Chapter 49
ISI
Itugged the pendant out from beneath my tunic, holding it up in the light. “She was wearing this when she arrived here. I found the missing stone in this room. That’s how I knew she’d been here.”
My poor sister. Gone forever.
Pherin shifted on my shoulder, her tiny claws digging in enough to remind me that I was among friends. A soft trill escaped her throat, and I sensed she understood exactly what I was feeling.
“Addie was assigned to this room before you?” Derren frowned. “That’s some coincidence, right there.”
Lexie slid off his lap and sat on my other side, wrapping her arms around me and tugging me close. “We’re going to figure this out. I promise.”
“I’m sorry,” Kerralyn said, rubbing my shoulder. “I’m sure that it’s a shock.”
I explained how she was delivered to the ball.
“I was stunned. Horrified. My father escorted me to my rooms and told me he’d prepare her body for the pyre himself.
” His pain had been palpable. “Her face—” I closed my eyes, but the image wouldn’t go away.
Tears drizzled down my face and plopped onto my lap. “I watched her body burn.”
Pherin pressed her fluffy body into my neck, sharing her warmth.
Lexie tightened her arms around me, and I was so thankful to have her and the others with me.
The simple human comfort held me together when everything else felt like sand shifting beneath my feet.
In Caldrith, I’d been surrounded by servants and courtiers but rarely touched.
Here, friendship came with gentle hands and shared warmth.
“Could it have been someone else’s body, disguised by magic?” Kerralyn asked. “I feel I need to point this out.”
“I suppose, but by whom and why? Magic is forbidden in my court.”
“In all the courts except ours,” Lexie said. “I wonder why that is?” The twist to her mouth told me she was thinking the same thing as I was.
“To keep anyone from gaining power, is my guess,” I said.
“Do you trust your father?” Derren asked carefully.
I nodded. “He loves us. I’ve never questioned that.” I didn’t like doubting my father, but I’d be foolish not to look at this from every angle. “We just heard from her journal that she sent me a letter, telling me she was safe with this court. I never received it.”
Kerralyn traced her finger back and forth across the open journal. “Lost or—”
“Stolen before you could receive it,” Derren said. “Who’d stand to gain from her death?”
“She’s the youngest. I’m the heir to the throne,” I said.
We’d been two sparks trying not to ignite in a world that kept threatening to burn us for existing. Here, we could’ve been flames dancing together.
“Father arranged her marriage with the king of Velmire Court,” I said.
Derren nodded slowly. “Our not-so-friendly neighbor.”
I swallowed back the pain in my throat. “It was a good alliance. Even Addie agreed.”
“She welcomed the marriage?” Kerralyn asked.
“Not really, but she was willing to go through with it. Father wouldn’t have arranged her marriage with him if he wasn’t decent.”
“Decent unless they’re your neighbor.” Lexie climbed back onto Derren’s lap.
“They may not overtly attack us, but they’re not above raiding.
Stealing. Cattle. Horses. Whatever crops they can load into a wagon and whisk back to their court.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Velmire was attacking travelers and making it look like us. ”
If what she said was true, and I had no reason to doubt her, it could’ve been Velmire all along. “My father would never have pushed Addie to marry him if he’d known.” And that was actually reassuring. “What do they have to gain by murdering my sister?”
Lexie frowned. “I don’t know.”
“My father…” I had to tell them. I needed to tell Trew as well. “My father’s putting together an army to attack Syllavar. He’s vowed vengeance for her death.”
“What if Velmire took your sister, then…” Derren’s sympathetic gaze met mine. “They stand to gain if your court attacks ours. They’ve always coveted our power.”
“In the past,” Kerralyn said. “They proposed a breeding program, would you believe. Like your court, they have their own Day of Mercy, but some keep their power hidden from the public, using it only in private.”
The courts thought a Day of Mercy was the only humane way to handle those with a touch of magic, that killing them kept people from going mad.
When maybe they never did.
“Is that why Trew took our children?” I asked.
“I know a bit about your children,” Derren said, his tone sharp. “Some were placed in my village. I met them. Grew up with them.”
“What?” The word came out a half-shout. “You mean this isn’t the first time your court took them?”
“Not all, but some.” His chin lifted. “We protect them. We don’t harm them.”
