Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Kole mistphased us to my private chambers, and once we materialized, he immediately released everyone to assess the doors and windows. “Check the courtyard outside, then the hall,” he barked at the two other warriors.
The warriors took off in a blast of speed, and quick strides had Kole moving from window to window to verify that the extensive wards around my personal chambers were still intact.
I swung to my sister. She looked so pale.
“She’s lost a lot of blood, Kole. We need a healer.
” I kept my hands pressed to her wound and crossed my dirty legs and feet beneath me.
Fear zinged through me. If she died . . .
All because those creatures had been after me .
. . It would be no different than what had been done to Timith.
“Stay behind these walls. The other warriors will keep guarding you.” Kole looked at me firmly, waiting for my affirmation that I’d heard him and wouldn’t leave my chambers, and then he disappeared in another blast of mistphasing magic.
Alone in my chambers, with only my sister lying on the floor, I settled more onto the rug at her side. “Lillith, can you hear me?”
My sister’s eyes fluttered open. They were foggy, and I wondered if she was in shock over what had happened, or if it was from pain, or if she’d truly lost too much blood.
When she nodded, relief billowed through me that she was still coherent enough to understand my question.
“Just hold on. Kole went to get a healer.” I kept my grip tightly pressed to her wound but cursed myself for never learning more than basic healing arts.
Not that it would have done me much good given how deep her wound went, but I felt so useless and entirely out of my element.
Despite tears brimming in my eyes, I gave Lillith an encouraging smile.
She hissed, obviously in pain, so I quickly said, “Do you know that once when I was a child and living in the Clawfur Mountains, I fell from a tree I’d been climbing?
Uncle Timith was with me, and he had to carry me all the way home.
My arm had broken, so I cried and wailed the entire way as it hurt dreadfully, but do you know what Gwenery said when we burst through the door, and she saw my arm dangling at an odd angle? ”
Lillith cocked her head, and her brown curls shifted on her shoulders. A moment of clarity filled her eyes, cutting through the pain. “What did she say?”
“She said, ‘Oh, Primelle, it looks like you have a bone-afide injury.’” My smile strengthened, and Lillith’s lips curved too.
“Gwen was my tutor at the time, as well as my caregiver, and we’d been working on vocabulary words that week.
I’d just learned what bona fide meant the day prior, and her joke made me laugh so hard that I forgot about my pain in that moment. ”
Lillith laughed softly. “I don’t know her, but she sounds lovely.”
“She is. She’s like a mother to me. I love her very much.”
My sister’s smile waned. “Was it strange to grow up in the mountains with only Gwenery and Timith?”
I shrugged. “It was all I knew back then, so I suppose no, but when I was eight summers old, and we returned to the capital, I remember feeling so shocked at how many fae were in the realm. For all of my life, I’d only known Gwen and Timith, and on occasion, I’d see other fae when we ventured to the nearest village to collect supplies.
But for so many summers, I was entirely isolated.
It was just them and me. It took me some time to get used to the capital’s hustle and crowds, and meeting other children.
It was a bit overwhelming until I adjusted to it, but now I absolutely love it. ”
Lillith studied me, her gaze clearing more. “And you truly have no memories of Koraline and me, or Mother, or Father? Or ever living in this palace?”
I shook my head, my smile dimming. “No, none at all. I was too young when I was sent away.”
Lillith opened her mouth to say something else, but the door to my chambers abruptly burst open. Our mother, father, Koraline, Kole, an old fairy that I recognized as one of the palace healers who’d tended to Timith, and the two Imperial Warriors who had mistphased with us strode inside.
Behind them, filling the hallway, were other adult fae, more than I could count at the moment, but they all stayed at the doorway, not entering.
“Oh galaxy!” Our mother rushed to us, her eyes wild. She crouched at Lillith’s free side, then snapped at the old fairy, “Hurry, Surrep. She’s still bleeding!”
The elderly healer rushed forward and ushered my mother out of the way.
Deep wrinkles lined her face, and I guessed she was at least fifteen hundred summers old, if not older, but her movements were quick and precise.
I watched her hopefully. She’d been the head healer who had tended to Timith when he’d been sick, and I knew that of the multiple palace healers who had seen to his care, she was the most skilled.
