Chapter 6 #2
Marlak then tells us that his sister used a faerie circle to return to the Crystal Castle, and that he followed her, except that once he got there, he lost her because Azur was trying to kill him. I can’t help but glare at the blond fae.
At his table, Azur raises an eyebrow at Marlak. “I wanted to duel. Had I wanted to kill you, you wouldn’t be here calumniating others.”
Marlak huffs. “Well, your dueling kept me from reaching Mirella.”
“Quarrelling,” Lidiane says. “Azur was quarrelling.”
Azur raises a finger. “Talking.”
Marlak narrows his eyes. “I thought fae couldn’t lie.”
Across from us, Renel scoffs. “We can say whatever nonsense we want, as long as we believe it.”
“Yes.” Marlak snaps. “But my sister’s gone now.”
“I don’t think reaching her earlier would have changed her mind,” Ziven says. “I saw her seeking Zorwal.”
I remember that name. “The one who was beheaded and didn’t die.”
“That one,” Marlak says. He then tells us about Renel almost dying, Zorwal asking for a deal, and Tarlia pledging her life to Zorwal to save Renel.
I’m confused. “Why would she do that?”
Renel’s the one who replies. “Take everything that’s good in this world, put it into a person, and you’ll get Tarlia. Her heart is soft and gentle. Too soft. I wish I could have stopped her from making that deal.”
“So do I,” Marlak adds.
Tarlia. With Zorwal, a fae with sinister magic. One more nail poking my heart.
But one thing doesn’t make sense. “The River of Tears treaty doesn’t let humans make deals with fae. How was this done?”
“You cut the bonds,” Ferer says. “Maybe it annulled the treaty.”
I don’t want to think what this could mean for the human kingdoms.
Renel presses his lips together. “The treaty forbids humans from making deals with or work for the fae. As far as I know, fae don’t survive beheadings.”
“The Witch King does,” Azur says. “And he’s fae, as far as I can tell.”
Renel looks away as a mantle of silence covers the kitchen, until Marlak breaks it and tells Azur and I about going to the Jewel City, then seeing his sister. There’s so much sadness in his voice, in his demeanor.
“I don’t understand,” Marlak says. “I wonder if Zorwal’s controlling Mirella or something.”
Ziven tilts his head, and for once he doesn’t sound like a foolish drunkard. “She told us about the bloodpuppets coming after you. Perhaps she was trying to protect you.”
I recall my encounter with those horrid creatures and my blood chills. “Bloodpuppets?”
Marlak nods. “She said they were after me.”
“But you defeated them that time,” I say. “With your ice magic.”
“That day there was only one alive, and it had been turned into leech roaches when I arrived. Now, Mirella said twelve of them are hunting me.”
Ziven points at him. “See? She’s on your side.”
Marlak huffs. “Yes, she’s so much on my side that she took great pleasure in humiliating me in front of the Jewel.”
I don’t want them to argue, so I ask, “She’s with Zorwal, right? And Tarlia too?”
“Yes, and they might be at the Crystal Castle,” Marlak says.
That’s another big question in my mind. “Is the castle going to stay put? Go nuts? Go to the Fiery Gorge?”
Renel fiddles with his bracelets, his eyes distant. “I calculated only until the Fiery Gorge. After you moved it…” He looks at me. “I do not know.”
Everyone stares at each other in silence, then Lidiane clears her throat. “Well, I guess I can tell you all my part.”
While she doesn’t sound exactly cheerful, there’s no trace of last night’s melancholy in her demeanor. I wonder if she’s confident Azur will heal.
She proceeds to tell us about the time Azur beheaded Zorwal, and how she ended up in the Shadow Lands with Renel, Tarlia, and Azur.
Even though I know they survived, my heart gets tight thinking about Tarlia there, and even tighter when Lidiane says they faced hundreds of ghouls after sunset.
“How did you survive?” I ask.
“Cherry Cake.”
The reply astounds me.
She then explains that the unicorn showed up in the Shadow Lands, scared away the ghouls, and led the group to the Desert Keep, the same prison where Marlak was held, where they spent the night.
The following day, they all walked south, then parted ways, and then she and Tarlia were captured in the Fae Territories.
Azur glares at her. “How come I didn’t sense it?”
She half shrugs. “I didn’t want to disturb you, so I sent only good vibes through our bond.”
So they do have a bond? And it’s possible to block it?
“Why?” Azur asks.
“Because I feared we were bait for you,” she explains. “And we were. Otavio was the one who captured us, and he said he wanted something from Renel.”
