Chapter 7
MARLAK
My brother’s pointing at me, an odd, unaccusing finger, while everyone is staring.
“What do I have to do with the Witch King?” I ask, my voice cracking like thin ice.
Renel gestures to me and Astra. “Other than being his descendant’s husband, not much. But that’s not the reason why you can kill him.”
I don’t know where my brother got that idea. “And you read that in books? Books saying I could kill him?”
He sighs. “Not books. Journals, saying a powerful fire wielder could kill him. Combine that with the amplified magic due to your royal title, and we have the solution.”
Fire wielder. Odd words to refer to me. I ignore that and focus on something else. “And what were you planning to do with that information? Hoard it?”
Renel stares at his bracelets. “I had no plan. I…” He pauses and swallows.
“Didn’t think the Witch King was a threat.
I thought our stepfather was delusional.
I think I asked Zorwal about it once, and he laughed at me.
To be fair, he never took the castle’s doomed trajectory seriously either.
I never considered the possibility that the Witch King would return. ”
I don’t know if I understand my brother’s logic.
“So if you thought the books or journals were nonsense, how come you’re quoting them now, with all this certainty?”
“Because now I see that they were right; the Witch King returned. I can see the wisdom in them, can even see the crooked, appalling, immoral wisdom of our stepfather.”
“You still think he killed our father.”
“He did! Because of his obsession with the Witch King and that only a powerful fire wielder could stop him. It wasn’t long after your powers emerged that his wife died, and then our father. It was on purpose. He wanted you to be king.”
I blink, unsure about the words I’m hearing, wondering where my brother got these insane ideas. “And yet you prevented me from taking the throne.”
“Yes, I did.” There isn’t a single trace of remorse, guilt, or shame in his tone.
If anything, I’d say he’s proud of it. “I’d prevent anything that vile fae wanted, just to spite him.
I never suspected any of his deliriums had any point, but hey, I was wrong.
It turns out that the Witch King did return, so it stands to reason that the theory that you can kill him must be right as well.
Still doesn’t justify murdering our father, but I can’t change that. ”
My brother’s the one who’s deranged, talking like that about our stepdad. I take a deep breath, just because snapping now won’t help anything. “You spew nonsense, I won’t believe anything you say anymore.”
He points at his chest. “I’m not the one saying it. It’s your dear, beloved stepfather. Don’t you adore him? Heed his words, then.”
I blink. “What words?”
Renel runs a hand through his black hair. “I’m… not sure.”
I just rest my head on my hand. “Why are you bringing this up, then?”
“Because I got a glimpse of some of his writing, some notes in his journals, just the little I could salvage from Zorwal’s eyes.
But there are more journals and books, kept in a safe enclosure, and I’m certain that they contain the instructions on how to defeat the Witch King, based on what I glimpsed. ”
“You haven’t read them?”
Renel looks at his bracelets, then back at me.
“The bookshelf has a hidden door, which I managed to find. It held a box with a royal lock. I hid the box, but I can’t open it.
Only the Crystal Court king can do that.
If it’s information for the next king, I’m assuming it has to do with the notes I glimpsed, and it has to do with your fire.
It was when your power emerged that King Krisiul took an interest in you.
” In a lower voice, he adds, “It was when everything changed.”
I feel a strange coldness in my chest, hold Astra’s hand a little tighter, and take a deep breath. “You always hated him.”
Renel raises an eyebrow. “Not at all. Only after he killed our father.”
I exhale, annoyed at my brother, annoyed at the things he did all these years and even before then. “Your pointless suspicion doesn’t matter now.”
“You’re right.” He exhales. “It does not. But the fact that your fire can kill the Witch King does.”
My dreadful fire. My heart’s punching my chest as if it was knocking desperately on a door, hoping to be brought to safety. I push my horror away and chuckle. “How does it work? Should I just find his hideout and torch it? Is it as simple as that?”
Renel scratches his chin. “Maybe. The old king’s notes could tell us more, except that if Zorwal is back in the castle…”
My heart is beating louder and louder, and breathing is getting harder, but I ignore it and focus on what must be done.
“Do we even need to check the journals or whatever? I could go to the Shadow Lands right now and kill the old villain. That would solve most of our problems.” I point at Azur. “Probably cure him.”
“You’d need to leave earlier,” Lidiane says. “So that there would be time to reach the north of the Shadow Lands before sunset.”