When she saw that I still held pressure to my sister’s wound, she gave me an approving nod. “Well done, Princess Primelle. You did what was needed until I could get here. Now, if you would please move to the side, I shall take care of Princess Lillith.”
I removed my hands from Lillith’s arm. Blood had congealed around her deep cut, but some still oozed through.
My gown was in tatters, and my fingers stuck together since they were bloody too.
Not to mention that my legs and feet were an absolute mess, but since we had an audience, I didn’t call upon my magic to cleanse anything away.
After all, I still wore the cuff that supposedly suppressed my abilities.
The healer whipped several vials from a pouch she carried and instructed Lillith to drink one. “This will dull the pain and slow the bleeding further.” She took the second potion and directly poured it over Lillith’s wound.
I stood and backed up, retreating to where Koraline and my parents waited, but I couldn’t help but assess the other fae at the door.
Some of them watched me warily, gazes scanning me from head to toe.
Given how filthy I was, I could only imagine what they were thinking.
The rest seemed too transfixed by Lillith’s injury to pay me any attention.
“How did this happen?” Surrep asked Lillith.
“T’was a sharp branch in the maze. I was careless when I tried to run away from . . . whatever those things were.”
My parents and Koraline assessed Lillith with terrified expressions, but then my father rounded on Kole, and his eyes narrowed to slits. “What in the realm happened out there? None of my daughters should have ever been at risk or hurt in that maze.”
Kole didn’t even flinch at my father’s furious accusation, but my jaw dropped, and I stepped closer to Kole.
“It wasn’t his fault. Those things got through the wards.
They came from underground, burrowing through the soil.
If anything, you should be talking to your spellcasters or the maze creators about the breach.
Kole and the other warriors are the only reason the palace wasn’t overrun with them.
” I gestured to the two other Imperial Warriors in my chambers.
For the first time, I was actually able to study them. Both warriors were tall, broad, and carried weapons. One was a blond who carried throwing stars in multiple straps lining his chest. The other had a wicked-looking crossbow attached to his back.
But my father ignored me and continued glaring at Kole. The king opened his mouth to say something else, but a male called from the hallway and cut him off.
“And you, Primelle. You’re also why the palace wasn’t overrun with those hideous creatures.
” Nathaniel entered my chambers, having to push through the crowd to do so.
His gaze wasn’t foggy anymore, and I wondered if the alcohol had entirely left his system.
“I saw you fight them off. You single-handedly took down several of them with your magic.” He eyed the glowing blue cuff on my wrist, his brow furrowing, but an apologetic gleam filled his eyes.
“Others saw it too. They’re all talking about how that cuff does nothing to suppress your inherent power.
” His eyebrows rose, his meaning clear. He was giving me a heads-up that the secret was out about my cuff.
I dipped my head, hoping he understood my silent nod of thanks. Absentmindedly, I fingered my cuff, twirling the cool metallic ring around my wrist, but my throat grew dry. Nathaniel was right. I’d revealed that my magic was too strong to be contained.
Kole turned hard eyes on Nathaniel, then addressed my father. “Your Majesty, I take full responsibility for the danger Primelle was put in tonight. It won’t happen again.”
“No, it won’t,” my father agreed, “because I’ll be assigning a new warrior to her care. You’ve proven yourself incapable of the task.”
“Russem!” My mother gasped. “But he can mistphase! None of the others can do that. If not for Kole, how would they have gotten out of the maze?”
My father spun around to face my mother. “Well, his mistphasing didn’t do anything to stop this from happening, now did it?” He flung his arm toward Lillith and me.
Kole’s throat bobbed, and my stomach bottomed out.
I rushed forward to grip my father’s arm.
“But it’s not Kole’s fault. Nathaniel accidentally separated Kole and me, and then the hedges moved.
If that hadn’t happened, Kole would have mistphased me out of the maze immediately.
” I gave the lordling a look of apology, and a part of me wondered if he deserved being thrown to the wolves, but I wouldn’t have Kole taken from me. I wouldn’t.
Thankfully, Nathaniel nodded and dipped his head at my father. “She’s right, Your Majesty. I did force them apart, but I didn’t mean to cause any of this. I sincerely apologize.” The young lordling had the decency to look contrite, and my earlier decision to forgive him was magnified.