Chapter 28
Beatryce shoved her hands forward, concentrating with all her might. Nothing happened.
Again.
She dropped her arms to her sides and balled her fists in anger. “I cannot do it. How many times must you see that for yourself?”
“You can do it,” Leda insisted from the confines of the mirror. “And you will. Use that anger, channel it through your body and give yourself over to the darkness. Give it whatever power it needs. This is our only hope.”
Bea shook her head. “If this is our only hope, we will fail.”
“Have you learned nothing from all the instruction I’ve just given you? Your weakness disappoints me,” Leda muttered.
Bea sank into the chair by the bookcase and drew in a ragged breath.
She’d carefully turned the mirror so it was visible from more areas of the vault.
“It disappoints me, too. I cannot be who you want me to be. I know this is my own fault for refusing to be trained when I was a child, but you cannot expect me to learn so much in such a small amount of time.”
“You recited the rules of power after only hearing them a few times.”
“Yes, but those are different. Those are not magic. You’re asking too much of me.”
Leda’s deep sigh was audible, even across the room. “You have no choice. This meeting will be in a matter of days, not weeks or months or years. You have to learn now if you are going to defeat her.”
“There must be a way to hide a blade.”
“After what happened at Tenebrae, you truly believe that a weapon of any size or shape will be allowed? Her wizard will create a spell just to detect them, I promise you. There will be safeguards in place.”
Bea got to her feet and walked back toward the mirror. “Then we should come up with magic to circumvent his magic. Why don’t you and Malzar work on that?”
Sparks of irritation lit Leda’s gaze. “Are you telling me what to do?”
The darkness swirling inside Bea’s brain had made her bold. “Yes,” she snapped. “I am queen. Not you, Grandmother, for all your supposed power beyond the grave, and not my infirm mother, who at present cannot even feed herself.”
Leda’s hand shot out, although it got no further than the surface of the mirror. “How dare you—”
“I could lock the door of this vault and never return.”
Leda’s mouth closed.
Bea found strength in that. “I also think it’s worth noting that it would take one small push to send this mirror crashing to the ground where it would shatter into a thousand pieces.
” She stepped closer and borrowed a few words she’d heard her mother speak many times to those beneath her. “Do not forget your place.”
“Insolent child,” Leda grumbled.
Bea turned away to hide her face and smiled. The darkness was pleased, as was she. Power, she was discovering, was a potent elixir. She erased the smile and faced her grandmother again. “You serve at my pleasure. You would do well to remember that.”
Leda stared a moment, then swallowed and bowed her head. “You are more Blackbryar than I realized, your highness. But that is all the more reason for you to practice this spell again. I know you are capable of it.”
“You are asking me to run when I do not yet know how to crawl,” Bea countered. “Teach me a few basic things. Let me master those. Then we might move on to bigger things.”
“You worked the spell over your mother, did you not?”
“Yes, but that was the simple recitation of words.”
“As is this spell.”
Bea snorted out a laugh. “This spell is not simple. You are asking me to channel power into the darkness I hold, to give myself over to it, all in the hopes of generating streams of fire potent enough to incinerate the Radiant queen and whoever else she brings to this meeting.”
Leda had the audacity to nod. “Yes. And?”
Bea threw her hands into the air. “And I cannot even spark flame to a candlewick.”
Another sigh escaped Leda. “Perhaps you are correct. We will start with something simpler and hope that the Radiant queen takes her time responding to you.”
Bea shook her head. “I’m tired. We’ve been at this long enough today. Any more and my head will ache. Besides that, I have a kingdom to run and a betrothed who is undoubtedly wondering why I’ve abandoned him.”
Leda frowned as she crossed her arms. Black vapor curled around her feet. “A couple of hours a day is not enough practice.”
“It is for today. If I can return before I retire to bed, I will. Otherwise, we begin anew tomorrow.”
Leda’s unhappiness was evident by the scowl on her face, but she dipped into a short curtsey all the same. “Until tomorrow, granddaughter.”
Without another word, Bea slipped out of the vault and into the office. She worried about how she was going to explain where she was spending so much of her time to Dren. Especially now that her mother was on the mend.
He would understand Bea spending time with Anyka, but locked away in her office alone? What could she tell him?
