be a lot, as you will soon discover."
"There are only seven of you. I'm sure I will survive," Delphi said, letting him go so she could explore.
"You say that now," he said with a teasing smile. "Want to see the goddess grove?"
"Of course I do." Delphi wanted to see everything. It was like walking through a dream.
She held onto Tenebrys's hand, and he didn't pull away. It was still a little strange to see the change in his personality toward her. The gruffness was there—that was just Tenebrys—but there was also a tenderness she never would have guessed.
Delphi could smell the roses a full minute before they turned down another pathway and moved through a doorway cut into a hedge. All around her were tall pomegranate trees and beds of roses so red they almost looked black.
In the center of the garden were two statues on a raised dais. Remnants of offerings were all but dust in the decorative bronze bowls at their feet.
The woman had flowing hair and carried a cornucopia of intricately carved fruits and flowers.
She held hands with her consort, a tall male figure with long hair and a beard.
He carried a tall stall with two entwined snakes around it with wings at the top.
He was someone that Delphi had seen in multiple forms in her books on alchemy.
Delphi's breath caught in her throat as she approached them.
"Rosemerta and Mercurius," Delphi said reverently, reaching out to clear the few leaves that had blown around their feet.
"Goddess of Life and Death, and her consort, the God of Magic.
They are beautiful, Tenebrys. I have never seen statues so life-like.
I feel like they could open their mouths and speak right now. "
Delphi touched the soft indent of the goddess's fingers on Mercurius's arm. It was hard and cold stone, but it looked as soft as flesh.
"My mother loved them too. She had different deities in Faerie, but she adopted these two.
She used to make crowns of roses for them, and when my parents married, they had the ceremony here," Tenebrys said, sitting down on one of the marble benches and holding a hand out.
Delphi took it, and he placed her in his lap.
"I can see why. I was never much interested in temples or the new religions, but Rosemerta and Mercurius were always different to me," Delphi said, still staring at the statues.
"It's like they would get down and meet you in the mud, where none of the newer 'perfect' gods would go.
Life, death, and magic make up the world in all its beauty and horror.
Having them witness a marriage, promising to love each other through all of that seems right. "
"I agree entirely, little flower." Tenebrys brushed his lips against her hair. "What was wrong when I came into the library today? Your scent was full of fear and sadness."
Delphi traced the golden symbols carved into his chest.
"Memories mostly," she admitted. She swallowed down the salty taste of tears in her mouth.
"I was studying sigils to figure out the ones in my parents' journal.
They were definitely trying to summon something, and the book I cross-referenced with demons and other creatures said that they always want humans as an offering.
Narcisse wrote he was going to offer it something it couldn't refuse. .."
Delphi swallowed hard again, trying to force the words out. "What if he gave Cassia to it as a sacrifice?"
Tenebrys was silent for a long time, but his hand never stopped rubbing her arm in soothing strokes.
"Do you want a comforting lie or my actual opinion?" he asked finally.
Delphi looked up at his stern expression. She ran her fingers through a silver streak in his fur. "I want your opinion and the truth always. I'm so sick of being lied to, Ten. I feel like my entire life, what I knew of my father, has all been lies. I'm tired of it."
"Very well." Tenebrys nodded slightly. "I can't say for sure because I didn't see them do the summoning, but Cassia was different when they returned.
Narcisse had magic thrumming off him, but your mother looked gray, as if she hadn't gained anything from the deal but lost. She looked unwell.
I didn't see any physical damage to her.
I noted it being strange because Narcisse was glowing with good health, and she looked.
..faded. The shine she had about her was missing. "
Tears slipped down Delphi's cheeks, and she quickly wiped them away. "I suppose that answers that. We can never know for certain. Not unless we try and summon Kae—"
Tenebrys's hand covered her mouth, making her startle. "Don't... Don't finish that name. Write it in the dirt for me." His eyes were wide with fear, and he didn't remove his hand until she nodded.
Delphi climbed out of his lap and moved to where dirt and dust covered the marble bench next to them.
"There was a word around the sigil written in Narcisse's cipher. These were the letters." She carefully wrote out KAELIS. Tenebrys hissed and swiped a hand through it.
"Never say it aloud. The name has a curse on it. The fae who exploded this morning? That's what happened to him for daring to utter it."
Delphi sank back on the edge of the marble bench. "Are you telling me my parents summoned a fucking fae lord? The one who set the plague loose on you?"
"So it would seem," Tenebrys said. Anger burned the air around him, and Delphi put her head in her hands.
"What the fuck were they thinking?" she whispered. "Every time I think they can't get any worse..."
"Perhaps they foolishly imagined that if they entrapped him and gave him a sacrifice, he would tell them the secret to releasing the plague he cast," Tenebrys replied, starting to pace.
"It makes a horrible kind of sense. The fae aren't like demons.
There is no way Plagues would have been held in a summoning circle unless he was playing them. "
"The 'cure' that he gave them was meant to finish the last of you off," Delphi said, thinking over the notes and all the pieces of the story Tenebrys had told her.
"He could have acted like a demon, tricked them to believe that's what he was.
He gave them the curse and Narcisse the magic to cast it.
It killed the heart of the chateau that powered your protection wards too.
If this fae lord were gathering his strength to try and come back through the gateways, he would have wanted to make sure your family wouldn't be there to stop him ever again. It's a horribly perfect plan."
Tenebrys stopped pacing. "But it didn't work. We survived. You said Narcisse had no more magic, so it must have faded after that one spell."
"He didn't have a drop." Delphi chewed on her lip.
"The stories about the fae all say that their bargains backfire on the ones making them.
They have double meanings and tricks. Something went wrong.
Neither Narcisse nor Plagues got what they wanted.
You are alive. Narcisse is powerless. My mother is dead. There were no winners."
Delphi wrapped her arms around herself. "They made stupid bargains for power and money, and all they caused was your suffering. I hate them so much, Ten. I can't ever make up for this..."
Tenebrys got down on one knee in front of her. "Delphi, I would never blame you for any of this. You weren't even born yet, baby."
Delphi couldn't hold back the tears tracking down her face. "You should hate me."
"I couldn't hate you even when I wanted to." Tenebrys brushed the tears off her cheeks. "I also don't agree that there were no winners from the bargain."
"What do you mean?" she asked, sniffling.
"Think about it. Narcisse asked for power, and he got you," Tenebrys replied, taking her hands in his. "The fae never go for the most obvious deal. You got the power that Narcisse wanted, and that's why Plagues is so desperate to find you. He wants it back."