Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Magic appears stronger in the presence of water. It acts like a conduit, transferring power, along with life, in its tides.
—Journal of Khato, Master of Spells.
Ileaped atop Tiberius’s broad back, and we shot into the air, the movement natural, as if we’d trained this way all along.
He leveled out two hundred feet over the treetops, and I scanned the vast forest of green below, searching for the sentries hidden among the canopies. The queen had many of them waiting, always watching us.
Tiberius angled forward as the Gilded Fortress came into view through the treetops, and the soothing rush of its falls wound through the sound of the whipping wind.
Castle wasn’t the right word for the massive stronghold sparkling through the canopy.
The buildings here were a conglomeration of stone and various plants, the tree singers influencing their growth and movement with magic.
Thousands of birch and golden-barked trees wound together in beautiful twisting patterns, creating eight large towers and the hundreds of chambers that made up the massive fortress.
Seated in the center of the city atop the three waterfalls that fed into the twining river running through its center, the fortress was alive.
And some days, I swear I could feel it breathing.
The warm, late spring wind whipped through my loose black hair as our altitude dropped and Tiberius angled toward its gates.
My stomach threatened to drop through my ass as we made the plummet.
I tightened my grip on his thick mane and clenched my legs around his warm body as I clamped my mouth shut, refusing to let the rush of air escape into a small scream.
I released the breath as his hooves slammed into soft, fern-covered ground outside the Gilded Fortress.
My breath caught in my throat as it always did at the beauty of the castle’s entry hall. The white and gold trees shot hundreds of feet into the air, creating a space that was somehow indoors but not. Light sparkled from the ceiling like sunlight glinting off dewdrops.
My thighs warmed as I raced as casually as possible up the winding staircase leading to the queen’s hall. I slowed my breathing, mustering all the confidence I could manage as I strode through the domed, golden hallway.
Two guards stood outside a door made entirely of gold and silver twining vines. They crossed their long spears in front of the entryway, bits of sunlight glinting off the honed edges of the wide blades.
“I have urgent business with Queen Antares,” I stated, shoving bravado into my voice.
The guards kept their eyes forward, as if I hadn’t spoken a word.
A moment later, a beautiful, soft voice crooned from inside, “Come.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood. I knew Queen Antares couldn’t be trusted.
And after everything she’d done to Bayne’s family—her own family, as she was his aunt by marriage—I hated her for it.
But I had to take this chance. I had to try, had to free Van.
Not only for his own sake, but to prevent chaos erupting in the face of already growing turmoil.
Spears hissed as guards whipped them back, clearing the way. The chain-like vines that wrapped around the hinges of the door to her chambers unwound in an elegant grace before it swung open. I stepped forward into the brightly lit chamber.
Flowering vines spiraled up columns along the edges of the space and hung from the ceiling in varying shades of greens, pinks, and whites.
Queen Antares glanced up from behind a light wooden desk at the back of the hall.
Her blonde curls fell below her bare shoulders in loose waves.
She wore a billowy, soft blue dress that draped down her front and sides, pooling neatly on the smooth floor.
A small ring of flowers wove around the top of her head, forming a casual crown.
Her eyes, the blue of summer sky, landed on me, and her pink lips curled into a welcoming grin. She looked exquisite, the picture of regal benevolence. Yet something about the way her eyes skittered along my arms left me edgy, as if something monstrous lurked beneath the beauty and grace.
Her smile bloomed into a grin, white teeth glinting as I dropped into a low bow, steadying myself.
“Your Grace, I’m here—”
“You’re here,” she cut in, eyes slowly drifting to my own, “to beg we release the murderer.”
Her tone took on a soft, deadly lilt. I did my best not to shrink beneath her piercing gaze.
“No,” I said, keeping my voice level.
“Then do enlighten me,” she purred.
“I’ve come to ask,” I began, taking a slow breath, “for permission to examine the remains of the dead. Before your menders commend her soul to the Beyond.”
The air seemed to siphon from the room at what was clearly perceived as a vile request. Though her features remained unchanged, a flicker of threat danced in her eyes.
Before she could shut me down, I quickly added, “Before my discovery of the source of the Obscura power last year, I trained as a Death Scholar for four years. I have experience in examining skeletal remains and can determine a cause of death.”
“Our menders have already determined the cause of death,” she replied, her tone taking on a note of boredom. “She was brutalized. Beaten to death and stabbed. She died in terrible pain.”
