31. Chapter Thirty-One
Iwatched Kadir descend the steps as if she owned this place. I wouldn”t be surprised if she sniffed me out before I made it even halfway to the sanctuary, but she didn’t pay me any mind. Not now, at least. Sapphire neared Aurelie and narrowed her stare. I, too, wanted to pull Aurelie back, but a woman like Kadir Zayne? Oh, she would make Aurelie’s life a nightmare if she spotted an ounce of weakness.
Hopefully, the mercy would be generous. As generous as it could be for a woman like that.
Kadir was the mastermind behind so many fae deaths. She was arguably one of the most powerful sorceresses known to humankind, and if it weren”t for halflings, I had no doubt in my mind she would be in control of all magic across the known realms.
If Kadir gave me even the slightest bit of reason to think she was against Aurelie, I would waste no time reminding her how much of an enemy she made in the former King of the Winter Court.
“How did you know it was me?” Aurelie asked. She was shrinking into herself, but as soon as I noticed it, her posture had already straightened. Aurelie was getting better at reminding herself of her power, about the way she could control the direst of situations with magic she understood so little.
Kadir beamed again, so blinding that I wanted to look away. She thought herself to be the sun, when in fact, she was no brighter than a storm in the midst of night. “Do not think me a fool. Your little friend’s magic is cute, at best.” When her gaze flicked to Sapphire, that grin twitched. “What is your name, sorceress?”
A long moment of silence strung between each of us. I balled my hands into fists when Kadir approached my cousin and stroked a piece of hair from her face. Magic zapped between her finger and Sapphire’s cheek, and within seconds, her glamour failed. Sapphire didn’t twitch, wince, or even blink. She merely stared, as if she’d been expecting it.
“Sapphire Hastc—”
Kadir tutted, cutting off Sapphire with such ease. “Hastcreek? Last I heard, you’d run off to marry King Novus Mournshade.”
Rage consumed her, coloring her cheeks and tightening her jaw, but she remained silent. Sapphire never identified by that surname, even when married. Her home was as broken as Aurelie’s, but the Hastcreek name was the last part she had left.
Kadir was ruthless—and her magic was equally painful when used in the darkest ways. It would be her downfall. It would catch up to her just as it had Yenira. Just as it had Lyra.
Only—Kadir was not a dark sorceress, was she? If she were, her eyes would be crimson, and her hair would turn white. It was a telltale sign for any magic wielding individual—afflicted by a curse bestowed onto them either by force or by choice. It didn’t matter. Magic wasn’t picky.
“I don’t think it is necessary to bind her to a past she never asked for,” Aurelie said slowly, capturing the sorceress’ attention. “I know I relate to that sentiment more than you’d ever care to admit. Unless you favor the idea of mortal girls being sold off to fae nobility more often than you’d care to admit, Kadir?”
She scowled. “Sapphire could have left if she truly desired.”
“Just as Yenira could have stayed, should she truly desire.”
She silenced, and Aurelie exhaled. As if it was the last thing holding the glamour to her skin, she faded into that familiar red-haired, freckled beauty who didn’t tremble in the face of danger. That tongue was dangerous—but Kadir wouldn’t harm her. Not yet, at least. I was confident about that.
If she had the intent to hurt any of us, she would have before we reached the doorstep.
“That tongue has only sharpened in your time away, Aurelie Cane. Azalea would be proud.”
There was tonal resentment intertwined in her words. I knew nothing of the affairs and relationships between these sorceresses, but when the fae, magic wielders, and monarchs all met over a round table prior to the war, there was always lingering anger. Bitterness. Man and woman, woman and woman, man and man—it didn’t matter. They knew each other’s gravest secrets, and in the end, it would be the reason they tore each other apart.
“Come, then. I am sure we can hide your fae friends a while longer.”
Gooseflesh rose across my arms at the veiled threat. Kadir merely flicked her focus to me before turning and guiding us up the steps. We didn’t run across any other sorceress, nor did I get even the whiff of activity in the rooms we passed. It was a palace, for all intents and purposes—fitted with bedrooms, a library, and a dining hall I’d seen one too many times in a former life—but I’d never encroached on this place’s doorstep an intruder. It was always as a guest, portaled in and out of the main hall with minimal travel through mortal lands.
Even in times of peace, humans took ill on the fae occupying too much of their space. I rarely saw the men and women who vilified me during the war, but they knew me—and most resented me before they had real reason.
It all started with the damned Circle of Sorceresses, too.
“So, Aurelie,” Kadir sang as we wound through the endless halls. I hated the way her name sounded on that rotten tongue. “When exactly did you think it was wise to break the treaty between our realms by bringing fae traitors into our domain? Before or after they manipulated your mind?”
“Somewhere between the day the Elkyn Queen tossed me and Azalea aside, and when winter sang my praises.”
“Fond of the colder months, are we?” she asked after grazing past the doubled-doors of the meeting room. When she sat down, three other chairs at the opposite end of the table magically scraped against the wood paneled floors. Aurelie was the first to sit at the head, Sapphire and I adjusting at her either side. Kadir”s smile turned wicked. “Or has the frozen king come to pay a visit with you?”
