Chapter 20 – Isolde
ISOLDE
My fingers trembled as tendrils of shadows spun from their tips to retrieve a goblet.
“Almost there, Isolde.” Thyra leaned so far forward on the settee in my quarters that she was in danger of tipping off. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
After days of reading the book bound with Shadow Fae skin and practicing as often as we could, my sister and I had both managed to call tendrils of shadow magic out of our bodies. And about fifty percent of the time, those emerging shadows would listen to what we wished.
The end effect was much like when we used Sassa’s Blade. However, this power came from within us and not a bloodthirsty sword that King érebo imbued with his magic for his mate. Then again, using the dark tendrils didn’t sit particularly right with us either.
My sister and I agreed that shadow magic felt oily and off. Nothing like our crisp and clean winter magic. Like something that had forced its way into us and was not truly a part of us. Not yet anyway.
Had Falks in the past felt that too? Had they known about this dark power hidden deep within our lineage and embraced it?
I didn’t think we’d ever find out. They wouldn’t risk writing about such things.
Not even in personal journals. The Shadow Fae had a poor reputation, and wielding their magic would not be in favor.
Will not be in favor, I reminded myself as I focused on the goblet, the rim stained with red wine. I commanded the tendrils to pick up the vessel and bring it to me.
The shadows swooped around the vessel, caressed it, and I felt the coolness of metal and glass against my own fingers, smooth and faceted.
An odd sensation since I wasn’t touching the materials, except through my magic.
I tried not to let that strangeness distract me and instead made my request again.
Pick it up. Bring it back.
The tendrils tightened their hold and the goblet hovered in the air and floated my way.
I held my breath. Thyra’s excitement seemed to mount as the object of focus got closer and closer.
When the shadows stopped in front of me, I reached out and took the vessel in my hand. I turned to my sister and beamed.
“Nice job.” She returned my smile. “I think we’ve got a handle on this. At least for small tasks.”
“Repetition is key,” I agreed.
“How do you feel?”
“Fine. Not tired.” When we’d first started practicing with shadow magic, our attempts had wiped us out within minutes, but I had built up a tolerance.
“I felt stronger too. We should try to move larger objects. Or perform more complex tasks.”
In learning to use shadow magic, Thyra had progressed further than me, and she wanted to move on to something that might tip the scales in the days to come. To use the shadows in battle.
“I’m all in for lifting bigger things, but I’m not ready to spar yet.”
“Maybe we should study the book more and see where we can stretch our powers next.” She gestured to where it sat, pages open and waiting. Not only did it have the basics of Shadow Fae magic in it, but the tome possessed lessons on advanced magic, some of it quite wicked and gory.
I opened my mouth to reply as a knock sounded at my door. To my horror, my shadows flew at the handle. Wrapped around it.
“Wait!” I cried, but my control over them was gone. The tendrils opened the door, shot past Astril, the Valkyrja on guard, and hovered—right in front of Saga and Marit.
Marit’s eyes went wide, and Saga’s mouth dropped open. It would have been comical if it wasn’t so bleeding horrible.
Pushing my will into the shadows, I commanded them to dissipate. To vanish. They did, but the damage had been done.
Saga made to step into my room, and Astril held out a hand to stop her.
“Let her.” There was no way around this.
Saga breezed past the vampire and pulled Marit in behind her. The door shut, leaving us alone, and the princess studied me with interest. “You have some explaining to do.”
“We will,” I assured her.
“We? Do both of you have them?”
I wanted to slap myself, but there was only one thing to do. Tell the truth and beg them to stay quiet until we were ready to let others know.
“Yes,” Thyra said. “We only recently found out. We were waiting to spread the word, but Isolde’s shadows had something else in mind.”
Saga nodded. “It would seem so. Tell me what happened.”
So we did. We told Saga and Marit what only a select few knew. Once we finished, Marit breathed out a long breath.
“This might hurt your cause.”
“We expect that,” Thyra replied. “That’s why we’re trying to master the power. It’s only a matter of time before the Shadow King likely outs us anyway.”
“Well, I’ll stay quiet,” Marit said.
“As will I, but now I have something to admit,” Saga said slowly.
My eyebrows flew up. “Do tell?”
“I think I’ve seen that magic before.”
You could have heard a sewing needle drop in the suite.
“It was a long time ago, so I might be wrong,” Saga filled the silence. “I was on a blessing journey.”
“A what?” I asked.
“It’s where royals go on ships to bless the maiden voyage,” Saga explained.
“It was my first journey of the sort and pirates attacked. I thought they were mages, or at least part mage. Their kind can wield darkness too, and it looked just like that. I mistook it for smoke during the fight. Only later did Sayyida call them shadows, and I agreed. The dark masses we saw looked more like that. Less hazy and more like a bending of dark light. They were the oddest thing I’ve seen, and very much like what you just wielded, though larger. ”
I cut Thyra an incredulous glance.
“I wonder if I wasn’t seeing Shadow Fae?” Saga’s tongue pressed against her cheek, making it bulge out. “Sayyida might remember more.”
“That’s all you can tell us?” Thyra pressed.
“I can tell you the entire tale, but what’s important is the magic looked the same, and many of those on board looked like fae. I didn’t leap to the Shadow Fae conclusion because why would I? As far as everyone knew, they were gone.”
