Chapter 56 Astrid
There is no Heart.
Every thought retreats from Astrid’s mind.
What is Ottilie talking about? “Of course there is. What do you think has been powering your continent for centuries? Has kept our ecosystems balanced?” Astrid says.
“It certainly did power our kingdom, and ensured the stability of yours.” Her steel-gray eyes, colder than her son’s, fix on Astrid. “How long have you been suffering with the Blight, Princess Astrid?”
“Queen,” Skylar cuts in. “She is Queen Astrid to you. And I am your queen now, should you need reminding.” She looks at the Primes and the Dreki, not bothering to spare a glance for Axel. “Tell us where the Heart is.”
But Astrid is shaking, because it makes sense. It finally makes sense. Why they’re draining the Blooded of their magic. Why there’s Blight in Vatra as well as Arturea. Why they haven’t been able to cure it after all these years.
“She doesn’t know. She doesn’t know where it is.” She’s amazed at how level her voice is, especially with the swirling panic that’s threatening to engulf her. “What happened?” she says to Ottilie. “How?”
The queen’s lips purse. She looks between her son and Astrid, then her eyes flick again to Skylar and the pin in her hand.
“It was taken. Stolen from us, more than twenty years ago, and I’ve been searching for it ever since.
But when weeks of searching became months, and months became years, I had to do something.
The Vitalas we had stored was enough to keep it flowing through the kingdom for a time, but eventually it ran out, and then some of our subjects started to suspect something.
We couldn’t risk anyone finding out, couldn’t risk further unrest—the hysteria if people knew or the challenge to our authority.
I had to do something,” she says again, this time speaking only to Zryan.
As if pleading with him to understand. She turns away at the hard look on his face.
“Initially we believed it was an attack by Arturea, that the witches had stolen it with some clever magic, but the way your country has suffered, we soon realized it couldn’t have been.
” Astrid’s brow furrows. “Oh yes, we recognized the Blight for what it was long before your mother and father did.”
“And you’ve denied her this whole time? Denied everything?
You should have told us!” Astrid moves without thinking, but then she seizes up, the blood in her veins slowing, congealing.
Her heart hammers all the harder and she thinks she might die, that she might be shredded from the inside out.
Bastet roars at the same time Skylar yanks Astrid’s claw from the sheath at her wrist and aims for the Blood Wielder, who goes down, clawing and choking as it lodges in his throat.
Astrid slumps to the floor and Skylar’s beside her immediately, arm around her shoulder, helping her up.
Nice shot. She focuses on slowing her heart rate.
Yeah, well, no one fucks with my mate.
Another Prime breaks from formation, but she stops at the sound of metal smashing against marble as it reverberates throughout the room.
Zryan has pulled on one of the magically reinforced chains so hard he’s almost torn it from the pillar.
He’s pointing at his mother, his beautiful face contorted with wrath.
The Prime takes a purposeful step away from him, sweat beading her brow.
“Heed me now, Ottilie. I will kill you myself if any harm comes to her—do you understand? Not a hair on her head is to be touched. Or none of you will leave this place.”
The queen stares at her son, her hands shaking slightly. “You heard the prince: you are not to harm the Arturean princess.”
Queen. Skylar growls into her head.
That is the least of our problems right now, Skylar.
“I think we all need to calm down.” Ottilie throws a meaningful look at Axel, and Astrid feels a strange sense of contentment wash over her. Skylar growls out loud this time, predatory focus on the blond man.
We don’t need to calm down, we need to get out of here. Astrid doesn’t like the way the Dreki are watching Bastet. If anything happens, they’ll go for him first.
Keep her talking as long as you can. I’m working on something.
Astrid nods subtly, then shifts away from her and walks slowly toward Zryan.
If Skylar’s up to something, then Astrid needs to split their focus.
As soon as she’s near him, Zryan grabs her and pulls her up against him, angling his body in front of hers.
He presses a chaste kiss right on her mate mark.
The queen’s lips thin at the gesture. She’s quiet a moment, then she sweeps over to the pool of water, the light rippling across her face making her look like a siren of Arturean legend.