Finally, my lips twitched into a grin. When I blinked, I felt the magic drip off me like a river to the sea, whooshing away until my skin no longer tingled. Kadir wouldn’t recognize me anymore—not with my white hair and gilded eye—but she knew better than to expect any different. Time and magic changed so much, especially after being afflicted with a curse from one of her sorceresses.
“A pleasure, Sister Zayne.”
“Sólvon Wynnoress,” she said with wide eyes. I recoiled—it was too familiar to a name I wanted to strip clean of this earth. “You look different.”
“Eero, Sister Zayne.” I shifted in my seat and lazily braced my forearm against the table, fingers curling into my palm. “I do not wish to associate myself with such names.”
Kadir’s eyebrow arched against her smooth skin. She leaned back, the wooden frame of her chair creaking before she nodded once and returned her attention to Aurelie. She was done with me—but I was not done with her.
As her mouth opened, I leaned forward and said, “Do you plan on continuing your thinly veiled threats, or are we going to have a proper conversation? We did not come here for no reason.”
Her head turned, slow and smooth. Her smile faded, and shadows clouded her eyes. I merely smirked in response. The years had not changed her—she hated being questioned. “No challenge here, Eero. If I wished to fight, I would have sent word to the monarchs that the fae had breached our treaty. You’d be executed with the purest of silver.”
“Careful with your words,” Aurelie said with an icy cold bite. “The monarchs are no more innocent than the rest of us—or is it the Underfae you’d like to talk about? I am certain the civilians would roar out in mutiny if they discovered their beloved monarchs knowingly allowed those beasts to roam free in the deadlands.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snapped at Aurelie. “Those words are killing words.”
“My death won’t stop what is coming for you, Sister Zayne. The fae aren’t all evil, but some of them are waiting for the day they get to reap revenge for what was taken from them. Even more,” she paused, leaning forward with a curled-lip, “there are those who aren’t content with how the war ended. They won’t be content until human blood fills the rivers and paints the street.”
“Is that a threat?” Sister Zayne said quietly, her lips twitching. “Because I can show you a traitor’s death, Aurelie Cane. There is nothing preventing me from opening those doors and announcing the fallen fae king’s return.”
“Then do it.” Aurelie relaxed into her seat and rested her arms over the armrest, as if her words were no harsher than melting ice against her tongue. “I will wait.”
Sapphire finally tore her focus from Aurelie and met mine. There was a pleased twinkle beneath her crimson stare, but when she turned to Sister Zayne once more, all that mischief and joy faded. “We’ll wait a while for that. Kadir has no intention of killing you. Any of us, really.”
“How can you be so sure?” the sorceress hissed.
Sapphire grinned, her white teeth glittering against the stark candlelight. “Because you know about the threats as well as we do—you’ve been watching Yenira slowly descend back into madness again, haven’t you? Is that why you haven’t fought to free Arcane Mistress Cane?”
Aurelie stiffened at the name. It was slight, but I saw it clear as day, and that meant Kadir saw it, too. I sighed through my nose and flourished my hand into the air. My words were saccharine—sickly sweet, yet false. “Surely, Sister Zayne would feel remorse for the woman who trained her. Surely, she’s been spending her days pining for her release.”
Kadir had grown deathly quiet.
Aurelie was the one to break the silence with her scoff. “Do you even care? Even more than Azalea—why has the Circle of Sorceresses not acted in haste to get one of their most esteemed troublemakers back to safety? Yenira has been missing too, has she not?”
Kadir waved her hand in defiance. “Yenira is as much a traitor as you—”
“I am no traitor,” Aurelie roared and smacked her hand on the table. Her halfling heart was pounding loudly within her chest, as if it was clawing to break free and lunge at the sorceress. “Azalea trusted you, Sister Zayne. Yenira confided in you. You are to look at me in the eyes and say that their downfall is trivial at best?”
Silence bounced between each of us again. I absorbed it in my bones before realization settled over me like a blanket—so warm, so obvious. It roused a laugh deep in my chest. Each of their heads turned to me, but mine was set on Sister Zayne. She’d always wanted power. It started with the desire to be stronger than an army of halflings. Then, she got a taste, and it cornered her into an endless pursuit of more. More magic. More status. First a court mage, then a Sister in the Circle of Sorceresses. I knew she had her eye on the Arcane Mistress—a title held by one.
Only one.
The very one who birthed the barrier which divided the two realms.
“You have no intention of helping Azalea,” I said quietly, my laughter fading. “In fact, I’d argue that you have every intention of letting her memory drift away. I’m sure for your own gain, no less.” I tented my fingers, elbows digging into the plush armrests. I turned my attention to Sapphire and Aurelie briefly. “She shows us mercy not because of her kindness—but because she feels remorse in the back of that cold, dead heart.”
“You know nothing.”
Aurelie stared Kadir down. With both hands flat on the table, she leaned forward and hardened her glare.