“He did,” I confirm. “He wanted me to seduce him.” It should be awkward to confess it, but I think everything that happened rendered me numb.
Renel grimaces, while Marlak squeezes my shoulder. I’m not sure if he wants to comfort me or claim me as his. I don’t mind either.
“Yes.” Lidiane glances at Renel. “Otavio was happy Tarlia seduced him, but I don’t think she was pretending.”
Renel slams a hand on the table. “I know she wasn’t.”
His voice has so much emotion, so much… Is he in love with Tarlia? Is Tarlia in love with him? I’m a little stunned and quite confused, but I don’t dare ask anything, as Lidiane continues.
“Otavio told Tarlia about the other substitute.”
“Sayanne?” I ask.
“Yes, and what’s happening to Krastel. The queen and the princes are dead, and apparently that’s Sayanne’s work. He could be lying, of course.”
“No,” I say. “I met her. I went to the human castle, looking for clues about my own origin, and she found me.”
Marlak stares at me wide-eyed. I hope he’s not wondering what else I’m hiding. “There’s too much to tell,” I explain. “And I didn’t think it was important. But she bragged that the princes were dead, and the queen too, and suggested that maybe she had something to do with it.”
Lidiane takes a deep breath. “According to Otavio, yes, it was her doing. She also seduced the human king, so I guess she’s about to become queen or at least consort.”
My stomach turns as I imagine Sayanne in bed with the king. Her ambition has no limits. And it explains the jewels she was wearing, why she was giving orders to the guards. Oh, Sayanne! I can barely focus on Lidiane’s next words.
“But what caught my attention was that Otavio said he had been her lover.”
“What?” I ask, certain that I misheard her.
“Yes. He said she had ambition, unlike Tarlia.” Oh, gross.
My stomach turns as I listen to Lidiane.
“But that’s not the detail that stuck with me.
He said he was considering having a child with Sayanne, so that his heir would inherit the human kingdom.
Tarlia told him he was too old for that, and he said people like him can sire children when they’re five hundred years or more, and he wasn’t there yet.
I’m wondering what he means by people like him, but it’s true that he can lie. ”
“He’s Tiurian,” I say. “But we don’t live that long.”
Renel taps his fingers on the table. “Fae used to live for hundreds of years, so he could be an old fae.”
“But he can lie,” I say.
“So does he.” Renel points at Marlak.
“Yes, but I have other human traits,” Marlak says. “Bigger frame, round ears. I’m sure a shorter lifespan would be included in that.”
“I’m almost positive that Otavio is Tiurian,” I insist. “It’s what he claims to be, and it’s what makes the most sense.”
“Maybe,” Renel mutters.
“How did you escape?” Azur asks Lidiane.
“I used my glamour, pretended to be Otavio, and got ourselves out. It’s why we went to the castle; to warn you not to fall for any blackmailing.”
Azur runs a gloved hand through his long, blond hair. “You should have let me find you. I would have killed him immediately.”
Lidiane waves a hand. “It worked out in the end.”
I have no doubt that Azur would have killed Otavio, but I’m strangely glad my former master’s alive. There’s so much I still need to know, and he has the key to my answers.
“Otavio’s not a threat,” I say. “At least not as big as… Everything else. And he knows a lot.”
Azur points at Lidiane. “He kidnapped her. Reason enough to kill him.”
Marlak snorts. “And you and Renel kidnapped Astra. Should I kill you?”
“I kidnapped no one.” Renel shows the palms of his hands.
Azur, for his turn, smirks and turns to Marlak. “Don’t you worry. Soon, soon you’ll have your chance.”
“Azur!” Lidiane’s glare might be what finishes him. “Stop it. We’re going to find a cure for you. No debate.”
Azur’s cocky posture deflates and for a moment he looks like a child scolded by their master. “False hope hurts.”
Lidiane shakes her head. “No hope also hurts, but hurting is not even the problem. No hope keeps you from fighting, from trying. I’d rather hope and fight until the end than concede defeat before trying.”
I understand her now, understand why she no longer looks sad, why she’s sitting with us and planning as if Azur wasn’t condemned to die in a few days. In her mind, he’ll survive, and she’ll do anything to ensure that happens.
Azur stares at her, his jaw dropped, then he looks at the rest of us. For a second, he looks in my direction, his expression strangely humble, his eyes almost… pleading? I blink, then see him with his arms crossed, his pompous air back in place.
His fingers move through the glamour hat, then he says, “There are a few things I also need to tell. When I beheaded Zorwal, I felt something different, some strange magic. It’s why I thought he was still alive.
