Chapter 43
“You can’t go to Earth anymore.”
Maeve looked up from her breakfast.
Dark circles encased Mal’s eyes. His lids hung low.
“You haven’t slept,” she replied.
“How can I, knowing that it’s so easy for them to find you?”
“Earth is not the problem, they are.”
They were quiet a moment. Mal’s voice came low and drenched in sorrow.
“Portals are closed. The use of them is forbidden.”
“No, Mal,” she started, panic rushing through her voice. “You can’t do that.”
“It’s already done,” he said.
She shook her head. “No,” she said once more. “No, I-you can’t- you can’t keep me from his grave-from visiting my home.”
Mal looked her over sadly. “This is your home now.”
Her throat tightened. “Please,” she whispered.
He crossed towards her and leaned against the table.
“I can’t feel you on Earth. I know you must have called for me. If Maxius hadn’t made it back, I wouldn’t have known you needed me. I can’t bear the thought of you calling my name without reply, even thinking for a moment I am not coming.”
“Mal,” she said, reaching up and pulling his face towards her.
His hands covered her own and he spoke calmly. “It’s done, Maeve. You cannot travel there again. It’s time we left behind the ghosts of our past. It’s time we embraced the world ahead of us. You are at my side, and I will do whatever it takes to ensure you remain there.”
“I don’t like this,” she whispered.
“I don’t care,” he replied carefully. “I need to be able to feel you, and the only way that is possible is if you are on this planet, in this realm.”
Maeve’s hands fell to her lap.
“I want something in return,” she said.
His head cocked to the side. “In return?”
“In return for not fighting you on this.”
“It’s a command, Maeve,” he said.
“And I’m choosing to obey it.”
Mal looked down at her in displeasure. Maeve continued, despite his sleep deprived demeanor.
“Make it so that all Committee of the Sacred arranged marriages are void unless both parties want to remain.”
Mal’s brows lifted. “This is about Arianna.”
“Yes,” she said.
Mal looked down at her. “Jumping through minds, creating powerful Portals, and master negotiating.” His hands cupped her face. “My Dread Viper.”
He pressed a soft kiss to her lips before pushing off the table.
“Where are you going?”
His fingers brushed her hair behind her ear. “I won’t be gone long.”
“That didn’t answer my question, Mal.”
A soft smile played at the corner of his mouth. “I need to go alone. You need to stay here and heal.”
“I am healed,” she argued. “Let me accompany you.”
His lips pressed down to her forehead as his hands found hers. Cold steel brushed her finger tips. Their lips parted and she looked down, the Dread Dagger now in her hand.
Abraxas sent out the new degree with Mal’s sharp signature before noon. Titus left Arianna before dinner and she moved back into Castle Morana with the twins. Arianna never brought it up to Maeve, but the smile on her sister’s face as Arman met her at the foot of the stairs was satisfaction enough.
Maeve skipped training per Mal’s instructions, despite her wounds being healed and her strength having returned. She unpacked Arianna’s things, organizing them along her bookshelves.
Arianna slid a picture frame of their father between two sets of books. They stared at it in silence.
“What was it like,” she asked softly, “when Arman killed Doggbind?”
Maeve looked over at her sister. She didn’t meet her gaze.
“I can show you,” said Maeve. “But you’ll need to stay calm.”
“You can always erase it if I don’t want to remember it, right?” She asked.
Maeve nodded. “I can block it, not erase it safely.”
“She has flaws,” said Arianna triumphantly.
Maeve rolled her eyes. “Do you want to see it?”
Arianna nodded. They took up in two armchairs facing one another. Maeve moved into her sister’s mind with ease. She pulled forth the memory of Arman’s betrayal of Doggbind, allowing it to meld into Arianna’s own mind.
She gently slipped from her sister’s memories. Arianna opened her eyes. She smiled wickedly.
They were not so different in some regards.
“What happened?” Asked Maeve, crossing the threshold of The Tower of Fyren.
The windows along the west side of the foyer were shattered, all of the fires lights were burned out cold, and a dark Magic lingered along the high ceilings.
