Chapter 23 – Vale #2
So I sat there, supplying answers as the whisperer got what she required from me. Outwardly, she remained silent, asking and searching, asking and searching. Some unknowable time later, Ratha leaned back in her chair.
She turned to the black-haired female faerie. “The human spoke true. This prince and his mate do not work with the king but against him. The princess is who she says she is.”
The younger faerie leaned back and let loose a long breath. “I was certain the princess was lying somehow.”
“What will you do now, Thy—”
“I don’t know,” the younger female cut Ratha off, a warning gleam in her eyes. “Most of them still have much to answer for, but if they wish to unseat the king . . .”
She trailed off as she stood. I got the sense that she had many things on her mind. “Release the prince and the others still in cages. Show him to the annex, where they can stay under guard. Wrap their middles with ice spider silk and don’t give them access to weapons either.”
“How do you have so much silk?” I asked.
I had an idea of how much it would cost and given the state of the castle, the rebels did not seem to be swimming in gold.
It was as shocking as the orcs having nets made of the material, though I was sure the orcs had stolen it, rather than paid a fair price.
And the only other way to get the silk was to bargain with the spiders, an act most did not dare to commit for ice spiders took lavishly.
“We once had brave fae who risked their lives for the silk,” the archer replied, her face contorting in pain. She said nothing more as she left the room.
The older faerie turned to me. She released her magic over me.
“You’re a whisperer.”
“We rebels use the powers that we must. I understand that you’re quite familiar with my magic?” Blue eyes burned into mine.
So she had seen what I’d hoped she would not. Was this a threat to my mother and brother? The latter might hate me when I declared for my mate to take the throne instead of him, and yet, to think of someone outing his magic, something he had no control over, did not sit right with me.
“Please, say nothing,” I begged.
Her wrinkles deepened as her face softened. “You’re full of surprises, Warrior Bear.”
“None I have from you. Not any longer.”
She smirked. “I suppose not.” A pause fell between us before she added. “How do I compare? To your mother and brother?”
I blinked. An odd question, though perhaps not for a whisperer. A fae with an elemental power, or even a less common one, might seek peers. They could compare skills and learn tips on how to use their magic.
Whispers could do no such thing. They remained silent, else death came for them.
“You’re not as strong,” I said. “Mother is the most powerful between the three of you, but Rhistel could control you too, I think.”
“You were his first?”
“I was.” And often, I’d been used as a practice subject for Rhistel. That was, until I demanded it all stop, which created a deeper rift between us.
She let out a soft hum. “I’m not surprised.
You see, I know your mother. Met her when she was around twelve turns, and I was much younger than I am now.
The young Lady Inga whispered me then. My intervention startled her, maybe scared her.
But, in truth, I suspect that any fear she felt was nothing to how her power had terrified me.
As a youngling, she was stronger than me.
Far stronger. Should she have wished to, she could have ruled all of Isila. ”
I swallowed. “Have you told anyone of this?”
And who? How many? Fear for my mother was building by the second and stilled only when Ratha shook her head.
“Never. In a way that only our kind can understand, we are bonded, your mother and I.” She licked her lips. “And then there’s the matter of our blood bond.”
My spine straightened, and I took her in again. The blue eyes. They’d seemed so motherly because they were the same shade as my mother’s. This female had black hair too.
Her wings lifted, spread, answering my unspoken question. Black as night. Black as my own.
Vagle wings.
“Who are you?”
“A bastard of House Vagle. One hidden for my mother’s treachery and then hidden again when my magic manifested. There are many of us bastards of nobles. Fae who want a better life and a better kingdom. When your father first took the throne, I was happy. I thought he’d give us that, but he failed.”
“He’s not my real father,” I admitted, surprised that she’d not seen the truth that burned within.
“I wondered if you’d speak it.”
“I plan to speak it more. After my mate makes her claim public.”
Ratha’s face went blank, and she pushed her chair back. “The guards waiting in the hall will show you to your annex. They’ll retrieve your mate and friends too.”
“Thank you,” I said, somewhat at a loss over her reaction. At so much. I looked around at the empty, vast room. “Might I ask where we are?”
Ratha chuckled. “This, Prince Vale, is what’s left of Castle Valrun.”
Had a band of orcs burst through the door at that moment, I wouldn’t have been able to move, let alone fight. My feet froze to the floor in shock. In fear. “Val—Valrun! It’s cursed!”
“That’s what they say.”
“But then, why are the rebels here?!”
“Where else could we be certain that we would not be found?” Ratha shuffled to the door. “If you’re going to join us and survive, you’d better start thinking more like a mouse than a bear.”