” He points at me. “But when we moved the castle, it felt similar in the way I lost control of my transcending, as if another force pulled me. That force is the Witch King. Even before being stabbed, I had a bond of servitude to him, because of my family.”
His eyes flicker to me, then he continues, “One of my ancestors pledged loyalty to him, and made a deal so that all his male descendants would also serve him. And here I am.”
Renel snorts. “Look at the bright side. I bet it’s better than serving me.” His voice is full of venom and makes me wonder what happened to them.
Azur rolls his eyes. “Being forced into servitude is never pleasant. When Astra cut all bonds, she cut my bond to Renel, and yet my bond to the Witch King was not severed. And so I was called to him. It’s worse, actually, because he can syphon my magic. Just imagine what he could do with it.”
There’s dread in everyone’s eyes, and Azur continues, “I couldn’t let him have my transcending.
I couldn’t. In theory, it would make no sense for him to try to kill a fae whose magic is feeding him, but he was unstable, angry, confused.
If he managed to kill me, he would lose all the magic he pulled from me and that would weaken him considerably.
It could probably put him back in a dormant state. ”
That was his plan? “Except that nobody would know that.”
“Not true.” He points at Lidiane. “I told her.”
Lidiane glares at him. “The most horrific transcending note ever. I’m giving my life for you. As if a sacrifice was some kind of gift. What were you thinking?”
Azur inhales sharply. “If he gives me a direct command, I can’t refuse it. Understand what a torture it is. I did what I could to avoid being used like a weapon. I tried.”
She snorts. “Tried to die. And what if it went wrong? Isn’t your selfless attempt the very cause of your magical poisoning?”
Azur stares at the tip of his gloved fingers as if he were staring at his nails. “If Astra hadn’t transcended us, I don’t think I would have survived to face this dreadful fate.”
Lidiane just stares at Azur while he keeps looking at his hands, then Ferer says, “Nobody knows what could have happened. We need to look ahead.”
Azur raises a finger in the air. “There’s one thing I know—or at least think I do.
When we transcended to the Shadow Lands the first time, after beheading Zorwal, I believe it was part of my bond, that it was the Witch King’s thrall pulling me, except that we didn’t get in his cave, perhaps because it was too well sealed.
But I’m sure that’s what happened: the Witch King pulled me. ”
I’m pondering Azur’s words when I realize he never told them the most important parts: that he’s the king of the Nether Court, and that he’s sworn to bring down the Crystal Court.
Is he really going to hide all that? His eyes meet mine for a second again, and there’s no doubt about the plea in them.
He wants to keep that information to himself.
A sliver of dread pinches my chest, but I decide to ignore it—for now.
I guess I can grant a doomed man his wish, unless I see the need to divulge his secrets.
“Hang on,” Lidiane says. “So the location where we transcended in the Shadow Lands is right above the Witch King’s cave?”
“Most likely.” Azur’s voice is softer than before.
Renel’s thoughtful. “It’s far north, but reachable if one were to enter the Shadow Lands in the morning.”
“Indeed.” Azur raises an eyebrow.
Marlak exhales. “Except that we don’t know how to kill him.”
Renel taps a finger on the table, then says, “I know how to kill him.”
“Oh, you do now?” Marlak’s tone is mocking.
“Yes, I do,” Renel replies in the same tone. “I happened to spend time studying magic and learned enough to predict the movements of the castle, for example.”
Marlak narrows his eyes at his brother. “If you had magic, or if you didn’t pretend to be the king, you wouldn’t need to predict anything.”
Renel makes the same face and says, “If I didn’t pretend to be king, my brother would be dead. Was it a smart decision? Good question.”
Marlak runs a hand over the scarred part of his head. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I’m very stupid.” Renel chuckles. “It was part of the deal with Zorwal to heal you. He asked me to be the acting king, and then kept telling me you’d come back to steal my throne.”
“It was never yours,” Marlak snaps.
I want to tell these two that this is not the time for this argument, and yet I don’t want to make Marlak feel like I’m scolding him.
Ziven is the one who breaks the tension. “How do you kill the Witch King?” Everyone looks at him, and he raises his eyebrows in surprise. “Because if it’s something Renel read in a book, someone knows the answer. Then why didn’t they try it before?”
“They probably thought he was dead,” I say. “Why would anyone want to kill a dead fae?”
Renel shakes his head. “Many scholars knew his prison wouldn’t hold him forever, and that’s why this knowledge was kept in books. The issue is that they needed the right element to kill him.”
Marlak looks unimpressed and rolls his eyes. “Let me guess; a false king.”
“No. They needed you.” Renel points at Marlak.