Chapter 27 #2
“That seems cruel,” I responded.
“That’s the mer for you.”
“Not as I know them.”
“You only know them with your cock, prince.” She snorted. “I suggest you take care from here on out. You wouldn’t want to bargain with the mer yourselves. See this as my gift.”
“For your expected guests,” I said.
“Indeed, Prince Valance. Eat and heal, and I will speak more to soothe your anticipation. Make sure you eat them all.”
Kormac had already taken a bite of his cake, eyes on the old woman.
There was no point in sitting here and procrastinating. I couldn’t stand it. So I followed his lead, annoyed at feeling like the pawn sheep to his king sheep, and ate the ham quickly.
It tasted of ham and the sea. As freshly caught and cooked seafood tastes. A strange combination, but not unpleasant. I couldn’t imagine how that cake tasted, though, and decided to find out.
Much more unpleasant. Sugar and seafood did not mix. Kormac didn’t seem too bothered. He ate another three of the cakes.
The tingling started in my hands and moved on to my cheek, reaching within the walls of my skull. It took minutes for the pain to go, for every wound to knit closed. I felt it as the flesh came together and became smooth and pale once again. At least on my hands.
“Here.” The old woman handed me a small mirror to confirm my cheek matched my hands.
“My tongue,” Kormac said, his baritone startling me.
“Goodness…” I breathed.
The human stuck out his pink organ, crossing his eyes to look at it, constantly tapping it with his fingers.
“It’s really back,” he said.
“It is,” the old woman said. “The wonders of mer algae.”
I watched Kormac draw in a heavy breath of relief, slowly release it. Happy to have his tongue back as anyone would be. A tongue I’d taken from him.
“Feel free to eat more,” the woman intoned. “The rest will taste like normal food.” She found that amusing.
“We’re done,” I countered her. “It is time for you to tell us what’s going on.”
“Yes, it is,” she replied and placed her arms on both armrests. “You are soul-bound by me. The me of the palace, that is. Joined together for a greater purpose, to seek out that what lies north. Kormac the protector of the prince, though the prince does not need to be a delicate little flower.”
My mouth opened, head threatening to pound again. But neither I nor Kormac uttered a word. We let her talk.
“You cannot be apart, you cannot harm one another, you must be companions in order to succeed in your quest.” She cackled loudly again.
“Yes, yes. What quest? It is a quest north. I know no more of that. This me is only for this purpose. There are many versions of me on the road to help you in whatever I can.”
So, so, strange. Many parts of her?
Kormac spoke. “Why us?”
“Why, indeed. These things happen for many reasons, and often not randomly. For the prince must make it north to be at one with his dark caress.”
“My dark what?”
“It means you must journey into the heart of Winter. The very heart of it.”
“Winter?” The lost lands. Dangerous lands full of stories and monsters and ancient history—much of it lost to time.
“The old lands of the Tuatha fae.” She snorted. “Dead. Gone.”
“What lies up there?” I asked, head spinning.
“Let us see if you reach far enough to know.”
“You cannot explain this to me now?”
“What if I do not know more than this?”
That annoyed me greatly. “Then why are we here if you cannot answer me? What is the point?”
She grinned, exposing brown and crooked teeth.
“Only a fool would say such a thing. Don’t be a fool, prince.
I have told you I am a creature of many parts, set to help you.
I have seen you both in the stars, connected to serve a great becoming in the north.
But the me who has seen is not here. She awaits to see if it is truth, for seeing is not always truth.
It is only one part of a greater road with unseen turns and corners.
You must travel north. Kormac must protect the prince and his dark caress and get him there. ”
“Me,” I said stupidly.
“What is the dark caress?” Kormac asked.
“Go north and see, human.”
Another curse? Why not? I was the cursed prince, wasn’t I? In so many ways.
“What if I don’t want to?” I said.
“Then you will not go north. But the pull will be great, as is the pull to keep you together.”
I should have stood up and condemned her to die for this. For using magic on me, for playing games with a prince. Yet the pull she spoke of was there. A gentle tug, a desire to go north along with my desire to stay beside the human.
“Much to turn over,” she added. “Good for the brain to turn things over. The curse upon you is a burden, though.” She scratched a wart on her chin.
“Berserker rage isn’t something one can control.
I am sure you may come to understand what triggers you, but a pattern is not always the case.
Sometimes, it has been reported, acts of rage are purely random, switching from a steady pattern of triggers to a new, terrifying branch. ”
“I’m walking chaos,” I responded.
“I wouldn’t linger in cities and towns for too long if you want to avoid a massacre or getting yourself sent south. That would be most annoying unless it is hidden around a corner on the road of your destiny.”
“Can I break this curse?”
“I have no idea,” she said. “It is a deep curse meant to last and ruin you. But everything can be broken. Maybe you can.”
“Ruin me?”
Kormac adjusted his position in his seat.
“For another time,” she said, pointing between the two of us.
He knew something. In on the plan with Ren and Lasair.
The walls should feel too close, the coolness wearing off. Like any terrifying truth would do to a man. So why did I feel so at peace with this?
I want to go north.
“I suppose you have nothing else to say?” I asked, knowing she probably wouldn’t.
“Answers are for the becoming. For the dark caress.”
A becoming in the north of Faerie, at the heart of Winter. Not ominous at all.