35. Maddy
Chapter 35
Maddy
I 'm almost out of the catacomb tunnels when something makes me stop in my silent tracks.
Was it a shout? A cry?
I strain my ears, trying to get another chance at working out what I just heard.
A thump, and yes, I'm sure that was a shout. Is somebody in the cells?
Curiosity instantly wins over sense, and I turn and creep along the tunnels toward the cells. I'm only a few feet away when I hear and immediately recognize a voice.
"Tell me again why you are here." It's not a question, it's a demand. My pulse races.
Why is Kain in the cells?
There's a light groan, and then a voice whispers, "Burn in hel , fire-fae rot."
My head swims, and my bag slips a little from my shoulders.
It can't be…
All sense cast aside at what I'm sure I just heard, I step dazedly through the main entrance to the cells and come to a stop when the lower cell comes into view.
It's not Kain who's occupying the cell. He's standing at the door, shirtless but gloved, his wolf beside him hissing and snarling. Ready to fight.
The fae on the other side of the door is nursing a bloodied nose and black eye, but that does nothing to stop my recognition.
"Father?"
" What in the name of Odin are you doing here? And why are you locked up?" I look in stunned disbelief between him and Kain.
"Madivia! This maniac has taken it upon himself to imprison me! Get me out at once!"
I stare at my father. The King of the Ice Court, locked up and bleeding in a Featherblade cell.
Freydis' words ring in my head.
"When you've got the information, use the mirror to tell me, and try to do it before Father leaves. It will be easier for all of us if he doesn't try to gain access to Featherblade again."
"You… you came here to get information from me?" I half whisper.
The logic of what is happening—how Kain somehow got to him before the other Valkyrie, and why he has my father locked up—isn't really important right now. What is important is why my father would risk coming to Featherblade when the Valkyrie themselves disallowed it. Either my court is on the brink of war and the information is incredibly important, or… he's lying.
My father throws a worried glance at Kain. "Do not speak of such things in company," he hisses. "Get me out of here."
A cold laugh escapes me. "He knows, Father. He knows all about my memory magic."
His already pale face blanches. "Foolish idiot! We've spent all these years teaching you! I don't know why we bothered if you were just going to throw it all away like the stupid, impulsive, immature?—"
Kain punches him through the bars. He stumbles back with a yelp.
"Show some fucking respect," Kain growls.
"Get me out of here!" my father roars.
My head is spinning. I try to separate the thoughts as he bellows grand, empty threats.
My father is lying. I am sure of it. There's no way he came here for some information on a petty noble.
But that's as far as I can get my practical thoughts to go. Emotion is dominating me.
Resentment, jealousy, and frustration are all things I'm used to feeling around my family.
But this isn't any of those things. This is so much more.
The fire in the pit of stomach is blazing, sending searing shots of rage through my entire body.
"Did you know?"
He stops yelling and looks at me. Kain is still fixed on him, shoulders solid, fists balled.
"Know what?"
"That the blackouts were never going to kill me."
"Of course not," he snaps.
My stomach plummets into free fall.
His answer has instantly given him away. If he didn't know his response would have been "What do you mean, the blackouts won't kill you?" Or "Are you sure?" or even "How do you know?"
Any sort of surprise would have lent some strength to his answer.
But there's not a hint a shock, never mind relief or happiness that his daughter isn't terminal.
The fire soars inside me, sending hatred spilling through every fiber in my body.
"Tell me the truth."
"Stupid child, get me out of here!"
Ice shoots from my hands and the cell door explodes. Kain moves back, faster than I can see, and my father stares in stuttering shock at the vines and ice around him.
"Tell me the truth," I repeat, moving toward him. Ice forms around my wrists, sharp shards swirling, waiting.
He's staring at me with a mixture of fear and shock. "It… Your mother…"
"Did you know? Yes or no."
His eyes drop from mine, and we both know it's confirmation.
Blood roars in my ears.
"Why are you here?"
"Information," he says, finding my eyes again. "You are part of the Ice Court royal family. You have a duty to?—"
The ice shoots from my hands. Hundreds of tiny missiles spear his clothing with enough force to send him flying backward, pinning him to the wall.
"Do not ever speak to me of duty . You let me think I was going to die every day for decades." I hardly recognize my own voice. The rage is spreading, I'm lightheaded, and I'm too hot.
The very real sense that I'm close to edge of something, to a place I've never been, and may not be able to return from, creeps through the hatred.
Fae royal families get that way from being strong. My father has significant magic, and I assume his staff is in Kain's custody. But I don't need my father magic-less in a cell to make him cower.
I step back, lowering my hands. The icy pins melt instantly.
He stumbles out of the door to the cell.
"Give him his staff back," I snarl to Kain, then turn back to my father. "Get the fuck out of Featherblade. I will never, ever help you again."
Kain moves and bends, then throws me a small leather bag. I catch his eye, and there's a flash of something. Regret? Apology?
I open the bag to get my father's staff. I need him to know I'm not strong because he is weak.
As I put my hand into the bag, though, I see something next to the retracted staff. A small vial. Slowly, I pull it out. I recognize the label from many healing classes.
It's poison.
"You came here to kill me?"
The world tilts on its axis.
"No," he says. His voice is low and has lost all haughtiness. "I came here to make you sick enough that you would be sent home."
"My family wants to take everything I've earned away from me, so they can use me," I say the words aloud, slowly. "My family want to keep me sick to control me. My family have terrified me into submission my whole life."
My vision clears.
Ice flows from my hands, more ice than I've ever been able to conjure. I'm drawing water from everywhere, the earthy wall, the vines around us. I'm aware of them shriveling as I suck the moisture away, turning it into three huge, deadly ice spears.
My father drops to his knees as they approach him. Slow, steady. Deadly.
"Please, Madivia, we did it for you! We just want you home safe! It's dangerous here. It's no place for you!"
I stop hearing his horseshit pleading. All I can see is the life they would have forced me to live. The life I would have lived if I'd never come here.
One of constant fear and crippling loneliness.
"Princess."
Kain's voice is alien in the midst of the spiraling thoughts. I blink at him.
His voice was in my head, I realize dimly.
"I'm not saying don't kill him, but murdering your own parent is something you'll have to live with forever."
My ice shards have pinned my father. He has maybe six inches of life left.
"He deserves it."
"I agree. Wholeheartedly. But you will regret it. He's of your blood, and a king. The punishment alone would be enough to make you regret it. You'll never get your wings. And you'll lose Thyrvi."
The ice spears melt instantly.
The piece of shit on his knees before me is not worth losing Thyrvi for.
"Will you kill him for me?"
The words don't even sound like mine, and mercifully, the shock of uttering them is enough to snap me out of the rage. The bloodlust .
"No, wait!" I blurt.
I take a few deep breaths as my father stares at me, a small, scared wail whispering from his lips.
Kain is waiting, just as I asked. For all his still, contained rage, Skoll is pacing, snarling, spitting, and growling, howls periodically escaping his salivating maw.
"Lock him up," I say tightly. "Lock him back up and give me the key."