“If what he says is false, then what have you done to help her?” Aurelie asked. “I’ll never pretend to understand the hierarchy of this place. Sister, Arcane Mistress, Elder. It’s all the same to me, but to you? It’s a silent oath—to protect those with you and above you. I grew up around Yenira and Azalea long enough to know that.”
Kadir was chewing on the inside of her cheek as she breathed heavily, chest rising and falling. Her heart—impossibly mortal, given her age—was a tell. We’d backed her into a corner she’d never break free of.
“Nothing,” I whispered. “She’s done nothing. I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“What is it you all want?” she hissed and leaned forward. “You shouldn’t have any interest in the affairs of a group long detached from the fae.”
Aurelie mocked her posture and stood from her seat, arms straight as she leaned over the table’s edge. “If we do not resolve the strife of the fae realm, it will bleed into the mortal lands. Elkyn Kingdom will fall first—and then this sanctuary comes next. It may be crafted of magic—you may move, grow, expand, shrink, fade into an afterthought. It doesn’t matter. People will die, and war will return. Are you prepared for that? Do you wish to destroy the only fae king willing to form an alliance in exchange for my mother’s return?”
“He is no king—”
“He is my king,” Aurelie spat. “And you should kiss the ground beneath his feet for insinuating otherwise.”
Kadir’s mouth snapped shut, and I couldn’t help but let the ghost of a smile drift across my lips. Her words were the sweetest toxin—music to the ears, medicine to the aching muscles, but they would color her a traitor to the wrong listeners.
Still, I’d listen to her call me king however often she pleased, however long it was true to her.
“There is a plague, and it is greater than the Underfae,” Aurelie continued in a soft whisper. Despite the quietness to her voice, there was unwavering confidence lingering behind each and every word. “I have seen it with my own eyes. Sapphire too, long ago. If Yenira is afflicted, she will not be the last.”
“What does that have to do with me?” she challenged.
“It has nothing to do with you—that is, unless it harmed a human. It has, Sister Zayne. The plague has ruined him.”
“Who?”
Aurelie smirked and settled back into her chair. Kadir’s brow was slick with a thin layer of sweat, but she’d do everything to cover it up. “Julius.”
Kadir’s face fell, and she let her shoulders slump forward. Though Aurelie smirked and exuded this confidence I didn’t quite recognize, I saw the sadness lingering in her eyes. She was facing so much harsh truth, the sort that could ruin the very idea of home—not the one she’d craft with me.
But the one that defined her childhood, her most formative years.
“I don’t know where Yenira is,” Aurelie continued with a soft crack to her voice, “but I do know where Julius is. Azalea can help. If you decide that your own selfish desire is greater than saving the one and only mortal on the other side of that barrier, then he will die a terrible death. By fae hands. And that, Sister Zayne, will be grounds for war when it reaches these kingdoms.”
“Only mortal?” Kadir questioned, humor riddling her tone. “Are you so quick to denounce your upbringing?”
“You don’t smell it on me?” she asked, and I tensed. I slowly averted my attention to Kadir and narrowed my glare, ready to attack should she make even the slightest move against my witchling. The sorceress had grown pale as realization settled over her, and she flicked her gaze between Sapphire and Aurelie repeatedly. “I’m a halfling, bred of fae and human, some odd twenty-five years ago, long after the treaty had been enacted—long after fae and humans stopped their perilous pursuit of procreation. You, Azalea, and Yenira—all of you—may have denied the existence of my magic in some twisted way of protecting me, but you will never deny me of this. Of my blood.”
“That’s impossible—”
“It’s very possible,” Aurelie said with a bared-teeth scowl. “Because these mortal kings and queens do nothing to stop the fae from stealing. Kidnapping. Killing. That barrier does nothing but keep mortals out. That just begs the question, Sister Zayne—is that a fault, or is that by design?”
After bracing a closed fist beneath her chin, she started tapping her heeled boot against the ground. Aurelie and she glared at one another for a long while, but when Sister Zayne sighed in defeat, I let my muscles relax. “I do not have the power to make such decisions, Aurelie, but I can call a meeting on Azalea’s behalf to discuss Julius’ situation. Elders, monarchs, and Sisters alike.”
Aurelie made a sound of disapproval, to which Kadir flared her nostrils.
“And Azalea’s imprisonment. We will do this how it is meant to be done—my own bias aside.”
Aurelie was still tense, her lips curled and brows furrowed, but she nodded, hands wrapping around the armrest until her knuckles turned white. “When?”
“I can call upon them tonight. We need a majority vote—so all four kingdoms must be in attendance. Give it a day at most.”
“Then make it happen,” Aurelie said. She hadn’t blinked, twitched, or averted her stare. I’d never seen her so cold—so domineering. Novus and Sólkon did everything they could to break her down, but now that she had been given the freedom to fight?
To learn?
To know?
She shone brighter than I could have ever expected. Her words demanded my attention, and despite Kadir’s proximity in Aurelie’s growing years, it was no easy feat getting her to back down, to listen.
Kadir stood and flicked her wrist, the doors behind us whooshing open. Our chairs scraped against the ground as they were forced from their spot under the table. “You will remain in the sanctuary. It is unwise to let the fae run amuck.”