Could she use the possible meeting with Queen Sparrow? What if she told him she was drafting ideas on how to handle every possible scenario? Working on her own terms for the treaty? Building new trade plans?
He was very understanding and exceptionally forgiving, which meant he would probably accept that. But he would also probably offer to help. She frowned. Turning him down would not be well received, no matter how he appeared to take her rejection.
She shook her head. If her dagger had only flown true, Sparrow would no longer be a problem, and Bea would be focused on her wedding. Instead, she was having to deal with that wretched woman again.
She left her office behind and walked out to the sitting room. She stopped abruptly. Ishmyel was on the couch.
He got up and bowed. “Your highness.”
“No one told me you were here.”
“My apologies if this is not a good time—”
“No, it’s fine. What brings you by?”
“First of all, my congratulations to you on how well the healing went for your mother. Using the troll stonecaller was a stroke of genius.”
“Thank you. Have you been to see her?”
“Yes, I stopped there on my way. She was weak, but it was good to see her conscious and able to converse. With her determination, I imagine she’ll be back on her feet in no time.”
“We can only hope. Now, please, tell me why you’ve come to see me.”
He opened his mouth to speak, then his eyes narrowed and he seemed to change what he’d been about to say. “Your wound is healed. That was remarkably fast. Did the stonecaller do that for you or Mistress Barlow?”
Bea glanced at her hand. She supposed the lack of bandage was easy to notice. “The stonecaller.” Bea calculated that Ishmyel was less likely to speak to the troll witch. “Very kind of her. Now, please, your news?”
“Ah, yes.” He smiled, looking very pleased with himself. “I believe I have found you a new magician.”
Bea gasped out of sheer delight. “That is welcome news, Uncle. Tell me more.”
He steepled his fingers in front of his chest. “Or I could introduce you to them. Say in an hour or so in the formal sitting room?”
Bea nodded. “Yes. Sooner, if possible.” If he had truly found a capable magician, Bea would no longer have to trust her burgeoning skill in the dark arts to do away with the Radiant queen. Not when she had a magician who could do it for her.
He nodded and headed for the door. “I’ll send word as soon as the time is set.”
He left and Bea took a seat, her mind going full speed. How would she know this new magician was as skilled as Ishmyel claimed? That he wasn’t merely installing someone who would do his bidding? She couldn’t very well carry the vault mirror down to the formal sitting room and have Leda listen in.
She needed someone who would tell her the truth. Wyett was her first thought, but what did he know of magic? Vice-Minister Evenshade was not about to give his blessing to the fae who would essentially be the obstacle to his promotion.
There were only two others she could think of. Dren and Merylynn. Inviting Dren would have the added benefit of making him feel included. She wasn’t sure how much Merylynn actually knew about magic, but Ishmyel’s magician didn’t need to know that.
Bea’s eyes narrowed as she smiled. She would present Merylynn as one who was gifted herself, a woman possessed of the unique talent to sense the gifts in others.
That should do it.
“Sylvia, Lysette.”
The maids came running and dropped into curtseys. “Yes, my lady.”
“Send word to Dren that I am in need of his presence as soon as he is able. Send the same message to Merylynn. Make it clear that I need them within the hour.”
Lysette nodded. “Yes, my lady.”
As they went to do her bidding, Bea tipped her head back to stare at the fresco on the ceiling. Her eyes glazed over as she stared at the winged warriors with their lightning bolt spears. Her thoughts were elsewhere.
Mostly on the Radiant queen and how killing her would change everything. Beatryce would be the ruler of two kingdoms. Unlike her mother, she felt no need to possess the royal sword Merediem in order to claim the Summerton throne.
She simply would, with the help of this new magician. The darkness whispered its approval in her ears, sending little shivers of pleasure over her skin.
Killing the Radiant queen would suffice.
And if the Radiant fae didn’t approve, Bea would have the loudest ones eliminated first. If the royal guards wouldn’t do the job, the trolls would.
Eventually, enough spilled blood would do the trick.
It might not change hearts, but it would change minds and behaviors.
Leda had told her as much. It was one of her rules for holding power. “Never be afraid to employ monsters to do your bidding.”
Bea smiled. And her grandmother thought she wasn’t learning anything.