“This is where the Heart was kept, you know, in this pool. We can’t say for sure when it was taken, given the impossibility of it, and I have spent a lot of time here trying to work it out, spent a lot of time studying the Heart, its history, its origin.
And I finally started to piece it together a few years ago.
A little bit like you have, Princess Astrid.
” Zryan’s hand flexes on her hip and she strokes a palm along his back, to reassure him.
“You’re clever, I’ll grant you that, though you never should have laid eyes on that tapestry.
You learned, didn’t you, that Nyx and Aeloria were mates, figured out they never could have fought each other—my son let that slip when I asked him about it.
So presumably you’ve deduced that this history we’ve all been taught is a lie, but have you asked yourself what the truth is?
Have you asked yourself what came before Nyx and Aeloria? ”
Astrid is barely breathing. She’s not sure Zryan is, either.
What is she talking about, Little Witch? Astrid doesn’t dare look at Skylar, doesn’t want the queen’s attention to fall on her mate.
I’ve honestly no idea where this is going.
The queen raises a brow, and Astrid feels like she’s back in the Moon Palace with her old tutors. All she can manage is a small shake of her head.
“No, no one ever seems to. So disappointing. The truth is, they came with the Heart from another world. That’s what the tapestry depicts, but it seems you missed that detail.”
Silence. Such silence that she can hear the gentle ripple of the water. Astrid fists the bottom of Zryan’s shirt, desperate to grip something, as it feels more and more like reality is slipping away from her. What detail did she miss?
She’s lost it. She’s completely fucking lost it.
Astrid is too stunned to answer her mate, but Skylar’s right. The queen has completely lost her mind. Even Axel is looking at Ottilie like he doesn’t recognize her. One of the Dreki shifts uncomfortably, and the queen picks up on the movement. She smiles, a slash of a thing.
“You don’t have to believe me, because I’m going to prove it to you soon enough.
You see, this other world they came from still exists—in fact, we exist inside it, like a pocket.
And right here, in this room, someone made a cut into our world.
And not just back when the Heart was stolen, no.
I’ve sensed it again more recently, this interference with the magic.
” A derisive snort sounds from Skylar, and the queen forces a closed-lip smile.
“You’re wondering how I know this. My Blooded order.
As a Nullifier, and a Prime at that, I can sense where magic has been made and unmade, warded and unwarded.
I can sense its layers, even the type of power and the order it belongs to.
Except with you, of course. Yours is the only magic I’ve never been able to sense.
” A small wrinkle forms between her brows as she studies Skylar. The queen looks to the pool.
“Many years ago, when I first came here—after the Heart was taken—I felt an echo of something foreign, of something… otherworldly. That’s when I knew.
They came and they took the Heart right back to the world it originally came from.
And now I have what I need to make the cut, too, to follow them there and get the Heart back. ”
“Stop this,” Zryan says firmly but gently, his anger transformed to alarm—concern for his mother. “This is madness; there is no other world. You need to let Astrid and Skylar go, let us all go, and we can work this out together. We can help find the Heart. Help you.”
“But you’ve already been so helpful. Especially you.
” She turns her hate-filled gaze back on Skylar, and Astrid pulls out of Zryan’s grip, heading for her mate, not liking the look on the queen’s face at all.
“Remind me, Princess Astrid, what else you noticed about the tapestry. Particularly with Nyx.”
It hits her, as physical as a slap. The image of Nyx riding Artemia is replaced with the image of Skylar at the warrens, racing around the carriages to save her. Skylar in the cage, reaching out, taking hold of—
“The hairpin,” she breathes. The long silver pin hangs loosely in Skylar’s hand. The dragon heir looks at it, then frowns, glancing between Astrid and the queen.
“Clever girl,” Ottilie says, giving her a genuine smile. It’s terrifying. “Though you know it’s not a hairpin, don’t you? Axel?” She turns to the blond man, whose face is drawn, and points at Skylar.
“Bring me that wand.”