“Mages, or part mages, does make more sense,” I agreed. “We’ll ask Sayyida more when she arrives.”
“Now, I must ask, what brought you two here?” Thyra changed the subject.
“Ah! Right!” Saga’s lips formed a cunning smile. “I come with news of the Fr?r Crown.”
Thyra stiffened. “How?”
“I’m a seer. I see visions of the future. Possible futures. And sometimes I’ve seen the past. In one such vision, I saw your mother and father talking about the Crown.”
I blinked. “When did this happen?”
“Before I met you. It was one of my first visions. And to be fair, I didn’t know who the fae I was watching were.
I thought they were a lord and lady looking at a crown their ancestors once wore before the Unification.
I haven’t seen the Hallow in person, but today Clemencia showed me a painting of the Fr?r Crown, and I recognized it immediately.
The people in my vision must have been your parents.
” Her tone dropped at the end, unease taking over.
I blamed Saga for nothing and would not have her feeling guilt over her parents’ actions. She hadn’t even been born when her father overthrew my family.
“What did you see?” I asked.
“It was a long time ago, so my memory is fuzzy, but . . . The Fr?r Crown can show you things that happened, right?”
“Yes,” Thyra said. “Though it’s only done so once. To Isolde when she first put it on.”
Inside a vault in Avaldenn, the Crown had shown me the scene between King érebo and Sassa Falk.
However, despite trying the Hallow on multiple times since, I’d seen nothing else.
Neither had Thyra, and she had tried to use it far more times than I had.
The only other time the Crown showed signs of life was when it had heated—just as Sassa’s Blade had—as we drew close to where King érebo had been trapped in the tree.
“Well, your father, King Harald, mentioned that the Crown can also see the future. Even manipulate it in small ways.”
I sucked in a breath. Manipulate the future—like by working with the Blade to draw us into a mountain where an ancient enemy waited. Vale had called the Crown scheming, for it seemed to have led us to the Shadow Fae King, the very faerie it had shown me in the vision. Maybe he had been right.
“Are you sure that’s what he said?” I asked.
“It always stuck with me because how can a crown be manipulative?” Saga shrugged. “Anyway, King Harald also said that within your family, it was called the Seer’s Crown. I got the sense that he was explaining it so that your mother would try to use it.”
“Does that mean only seers can use it for the future?” Thyra asked.
“Mother was a healer.”
“Some people have multiple talents. Perhaps she had visions and our father wanted to test the bounds of possibility.” My twin paused, and I got the sense she wanted to say more but did not.
Before the Shadow King freed shadow magic within me, I had only been able to use winter magic. However, there were indeed many fae with multiple talents. Like Saga, a seer with winter magic. Or Thantrel, who could speak with animals, use air magic, and had other small magics too.
“Besides, Isolde used it, so I think that makes it clear that you don’t need to be a seer.
More likely the power is tied to your family name,” Saga said.
“Maybe the first ruler to use it had been a seer and imbibed some of that magic into a Hallow of the realm? More importantly, if you learn how to use the Crown properly, small things might be able to change.”
A pebble tossed into a pond caused ripples. Small matters might well change the course of our lives. Of many lives.
“What else do you know?” Thyra demanded.
“Nothing. I was ripped from that vision of the past and never looked for it again. Not until I saw that painting.”
“Can you try to learn more?” I asked. “Maybe look for people speaking of the Crown in the past? Or see the future with clarity?”
“I doubt it,” Saga said. “Some of the best seers could, but I’m far from that. I won’t develop my magic all the way for turns to come.”
“But could you try?” Thyra pressed.
“Of course I can try, but I make no promises.”
I shot my sister a sidelong glance. It was a step. In which direction, I wasn’t sure, but at least we had an idea of what the Crown could do in capable hands.
“Please do,” I said to my friend. “We’d appreciate it.”
“Of course.” Saga looped her arm through Marit’s. The latter still looked thunderstruck to have walked in on Thyra and me using shadow magic. “Well, I suppose we’ll let you get back to practicing.”
“Uh, yes. Good luck,” Marit said, as though she barely believed the words coming out of her own mouth.
I laughed dryly. “Thanks. We’re going to need it.”
Alone again, Thyra turned to me. “There’s something I must tell you. Something few people know but might be useful knowing what we now know about the Fr?r Crown.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m a dreamer.”
Having grown up alongside humans, I hadn’t known many fae, and some magics were more common than others. Like elemental magic.
“What is that?” I asked.
“I see visions, but only when I am asleep.”
I gasped. “A seer.”
“Not in a very useful way, though. I bet I have weaker control over my magic than Saga.”
I did not doubt that. Seer magic was unpredictable and often took many decades to learn how to manage.
“Still, this means the power could run in our family to this day. Have you worn the Crown to bed?”
She laughed. “It’s uncomfortable, and why would I think to do that?” An elbow hit my side. “I’m not that full of myself.”
“Debatable.”
My twin stuck out her tongue. “Faetia forbid a lady like herself.”
“You should try it tonight,” I said, ready to get to the meat of the matter. “With what Saga told us, it makes some sense.”
Thyra stared at me, and after a few seconds, nodded. “I’ll give it a try.”