“We supposedly reform them,” I said, my shoulders sagging. “I’m beginning to believe nothing was reformed, that the children…”
I didn’t like thinking my father had hurt them.
“I was told they’re given back to their families after training,” I said, my heart cratering.
What were my people doing with the children?
Derren’s gaze met mine. “You can’t strip magic away.”
Lexie’s lips thinned. “If they can reform or train children, why kill the adults?”
“A good question.” My shoulders slumped. I loathed the part I’d played in it. I was forced to be the Lady of Mercy when I was ten, but what was my excuse at my current age?
The wind picked up outside, rattling the glass panes. Somewhere in the castle’s depths, a door closed with a hollow bang.
“I went to the reformatory many times and begged to meet with the children. I wanted to make sure they were alright. My father…” He’d scolded me when I was young and threatened me to stay away when I was older.
Why hadn’t I forced my way inside?
“My father’s advisors…” Mostly did what he told them to do. Everyone did, actually.
Even me and Addie.
“Advisors can be amazing or nasty,” Kerralyn said, no doubt thinking of Kira.
My mother was afraid when I’d used my power in the garden. I could still feel the sting of her fingers gripping my wrist too tight, the tremor in her voice that had made my little girl heart race with confusion and fear. The memory had haunted my dreams for years.
She’d begged me never to show magical ability again.
Untrained, I hadn’t known how to suppress it.
And here, no one did. Power was welcomed, lauded even. The Rite of Bonds was a brutal trial, but it was optional, not forced on anyone. Some made it through, and they bonded with beasts who enhanced their power. They were trained on how to use it, how to fight.
Those who chose not to compete in the Rite were also given training, though their power remained limited.
They weren’t forced to drink poison.
No one feared magic in this land. No one panicked that their daughter would be taken away if she showed some ability. No one worried they’d die if they were exposed.
My mother had known about my magical abilities, but rather than tell my father or send me to be “reformed,” she’d kept me hidden. Addie too, I supposed, assuming Mother had known my sister also had abilities.
Addie and I hadn’t talked about it.
And why not? We hadn’t hidden anything else from each other. But because I hadn’t brought it up, she’d kept it hidden as well.
It was sad that we hadn’t dared to tell each other. I hadn’t worried she’d turn me in, but I hadn’t wanted her terrified I’d be taken, that she might be forced to wear the mask and stand stoic while I drank the poison.
My mother had died before I could ask her anything about magic, before I could ask her if she’d hidden her own power too.
I could still picture her lying on the foyer floor after she fell down the stairs, her neck twisted in an unnatural angle, her eyes staring forward at nothing, not even me.
Such terrible silence. She had no heartbeat, no breath.
Only the clock ticking away in the foyer broke the pall that had already begun to descend around her.
And my subsequent shrieks.
Father came running. He dropped to the floor beside her and bellowed out his own pain.
“We’re going to help you,” Kerralyn said. “Let’s form our own truce between Syllavar and Caldrith Court.”
“That sounds suspiciously like mutiny to me,” Derren said.
“It’ll be unofficial, but enacted once Isi’s our queen.” Kerralyn looked to the others for support. “Are you in, advisors?”
“I’m not your queen,” I pointed out.
“Do you think we haven’t noticed how you and our king are falling in love with each other?”
“I…maybe?”
Lexie snorted. “Please. You two look at each other like you’re starving, and the other person is a five-course meal. The sexual tension is so thick we need a sword to cut through it.”
I remembered the last time his gaze had caught mine, steady, unblinking, and much too knowing. It had felt like a touch, and I’d wanted more.
“Did our king know who you were from the start?” Derren asked.
I nodded.
His low laugh rang out. “He must’ve thought you were infiltrating our court to kill him. I would.”
“My point was that you’ll soon be queen of this court, and we’ll bow down to you,” Kerralyn said. “That’s pretty much a truce between us, one that’ll be solidified when you tell your father you’re marrying the King of Syllavar.”
My skin flushed hot at the thought, and I could practically feel Trew’s golden gaze on me even though he was cliks away, fighting Skathes. The idea of being his queen sent a thrill through my veins.
Some might call it a political arrangement, but to me, it would be destiny finally clicking into place. I sensed I’d been running toward Trew and this throne my whole life without knowing it.
