Chapter 15 The Big Reveal
The Big Reveal
Eloise
I’ve just made myself a cup of tea on the small potbellied stove that warms my wagon when my gut tightens and Damien’s scent, like leather and rain, invades my nose.
I get the sense that he’s upset, that maybe his meeting hasn’t gone as he wished.
I take my mug and move for the door, planning to check on him and Warbill. But when I open it, Jaqual is there.
“Oh, hello,” I say. “What brings the Rivertoad king to my humble wagon?”
He flashes a lopsided grin. “Maybe I just needed a friend. Although I wonder about our status as such, given that your cousin almost slit my throat.”
“He didn’t mean it. We’ve been brutally mistreated, as you know. He thought you were hurting me.”
“I wasn’t kidding about needing to talk. Were you heading somewhere?”
“Just going to ask my brother if he’d like some tea for the morning. I had all of it in my saddlebag. But it can wait. Would you like to come in?”
Silver light rises behind the trees, casting shadows, hollowing his cheekbones and making his teeth gleam as he shakes his head. “It isn’t done. You have a maiden’s wagon. But I will take a cup of tea if you’re offering. Out here, please. We can watch the moonrise.”
“The moon is rising, and I haven’t even slept.
” I sigh. “I’ll get the tea.” I retreat inside the wagon, wondering why even the king won’t enter it, and pour him a cup.
Then I return to his side, handing him the steaming hot mug.
He turns his face toward the first silver light until his eyes gleam and the stone around his neck winks.
And that’s when I feel it, magic coming off him in ripples that dance across my skin.
Jaqual has real power, a power I don’t fully understand.
Power that feels different from the witches of Dimhollow’s or the dark elves’s.
This is something I haven’t encountered before.
“What are you?” I ask in a whisper. I can’t help myself. The cool morning air on my cheeks makes me feel alert, vibrant, reflective. Jaqual is a mystery I need to solve.
“The king of the Rivertoads,” he answers evasively. “I thought we settled that earlier tonight.”
“Something more, though. That amulet around your neck winks occasionally. I don’t think it’s a trick of the light, as you’ve said. I think it’s enchanted. What is its purpose?”
He narrows his eyes on me, like he’s trying to see into my soul. “It helps me see through lies,” he admits forcefully. “Now, I have revealed who I am, Velis. Will you reveal your true identity—or make me use my abilities on you?”
Oh. He knows about my illusion. But how much? Only that I am not who I say I am? Or can he see right through my spell? I swallow hard, not knowing where to begin. “I’d prefer if my brother and cousin were here. This conversation won’t be an easy one.”
He snorts. “The two men traveling with you are no more your brother and cousin than they are from Covellton.”
“Why are you here, Jaqual, when you promised to speak with them tonight about the price of your mercenaries?”
“I sent them a mercenary to inform them about our mercenaries. They don’t need me for that conversation. Why did you think I’d want to discuss anything with them? I don’t know them. I don’t know you, to be sure, but at least you’ve attempted a relationship.”
“I’m sorry about that. I—”
“Stop apologizing for your compatriots and tell me who you are and what you want from us.”
I look down at myself and then at his amulet, which winks again. “You can see through my illusion, can’t you?”
His violet eyes twinkle. “Beautiful red hair. I’d love to see it without the haze of your magic getting in the way.”
I see no benefit in prolonging the game and draw back my magical representation of Velis, although I keep Damien’s and Warbill’s up.
I lift my chin and straighten my spine. “I am Eloise Hymir, rightful queen of Stygarde. It is my great pleasure to make your acquaintance, King Jaqual.” I offer him a slight curtsy.
A smile spreads slowly across his lips. “Holy goddess in the Darklands. Hymir? You have already wed the resurrected prince?”
“We are wed and mated. Damien is alive and well, the rightful heir to the throne.”
“All this time, New Stygarde has been needling me for any information about your whereabouts, and you’ve been here, right under my nose.”
“We need your help to take back this kingdom. Join us, Jaqual. Ally with us and help us end this nightmare that’s befallen Tenebris.”
Silence fills the space between us, our warm mugs clasped between our hands, as if we were just friends talking over morning drinks rather than leaders discussing the ways of our world. He sips from his mug and then stares at me, waiting.
“Well?” I ask.
“I’m waiting for the punch line.”
“The punch line?”
“I’m sorry, I assumed you were joking. You want the Rivertoads to ally to help you put Damien Hymir back on the throne?
Goddess, the rumors said Damien’s mate was from another world, but I assumed your husband would have brought you up to speed on the history between the Hymirs and the Rivertoads, Eloise.
Allow me to edify you. There is no way in the Darklands that we will be helping you put another Hymir on the throne. ”
I shake my head, my hackles rising. “Damien isn’t part of that history. He isn’t his father, and he definitely isn’t his brother.”
His violet eyes flare, and shadows bleed off the edges of his form. “I don’t care if he’s the secret baby of the witch queen of Dimhollow, I will never purposely put another Hymir on the throne.”
I sip my tea to slow my thoughts because I’m very close to losing my shit.
“You know that Brahm and Nevina are a sock-puppet government for the dark elf king, one that threatens your people’s freedom, threatens the future of every shade in Tenebris, and yet you would allow their tyranny to continue rather than help Damien take back what is his?
You cut off your nose to spite your face, Jaqual. ”
“Damien is not the only option. You’re blinded by your relationship with him. If you were neutral, you’d see that a leader elected by the people would be a far better replacement than another Hymir king.”
“You want the next ruler of Stygarde to be voted on to the throne?” Coming from Earth, I’m not opposed to this idea, although it feels like a betrayal of Damien to admit it.
He stares between the trees at the rising moon.