She shivered in the freezing space and kept her gloves on.
“They don’t know,” said Belvadora. “Mr. Nommis says he was reading, Mrs. Nommis was upstairs asleep. Something came crashing through the windows.”
“Where is he?” She asked.
“He’s with Mal,” she replied, pointing towards a slit of light shining down the hallway.
Maeve pressed down the hallway, feeling hesitant to look up at the ceiling. She pushed open the door to the Nommis’ study and stepped inside.
Mal’s eyes met hers as Mr. Nommis continued speaking.
She clicked the door softly shut behind her.
Is he alright? She asked into his mind.
He’s shaken up, replied Mal, nothing more.
Mr. Nommis turned and addressed Maeve. “I’m sorry for the disturbance Maeve,” he said. “I hate to disturb you from sleep.”
Maeve didn’t tell him she rarely slept.
“What book were you reading?” She asked casually in an attempt to calm his nerves.
Mr. Nommis’ brows pulled together. “Just something I found.”
Maeve responded calmly. “You don’t know what you were reading?”
Mr. Nommis shook his head, his expression almost ashamed.
“Fantasy? Fiction? Shakespeare? Cooking?” She asked.
“Vexkari,” said Mr. Nommis.
Maeve’s stomach plummeted. Her eyes shot to Mal.
“The only thing I know is. . .Vexkari.”
Mal drew Mr. Nommis’ attention back towards him. “How do you know that word?”
Mr. Nommis looked up at him and stammered. “I’m sorry, my Prince. I am not in my right mind.”
Mr. Nommis’ hand flew towards Maeve’s throat. His fingers had barely bristled her skin when he collapsed to the floor in a loud thunk.
Maeve’s hand instinctively crossed herself in protection. Her eyes shot to Mal.
“Astrea needs to assess him,” said Mal. “He needs to be brought to Morana.”
“He just moved to attack me, Mal,” said Maeve, her voice slightly shaking. “I have known this man my entire life. He wouldn’t hurt a bug in his tea.”
Mal looked down at him.
He moved towards the door and entered the dark hallway. Maeve followed him, shutting the door and concealing Mr. Nommis in his unconscious state. The Bellator and Arman were talking to Mrs. Nommis and examining the damage.
She moved towards the blown out windows.
Make them forget , Mal said into her mind.
Maeve’s head whipped towards him.
“What?” She hissed.
Mal tugged her back into the darkness of the hallway.
Let me handle this how I need to , he said.
She looked up at him in the shadows. You know exactly as I do this was not a coincidence, Mal. Something wanted him to find that book. And whatever was in it has been released. It’s all over the room! I can’t even bring myself to look at it.
I know that , his voice said calmly, but we cannot have them panicking over this. Make them forget before it gets out of control. And I will handle it all.
Maeve ran her hands over her face and prepared to create multiple false memories and implant them one by one in the minds of everyone present.
It would be much simpler if you could alter them all at once , he said.
Maeve’s throat tightened. She could. She’d done it before. She had used it shortly before Mal’s coronation, to alter everyone’s minds about her attacking Arianna with a deadly curse.
But Mal didn’t know that. Only Reeve knew about her spell. Maeve hoped he’d forgotten the whole thing in the wake of her father’s death and subsequent conflict.
Perhaps it was the feeling oozing from the Magic on the ceiling, the feeling she was being watched, that held her tongue. But in truth, Maeve had ample opportunity before then to tell Mal of her spell.
She just chose not to.
The Tower of Fyren was not the only strange occurrence in the coming weeks. Other restored Towers had similar unexplained damages and a lingering dark Magic.
Maeve didn’t argue when Mal instructed her to wipe the minds of the Sacred families living there. But the Sacred were not the only ones experiencing hostile Magic.
In the Beryl City there were reports of peculiar and unexplained disturbances as residents moved in and stores opened. Maeve erased those from memory, too. As the darkness of The Dread Lands seemed to fight him relentlessly, Mal remained confident in the path ahead of them.