Pherin’s feathers ruffled, and she sent me a wave of something that felt like steady, steady. Even my bonded companion knew I was teetering on the edge of truths I wasn’t sure I was ready to face.
“Your father won’t attack after that,” Kerralyn said.
Maybe he wouldn’t. Unless he’d been looking for a reason to attack Syllavar all along and Addie’s murder handed it to him. Which could mean…
No, I wouldn’t believe he was involved in my sister’s death. He’d loved her. He would never kill one of his own children.
Then why had my mother been so afraid of him discovering the truth about my magic?
Kerralyn thrust out her hand, dangling it between us. “Truce between our courts? We can do that at least. Because you’re one of us, and we’re part of you.”
“That’s up to your king, not me,” I said.
“King Trewyn will do whatever you ask,” Lexie said, linking her fingers with Kerralyn’s.
Derren joined in as well, making three. “A truce can start small and build from there. No true mutiny in that. Us first.”
“Alright. A truce.” I joined our hands, the four of us showing grins touched with sadness.
“First on our advisor agenda is to find out what happened to Addie,” Kerralyn said, tugging her journal onto her lap and flipping to an unused page. “I’m the secretary of your new court advisors.”
“I’ll run your army,” Derren said.
Lexie grunted. “And what about me?”
“You can keep Isi in line.” Derren sought my gaze. “Someone needs to be the brains of this operation.”
Kerralyn scowled. “Hey. I’m the brains.”
“We all are,” I said.
But form my own court?
Trew had a court, this court. And if I was being honest with myself, part of me liked the idea of standing beside him in something that mattered.
But when I closed my eyes, I could still feel his hands on my body, the way he’d looked at me like I was worth fighting wars for. That was how you looked at your queen. My magic stirred at the thought, as if it too recognized where, and with whom, I belonged.
“This bond between us will last forever,” Lexie said, meeting my gaze. “No matter where you go.”
She meant if I left Syllavar. Right now, I couldn’t imagine doing such a thing.
But I didn’t have to face this alone.
Trew stood by my side, didn’t he? The question sent warmth spiraling through my chest, followed by a sharp pang of worry. He’d stood by me when he’d had every reason to see me as an enemy. He’d protected me, trusted me with his secrets, held me like he never wanted to let go.
Kerralyn yawned and closed her journal with a soft thud. “We can’t help anyone if we’re stumbling around exhausted and making mistakes. We need clear heads for this, so I think we need to get some rest.”
“Agreed,” Lexie said.
Derren stood first, pulling her up with him. “Speculation won’t find out what happened to your sister. We need facts, not theories, which means we’re going to have to be careful.”
“We don’t do anything dangerous,” I said, and they nodded.
As they gathered their things and headed for the door, I caught the worry in their eyes that matched my own. Theories or not, we knew we’d crossed some invisible line tonight. We weren’t warriors playing at being spies any longer. We were players in a game where the stakes were life and death.
After they’d left, I bathed. I extinguished the torches and climbed into my bed.
Sleep finally claimed me, but it brought me no peace.
In my dreams, Skathes poured through tears in reality like putrid blood from a wound.
A cloaked figure stood at the center of them all, guiding their actions.
The wasteland spread in their wake, consuming everything I’d learned to love—the castle, my friends, the gardens where Trew had kissed me.
And Trew himself, his golden eyes dimming as shadows reached for him with grasping claws.
What if the Skathes killed him?
The thought sent a dagger through my heart. I’d spent too long telling myself I didn’t care about the infuriating king who’d captured me, challenged me, and kissed me like he was gifting me with his soul.
But I could no longer pretend. I was falling in love with him. And if something happened to him before I could stand at his side and fight for this court that had become my home…
I’d never forgive myself.
A sound drifted through my window.
Dragons returning?
A boom rang out, followed by a flash of light.
No, thunder.
I bolted upright, my heart slamming into my throat. Pherin hopped across the pillow and leaped onto my shoulder, clinging to my hair, peeping softly.
Was Trew safe, or was I about to learn that love sometimes came too late?
I gently returned Pherin to the soft blanket I’d folded and placed beside my pillow, slumping back myself and dragging my blanket up over my head. While the storm buffeted the castle, I shivered. Did all I could not to whimper.
When I woke later, I realized why that drawing looked so familiar.
She had my mother’s eyes.