Chapter 25 #2
Briar looked between them. The way they'd all gone still, the way even Karse's casual sprawl had tensed—whatever the Night Court was, it terrified them.
"What’s the Night Court?" she asked. “The books you made me study… they only spoke of five courts.”
"There used to be six," Arion said quietly. His light had dimmed, drawing inward. "The Night Court was destroyed centuries ago."
"Not destroyed," Eliam corrected. "Sealed."
"What's the difference?" Briar asked, though the warmth in her chest was already pulsing with dread, as if it knew the answer would be terrible.
"Destroyed things stay dead," Karse said. His claws had extended slightly, catching the firelight. "Sealed things can be released."
The fire in the hearth popped, sending sparks up the chimney. Everyone flinched.
"They were fae once," Sian explained, her voice barely above a whisper. "The Night Court. But they changed, became something else. Something… wrong. They fed on humans first and then—" She stopped, swallowing hard.
"Fae," Eliam finished. "They began to hunt and consume their own, they discovered that blood could enhance their magic exponentially, but it was temporary and each time required more to satiate their growing hunger. They stopped being fae as we understand it and became what we called the Unseelie."
Briar's hand rose to her throat, to the marks that still carried the memory of Malus's feeding. The warmth in her chest contracted violently.
"The other courts united against them," Arion said. "The only time in our history all the courts worked together. It took everything we had to seal them away."
"And the Forest Court holds that seal," Eliam said. The shadows at his feet had spread to touch the walls now. "Has held it for centuries. It requires Forest King magic to break it—but not just any Forest King's magic. The seal was designed to need more power than any single ruler could possess."
The pieces clicked into place with sickening clarity.
"That's why he needs your magic too," Briar said, understanding. "Malus has his own Forest King power, but it's not enough. He needs both."
"That's insane," Halian said immediately, but his voice cracked on the word. "Even he couldn't be that—"
"My brother has always been fascinated by dark and dangerous things," Eliam interrupted.
"By power. When he approached me about releasing them, when he tried to convince me that the Unseelie deserved freedom, that we could control them—" His jaw clenched.
"I refused. When it became clear he wouldn't stop trying, that he'd been collecting old texts, seeking ways to break the seal, I had no choice. I imprisoned him."
"But imprisonment wasn't enough," Thaine said slowly. "He was looking for other ways."
"The ritual he mentioned," Briar said, her mind whirling with possibilities. "Could have have been trying to steal your powers to open this seal?"
"And I stopped him," Eliam said. "Barely. The ritual was already in progress when I arrived. I couldn't prevent it entirely, only—" He stopped, jaw clenching.
"Only save a fragment," Briar finished. "By hiding it somewhere he'd never think to look. Inside the human woman you were making a bargain with."
"But that shouldn't be possible," Sian said, her brow furrowing. "Humans can't hold fae magic. It burns them from the inside out."
"Yet, she's held it for twenty-five years," Arion pointed out, his gaze intense on Briar.
"The warmth," Briar said quietly. "It's been getting stronger. Ever since the Wild Hunt, it's been... changing. Manifesting in ways it never did before."
"What kind of ways?" Halian asked.
"Giant thorns… golden blooms…" She pressed her hand against her chest, feeling the warmth pulse. "It responds to danger, protecting me… or maybe protecting itself."
"That's not just stored magic," Thaine said slowly. "That's magic that's learned. Adapted."
"Or merged," Karse said, straightening in his chair. His amber eyes were sharp, calculating. "Twenty-five years of fae essence sitting inside human flesh. Like leaving metal in water until it rusts, except..."
"Except instead of destroying either element, they've combined," Eliam said. His voice was carefully controlled, but Briar felt his tension through the warmth. "The fragment didn't just hide inside her. It's been slowly transforming her."
"Into what?" Briar asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted the answer.
Silence stretched through the room. The fire had burned lower, casting long shadows that seemed to reach toward her.
"Something new," Sian said quietly.
"That's why Malus was so fascinated when he fed from you," Arion said, understanding dawning. "He could taste it. Not just the fragment, but what you're becoming."
"She's not just carrying Forest Court magic anymore," Thaine said, his dark eyes wide. "After twenty-five years of it seeping into every part of her…"
"She IS Forest Court magic," Karse finished. "In a form Malus can use. Not quite human, not quite fae, but something between. Something that could help him break the seal."
