Chapter 5
VALANCE
Deeper into the night, the jinn and the rebels miles behind us, the moon ready to give way to the sun, the king and queen slept before the campfire within another forest clearing.
They looked so peaceful, wrapped in their furs, nestled under the small shelter built from deerskin and wood they set up every night.
They insisted on building them every night rather than me making us something with my magic.
Three shelters for three bodies, Brigid sleeping in the carriage.
I sat out in the open on a log, my legs crossed at the ankles. Sleep was the last thing on my mind, too much spinning inside my skull.
The fire burned low, running out of heat.
I watched it slowly fade away, thinking of everything that had happened from the moment I’d been cursed with Berserker blood by the late Ren, the loss of my friends Boyd and Maeve, my father’s death, my position as part of the Rosestar dynasty.
Once the Crown Prince, heir to the Faerie Throne, set to be the most powerful fae in existence, that future robbed from me.
My family then betrayed me, licking the boots of Lord Florent and Spring now that the Gentry fae wielded a weapon of iron fire. But through the darkness, Kormac had been by my side. He’d saved my life. He’d seeped his way into my… into my soul.
What was he? Who had he been to give me his gift, to stop me from dying?
Not only written in the stars but from beyond them… Brigid had said.
Now I would never know.
Unless you wish for it…
I picked up a stick half buried in snow and prodded the fire, embers flaring with the charcoal.
This wishing nonsense didn’t help. The best thing for that thinking was for it to be sealed away, buried deep, never to be shown the light again.
Kormac was gone. There was no coming back. Vengeance remained the road forward, the one and only objective.
Wish…
Another thought came to me, another idea for a wish.
Wipe out Faerie, the ambitions of Florent and Lasair, of every living being. Tear down the skies, rip out the mountains, dry up the seas and lakes and rivers, leave nothing behind. Including me.
Be done with everything.
Only, that wasn’t satisfying in the slightest. I had to hear the screams of my enemies, earn my revenge. Taking an easy path to victory with a mere few sentences wouldn’t suffice. I wanted the stench of fire and blood, the breaking of bones, the images of defeat.
Musing on the past was for the weak. I was tired of being weak, of the defeat, of boots planted on my head. The time had come for my rising, for a new dawn in this wretched realm.
King Eoghan grunted in his sleep, snoring lightly for a few moments before falling into silence.
These two monarchs wanted their turns to deal out death, too. Their own axes to grind now they’d been given this second chance.
Together, we would march.
Together.
Together.
Together.
We should be together, Kormac. Side by side, exploring these new feelings…
Are we meant to be more than companions?
“We will never know,” I muttered to the dying fire.
“Your Majesty?”
A sensation like a tarantula crawling across my skin. “What is it, Brigid?” I refrained from turning to face her, happy with my eyes on the orange glow of the embers.
“I wanted to check on you,” she answered.
“There is no need. Go back to sleep.”
“I can’t sleep. I’m worried about you.”
I folded my arms. “Why?”
“I always worry for my king. You’ve been through so much.”
“Because of you.”
“Because of destiny. Because you were meant to do this. Your dark caress is—”
“You made me kill the human.”
“He wasn’t human. Not really. From beyond the—”
“Stars,” I finished for her. “A vessel to serve me and my kinghood. That doesn’t lessen the hurt, Brigid. It never will.”
She floated closer, appearing to my left. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. But I had to act when your dark caress called. If I could have done things differently, I would have. In a heartbeat. But I acted within my skill, within the power I had.”
“Splitting yourself apart,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Feeding me morsels of information, tantalizing me to move farther north.”
“For you. For the greater good.”
I couldn’t stop the escape of the responding chuckle. “What an interesting statement.”
“I—”
“Who is it you want dead? Some long-living rival? Did someone kill your family?”
“Your Majesty—”
“There must be a motive here, Brigid,” I interjected before she could simper.
“I’ve given this some great thought, wondering why a darkling would be so desperate to have a new Tuatha king.
Of course, it is obvious. What darkling wouldn’t want the chance to fight those who crushed their lands, took away their power?
I would. I understand that completely. Yet there is more to this.
I can feel it wafting off your little skull.
And I have no idea who you are, other than an old woman with a lust for shrimp. ”
“Your—”
“Speak,” I commanded. “Tell me your story.”
“I—”
“Tell me, or I will crush your face into the embers.”
Her eyes widened, her lips quivering. “I… May I sit beside you?”
Strange for a head to sit anywhere. “You may.”
She lowered to my left side, landing on the snow-dusted log. “Aren’t you cold sitting on this, Your Majesty?”
I’d warmed my patch with magic. “Concern yourself with your story only.”
She sighed, looking up at me. “Is there anything else I can do to please you? My story is—”
“Why are you so hesitant? What are you hiding?”
Another sigh. “You are already a wise king.”
Was that supposed to be a compliment?
“You are correct in your thinking,” she continued. “I have been deeply hurt, betrayed by the love of my life. She… She did this to me.”
“Did what?”
“Aged me, cursed me with shadow magic. Took everything from me.”
I sat up, staring down at her. “Who did this to you?”
“Your grandmother.”