Chapter 31
While Solis tested the power of her amber ring, and Nerthus worked on her silver cup, Noctua took the rosewood lute to a village where the folk were gathered and began to play.
—OLD ONES, ANCIENTS, AND THE FOLK
Step close to your mother’s tree,” Prospect instructed.
Thea shivered as she placed her hands against the cold trunk, trying to connect with her mother’s spirit. There was a sense of rage and fear, but it was distant, like an echo.
“Tell her you have chosen to take her place,” Prospect said. “Tell her she is free from her confinement.”
Thea pressed her forehead against the cold metal, willing her mother to hear. “Mother, please listen.” She felt a sob rising in her throat. “I made a bargain for your freedom. Break your bonds. Come back to us.”
Prospect produced a silver goblet from a fold in his robes.
Thea turned her head to get a better look, knowing this was an artifact of the Ancients.
Its silver was embossed with an image of sleeping animals.
She saw an owl, a deer, and a fox. Prospect poured liquid from the cup onto the roots of the tree, muttering in the language of the Ancients as he did so.
Shadows swirled, creating an inky column that darkened to midnight.
Specks of silver danced like stars. The Seer’s voice grew louder.
A frigid breeze lifted the hairs on the back of Thea’s neck, and a tugging sensation in the center of her chest signaled the spell was taking hold of her, too.
There was a crack and an explosion of silver shards.
Thea covered her head with her arms, turning away.
When it was over, she blinked and rubbed her eyes, noticing that some of the silver had embedded itself in her skin.
It reminded her of Cassia’s gold freckles.
As the column of shadows ebbed away, Thea saw that the king held her mother in his arms. Fury at that made her stride forward. But her mother’s body was limp. Thea’s heart clenched tight. “Is she…?”
She reached out unsteadily to touch her mother’s wrist. A pulse beat there, and her skin was warm. A sob escaped Thea’s throat before she stifled it. “I’ll take her.”
Erebus’s eyebrows rose, but Thea didn’t wait for him to agree.
She gently put her arm behind her mother’s back, shivering in revulsion as she touched the king’s chest. Scooping her other arm under her mother’s knees, she pulled her into her lap, taking a seat on the floor.
She put her hand to the beloved warm cheek and felt tears covering her own. “Mother, please. Wake up.”
Queen Coventina blinked, her eyes bleary as she stared up into Thea’s. Her eyebrows came together, and for a moment she said nothing. Thea tried to smile but wasn’t sure she managed it.
“Thea?” the queen asked, her breath coming in gasps. “Is it you?”
Thea started to tremble. “It’s me.” Her voice was hoarse. “I came to find you.”
The queen’s hazel eyes were bright with love, but a second later, they filled with horror. “I don’t want you here, Thea!” Her name caught on a sob.
Thea’s eyes were damp, the tears unstoppable. “You’ve been here long enough. Go home to Enora and Cassia and Rozie. They need you.”
The king stepped closer, staring down at the queen with a wide smile. “Your daughter has agreed to take your place at my side.”
“Step away, Theodora,” her mother said, her tone as cold as a winter morning.
“Why?” Thea asked, a knot of worry tightening in her stomach.
“I must pay a debt that has grown far too great over many years,” her mother said firmly. “Step back. Now.”
“You can’t fight him, Mother, especially not here, in his own realm.” Her mother, like her father, had some connection with the trees that went beyond most Sylvans. But surely it wouldn’t be enough to win against an Old One.
Her mother wasn’t listening. Wind swirled around her, fluttering her green robes and lifting her greenish-gold hair, picking up dust and bits of silver bark and leaves that had fallen from her. The whirling column of green light was threaded with knifelike silver shards.
Erebus frowned. Thea hoped her mother would be able to do some damage to him.
The gale exploded. The silver leaves became knives that flew at the king’s face and chest. His shadows trembled as the shards sunk into them, shielding him.
A momentary hush was broken by laughter. “Oh, Coventina,” Erebus gasped, mirth making his voice crack. “Nothing can kill me. Don’t you know that by now?”
“This isn’t the end,” she rasped in furious loathing. “I have listened silently all these years, heard your every secret. I know your weaknesses.”
“Prospect,” Erebus said, all hints of laughter gone, “I fear we will not be able to enjoy the queen’s presence any longer. I have lost a taste for her bitter leaves. Return her to the forest where she belongs.”
“Not without Thea.” The queen stepped back, grabbing Thea’s arm and wrenching her to her side.
“I won’t leave without her.” When the king’s expression darkened, she turned to Prospect.
“Seer, let us go. Send us by root. Leave us be forever. I have paid enough penance. Surely, those years of suffering were enough!”
The Seer was as silent as the king.
Finally, the queen turned to Thea. “Tell them. Tell them you choose to leave. Come with me.”
Thea trembled with the urge to do just that. If only she could.
But she’d agreed to swear allegiance to Erebus.
If she didn’t, Damon would die. Even putting her own feelings aside, he was the best hope of defeating his father.
The silver trees in Thirstwood, the weakness in the wards—they were signs Erebus was breaking out of his prison.
She and Damon together would have to stop it.
“I can’t, Mother,” she said, softly but firmly. She wished she could explain. “I can’t go.”
Her mother’s eyes grew desperate, her grip tightening. “I made your father vow not to let you come here to save me. I knew you would try to find me someday.”
Was that why her father had tried so hard to stop her? “Mother.” She felt tears rise to her eyes once more. “I have made a vow. To stay.”
“Curse your vow!” Queen Coventina cried, though Thea knew she couldn’t mean that. “You’re my daughter. I’m taking you home.”
Thea felt the desperate tug on her arm, as if she were a child who could be guided in the right direction.
For a second, she wished she could go back to the time when she had been, when everything could be solved with the wiping of tears and soft words and a mother’s embrace.
A sharp pain made her breastbone ache, as if her heart were tearing in half.
She swallowed against the thickness in her throat. “I have one chance to save us,” she whispered. “To save everyone. You must know what he’s planning. Please, Mother.”
Queen Coventina’s expression twisted with pain and denial.
Thea waited, meeting her mother’s eyes until she saw the anger turn to sadness, and from there, resignation.
Her face sagged, making her look old for the first time in Thea’s memory.
At least she could warn everyone in Scarhamm when she returned.
Maybe they would come up with a way to fight the incursion of shadows.
The queen kissed her daughter’s cheek. “You can beat him,” she whispered. “Strength wins the shades. My power was too constricted by my form as a silver tree, but you are strong and determined. I’m convinced you can find a way.”
“I’m sorry you can’t witness your daughter swear allegiance to me,” the king said, sounding impatient at being ignored.
The queen’s hands clenched on Thea’s, her head turning with swift fury toward the king. “I would rather witness your disemboweled carcass being gnawed by my husband’s hounds.”
Erebus stared hard into her eyes as he said, “Root, take the queen home.”
A root furled out of the darkness, landing at her mother’s feet. As Thea helped her mother step onto it, a portal grew, too bright in the gloom. The tears in Queen Coventina’s eyes shone like diamonds.
“I’ll see you again,” Thea choked, knowing that could be the closest she’d ever come to lying. Squeezing her mother’s hand, she saw a flash of love and worry before she let go. Another step, and her mother was gone.