“And you’ve already arrested Vander Stryke,” I cut in. “But you’ve no proof yet. He deserves a trial, at the very least. And an unbiased examination of the remains to provide as evidence.”
“Unbiased?” she challenged, arching an eyebrow. “How could you possibly provide an unbiased examination?
“I am a scholar,” I bit back, reining in my temper. “I work with the facts. And if we don’t have a fair accounting of what happened to the Lady of Tomorrow, then our forces will have a difficult time accepting Vander’s fate.”
“Is that a threat, Bonder? What will happen if the young soldier is tossed into the Juniper? Will your forces react? Does the queensguard not have his hounds on their leashes?”
“It’s a request for a peaceful resolution. If the evidence implicates Vander, then we will support your authority to condemn him as you will.”
The words tasted like ash on my tongue, and my gut sank. There is truth in death, I reminded myself. My heart hurt as I replayed Father Marcus’s words. Was he still in the dungeons at Mount Telum? We never went back for him. Was he even alive?
The queen narrowed her bright eyes on me as she considered.
“I will make you a deal, Bonder.”
My stomach twisted.
“I will allow you to examine the bones before their offering to the Beyond, in exchange for time with me to hone the Obscura and Transcindiel powers. Every day until the Rising forces depart.”
I blinked. Train me? Queen Antares was a mystic.
A very powerful one, if the stories from Isla and the others were true.
I was still learning the basic commands of magic: water and wind whispering, spell work, and tree singing.
Few mages were elevated to the status of mystic, often taking hundreds of years.
Unease stretched as she kept her cool gaze pinned on me, the temperature in the room sinking. The others would kill me for this.
“Not until our departure. We have yet to come to an agreement on that timing,” I said as confidently as possible. “Five days. No more.”
“Ten,” she countered in a quiet command. “To be completed before the end of summer.”
“Seven.”
“Eight.”
For fuck’s sake. I reined in the scoff ready to escape. She didn’t blink.
“Fine. Eight days,” I conceded.
Her pink lips curled up in a conniving grin as she snapped her fingers. A young elven mage with dark skin and deep brown eyes approached. He bowed to the queen before offering me a polite nod.
“An air oath,” Queen Antares purred to the young mage. “In the common tongue, if you please.”
My stomach threatened to bottom out as color leached from my face.
“An air oath?” I stammered.
The queen raised a light brow at me. “Of course, Bonder. We don’t take deals lightly in this land. It shouldn’t be a problem unless you don’t intend on holding up your end of the bargain.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Come. We need to be closer,” she crooned, motioning me forward with delicate, manicured hands.
My mind spun, searching for any possible solution to avoid being bound to the queen, coming up empty. We had to save Vander.
I stepped up to Queen Antares as she moved closer, stopping inches from my face. Her sickly-sweet scent shoved its way up my nostrils, and I opened my lips to breathe from my mouth. Her porcelain skin shimmered as she cocked her head.
A musty wind, spinning from the elven mage in her command, swirled around the room, clearing it, as he recited:
“Wind becomes life, as air becomes breath,
and bound without it, so too it calls death.
With it, these words become law,
their binding set to rule all.
This thread, born of words, weaves with life when spoken.
Should words be stolen, tied life shall be broken.”
The wind stilled, as if hanging, suspended in the natural air of the queen’s elaborate chamber. We then repeated the words of our deal.
“I, Queen Antares Ravindra, allow you to examine the Lady of Tomorrow’s bones, in exchange for eight sessions of Obscura and Transcindiel guidance to be completed with me before the end of summer.”
A gust of musty wind spun through the room, sending the queen’s loose blonde curls flying in a crown of light around her head. I shuddered as the spell settled, and a wide grin stretched across the queen’s face.
The shimmering doors behind us slid open in a soft hiss as a young, beautiful, light brown-haired elf timidly entered the hall. Bright green eyes, Ravindra eyes, hesitantly glanced up beneath her spectacles as she took in the sight before her.
Carina. Bayne and Nerissa’s cousin, and the queen’s sole heir.
She held a stack of books in her arms and donned a long, cotton dress, more modest than the rest of her elven kin. No crown donned her simple brown hair, wound back in a long, slender braid that ran down her back.
Carina’s wary eyes skimmed over me and landed on her mother. She gave a soft nod and strode past without a word.
Queen Antares didn’t acknowledge Carina, instead turning toward her desk and drawing up a correspondence before handing it to me.
“You have one hour, Bonder.”