“You asked about my amulet. I suspect you can sense its magic. Most shades can. I will tell you something that few know about me, Eloise. When I was abandoned as a baby, I was left in a basket of the sort constructed by the witches of Dimhollow, and I had this eye around my infant neck.”
A tingle travels the length of my spine. “Are you part witch, Jaqual?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. I suspect half. My magic isn’t particularly strong. But I do have one remarkable gift that is unique among my kind.”
“The ability to see through illusion?”
He scoffs. “The ability to see. The truth. The future. I have dreams, Eloise. Ones that come true.”
My palms are starting to sweat, and I set my mug down before it slips out of my hands. “What have you seen about the future of Tenebris?”
He licks his lips. “I saw myself, standing on the veranda of Stygarde Castle with a dragon by my side. As I told you, we hear many things along our travels. I heard tell of a prophecy out of Dimhollow, one that confirms my vision. They say the one who tames the dragon will rule this world.”
“And you think that’s going to be you?” I ask incredulously.
He nods. “Centuries ago, before the prophecy was ever dreamed or shared, a war was fought over a dragon, and both sides thought if they were the one to capture her, they would rule Tenebris. Neither did, and the dragon died. Do you know what I’ve come to understand since then?”
“What?”
“The dragon is a metaphor. If you observed our caravan from the sky, our chain of wagons would appear as a dragon winding its way across the land.” He points to himself.
“We are the dragon, Eloise. The Rivertoads. My people. And the one who brings us all together, the one who unites us, will be the one who tames the dragon. I have united the Rivertoads. I am their elected king. That is why I will never help you or Damien Hymir back to the throne. The only solution is to destroy it. The people—the dragon itself—should rule.”
I find myself staring at Jaqual as he speaks, unable to blink, mesmerized by what he’s saying.
And when he’s finished, I try to process it all.
He’s a prophet, just like Aurora was, with the gift of sight.
Both channeled similar visions concerning the future of Tenebris, visions that could be construed differently based on one’s perspective.
Catarina had assumed her mother’s vision was about Brahm and Nevina.
She was wrong. So is Jaqual. He has no idea that he will never tame the dragon because she’s standing right in front of him.
Not a metaphor, not a caravan, but a woman.
I am the dragon. And I have already bound myself to Damien.
Still, I come from a world and a place where democracy is the rule of law.
I agree with his ideals. But ideals won’t solve this problem.
Ideals won’t protect the children who are even now being drugged and worked to death as slaves for the pleasure of the crown.
I need to show Jaqual the truth. It’s the only way to win him to our side.
“There’s something I have to show you,” I say. “Something you need to know.” I back up a few steps. Ariadne made me this outfit. Pants and a corset that shows my tattoo, all covered in a dazzling jacket that makes the entire thing look like a dress when it’s fastened. I unfasten the clasp.
“What are you doing?” he asks, shaking his head. “You cannot seduce me into helping him, Eloise. I am not so desperate or so lacking in morals.”
I turn my back to him, and at the same time, I summon Phantom. Sweeping my red curls over one shoulder, I nudge the jacket off and down to my waist, revealing my tattoo. I look at him over one shoulder as Phantom forms in all their white-scaled glory in front of me and spreads her wings.
Jaqual drops his mug. It shatters on the ground, the tea soaking into the earth. It looks as if he’s stopped breathing. His eyes widen as Phantom lowers their head and sniffs him, their teeth as long as he is tall and each as sharp as the weapon at his hip.
“I am the dragon, Jaqual,” I say. “It’s not the caravan. Your vision showed you the future, but not one where you rule. It’s one where you help us. You’re in the castle because you are our friend.”
“No,” he mumbles, shaking his head. All the color has drained from his cheeks.
“You may be right that someday the best outcome for Stygarde…for Tenebris…is to be ruled by the people. But the only way we’ll successfully reach that end in the future is by taking the power back from Brahm and Nevina now. And the only way we’ll be successful at doing that is if we work together.”
His mouth hangs open, his eyes fixated, not on my bare back but on the dragon who watches him over my shoulder. I slide my jacket back into place and fasten the belt.
“This changes everything,” he murmurs.
I offer him a shallow smile, confident that he’ll help us now that he understands. We can move forward. “Then, you’ll fight with us?”
“Let’s go talk to your prince,” he says with a swing of his chin that tells me he’s in. “I assume the one who brought his sword to my throat and threatened to run me through is actually Damien Hymir.”
Phantom fades away, and I turn on my heel to stride toward Damien’s wagon, not bothering to disguise myself again.
There’s a spring in my step. If we have the allegiance of the Rivertoads, we can win this war.
We reach the wagon where Damien and Warbill are staying just as a tall man in a strange uniform exits.
I see Damien behind him and drop his and Warbill’s disguises as we approach.
“Eloise—”
“Jaqual knows who we are,” I explain. “And he’s here to discuss his alliance.”
Damien swings the door wide, but Jaqual stops me before I can enter the wagon. “Out here, please.”
Damn, when Maggie told us that men and women who are unmarried can’t stay in the same wagon, I had no idea they were sticklers for that rule in all cases. But it’s a small enough ask, considering the stakes. Damien and Warbill join us in the treelined clearing outside their door.
“Damien Hymir, let me introduce myself formally. I am the Rivertoad king, and I have authority over four thousand trained mercenaries. I think it’s time we talk about taking back Stygarde.”
Damien’s eyes narrow. “Then you’ll join the rebellion?”
“On one condition.” A cunning smile cracks Jaqual’s face, giving him the appearance of a fox rather than a dog. My stomach clenches as my intuition kicks in. “I’ll lend you every man under my command to fight New Stygarde at your side, but I require one thing in exchange.”
“What’s that?” Damien asks in a low growl.
“Your wife.”