Briar’s stomach twisted. The warmth in her chest pulsed frantically, as if confirming their words. "I'm not human anymore?"
"You're something unprecedented," Eliam said, his arm tightening around her. "Something that shouldn't exist but does."
"Which is why he's so desperate to get her back," Sian said. "It's not just about reclaiming the fragment—"
"It's about what the fragment has become," Arion concluded. "What she's become."
“There is something I don’t understand,” Thaine said. “How did Malus manage to conduct any sort of ritual when he was locked in your dungeons?”
Eliam frowned. “He must have had help.”
"Who would know about such a ritual?" Arion demanded. "This isn't common knowledge."
"Someone with access to old texts," Eliam said. "Forbidden knowledge. Someone who'd been studying—"
"Ferria," Halian said suddenly, his face paling. "She's been requesting access to the restricted archives for years. Said it was for historical research."
"We need to question her," Arion said immediately. "Find out what she knows, what she told Malus—"
"Bring her here," Eliam commanded, his voice carrying the authority of a king despite being in Star Court territory.
Halian hesitated, torn between defending his sister and acknowledging the threat she represented. Finally, he nodded and left the room.
They waited in tense silence. The fire had burned low, casting long shadows that seemed to move on their own. Outside, the snow had thickened, reducing the world to white nothing. Briar found herself counting heartbeats, feeling the warmth pulse with each one.
Footsteps in the corridor. Too fast. Too many.
Halian burst through the door, and Briar knew immediately something was wrong. Snow clung to his hair—he'd been outside. His face was white, his breathing ragged.
Halian returned, his expression troubled. "She's gone."
"What?" Eliam's voice went flat.
"Ferria. Her cell's empty. The guards are unconscious but alive." Halian's jaw tightened. "She must have had help from the inside, or..." He trailed off, unwilling to voice the alternative—that his sister had capabilities they hadn't known about.
"She'll go to Malus," Briar said quietly. The warmth in her chest pulsed with unease.
"Likely," Eliam agreed. "But she's been locked up. She doesn't know our plans."
"She knows about the ritual," Arion pointed out. "She helped design it."
"And she hates me," Briar added, remembering the venom in Ferria's eyes. "If she reaches Malus, she'll make sure he knows exactly how to hurt me."
"Let her," Eliam said coldly. "She's a tool, nothing more. Malus already knows where we are, what we have. Ferria changes nothing."
"Except now he has someone who understands the ritual's mechanics," Sian said quietly. "Someone who might be able to tell him why it didn't work completely."
Silence settled over the room. Outside, the snow continued to fall steadily, muffling the world.
"We need to secure the seal," Arion said finally. "Before Malus makes his move."
"Easier said than done," Thaine said. "The heart of the wildwood isn't exactly mapped. Most who go looking for it don't come back."
"The fae don't come back," Karse corrected from his corner. His tone carried an edge that made everyone turn toward him. "Because you don't know the old paths. Don't know how to read the forest's warnings."
"And the Drak do?" Eliam asked, skepticism clear.
Karse's laugh was bitter. "Who do you think lived there before you turned it into a wasteland? Before you sealed your mistakes in our hunting grounds and let the corruption spread through the trees?"
The temperature in the room shifted. Not colder—tenser.
"The Unseelie seal," Arion said slowly, "is in Drak territory?"
"Was." Karse's claws extended slightly. "Until the corruption from your sealed monsters poisoned the land. Drove out the game. Made the water run black. We had to abandon territories we'd held for millennia because the fae courts couldn't be bothered to actually destroy their enemies."
"We couldn't destroy them," Sian said defensively. "They were too powerful—"
"So you made them our problem instead." Karse stood, his movements fluid and predatory. "Sealed them away and left us to deal with the consequences.”
"You know where it is," Eliam said. Not a question.
"Every Drak knows where it is." Karse's amber eyes burned. "We mark it on our maps as forbidden ground. Pass the warnings down through generations. Stay away from the heart where the fae buried their shame."
"Could you take us there?" Arion asked.
Karse was quiet for a long moment, his gaze moving over each of them before settling on Briar. "The question isn't whether I could. It's whether I should. Why would I help the courts that destroyed Drak lands?"
"Because if Malus breaks that seal," Thaine said quietly, "the corruption you've lived with will seem like nothing compared to what gets released."