I get up, even if the thought of using my fire suffocates me with dread. “I can go now and hurry.”
“Marlak,” Astra says, her tone gentle. “You haven’t used your fire in a long time.”
I know what she means, and yet I won’t deny my friends the opportunity to get rid of their enemy just because of some childish fear. “But if I have to… I…”
“Can you show us?” Ziven asks. “A small flame at least?”
“You’re doubting me?” My voice comes out as a roar.
The human prince steps back. “If I doubted you, why would I ask you to show us?”
“I don’t need to show anything. I’ll use my fire when I have to. It’s a dangerous element, and I have no need to parade it.”
Astra looks at me, worry in her eyes. Does she doubt me too? She then asks, “What if you went to the castle today? For the notes?”
I don’t know if I can wait that long. “Astra—”
“Listen,” she says. “You might only get one chance to defeat the Witch King. If it was just a matter of burning him using your fire, there would be no need for notes, no need for a special locked box. If there’s one little thing, one little secret in those journals that could guarantee your success, it’s worth getting them. ”
I want to argue and yet the words don’t even come. Perhaps everything is stuck in my throat as the thought of using my fire chokes me.
Lidiane points at me. “I could sneak you in. I’ve infiltrated the castle before.”
Azur glares at her. “You barely took a step into the castle and I realized you didn’t belong there.”
She shakes her head. “This would be different. I can get Marlak there, and then he can get all those journals. It’s true that the right information could make a difference.”
I don’t like the idea of Lidiane going to the Crystal Castle and risking facing Zorwal, and there’s something else I don’t like. “If I try to get these notes today, I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to go to the Shadow Lands.”
Azur clicks his tongue. “Without my magic powering the Witch King, he won’t escape right away. In a few days, maybe. Today or tomorrow, unlikely. I agree that if there’s information that will help you, you should get it first.”
I sag in my seat. I’m frustrated for not rushing into the Shadow Lands right now, and at the same time relieved that I don’t have to use my fire yet, even if the possibility hangs over me like a threatening shadow.
My breath comes shallow and constricted as I consider the challenges ahead of me. No. There’s no challenge. I’ll use my fire if I have to. Just once. It won’t kill or hurt anyone other than the Witch King and his ghouls.
And then, what if I don’t even need to use fire? That would be helpful. “So I should go to the castle now.”
Ferer says, “I can transcend you close to there.”
“I need to go too,” my brother says.
“What for?” I snap.
He blinks, startled. “To show you the location of the box.”
“You can explain it to me. I know the castle well.”
“It’s… a little complicated.”
That is probably an excuse, and I fear that if he goes to the castle, he might want to make a deal with Zorwal to get Tarlia back or try to pretend to be the king again.
But I don’t dare mention any of that. “Renel, you don’t have magic. You’ll be a liability.”
“Right.” He lets out a bitter chuckle. “I forgot I’m useless.”
I roll my eyes. “Having no magic and being useless are different things.”
“Are they?” My brother asks. “And there’s another reason I need to go. After you get your notes, books, journals or whatever and are far away from the castle, I’ll have to make a deal with Zorwal.”
Wow. He’s being honest.
I snort. “You don’t say.”
“He can heal Azur and free Tarlia. And if he wants me—”
“He doesn’t want you,” I say. “He wants me. He’ll make you give away my location, my secrets.”
“I have to free Tarlia and heal Azur.”
Azur taps on the table. “I’ll accept no deal with that foul fae to heal me.
He’ll trick you, trick me, and I want none of that.
So no. As for Tarlia… You’ll need to think carefully and have something he wants.
Right now, you don’t want to risk giving away Marlak’s location if he’s the only one who can kill the Witch King. ”
“What if we killed Zorwal?” Lidiane suggests.
Lovely suggestion, except for a big problem. “The one who survived a beheading? How exactly do we kill him?”
Renel looks up, thinking. “Fire, maybe. If it kills the Witch King, it will probably kill Zorwal.”
His words make me freeze.
I don’t know if I can burn anyone, don’t even know if I can use my fire. It’s one thing to use it once, against the Witch King, but to use it against a fae I know, even an evil fae…
“Marlak’s fire magic is rusty,” Ziven says.
Renel frowns. “Your main magic can never get rusty. It’s the source of your power. Every time you use another element, you’re using an extension of your fire.”
I almost make a snarky comment about his ability to know anything about magic, but Astra speaks before me.