All of it was Her #2
As Zareth and Sevrin moved to protect the queen, she yelled, “Enough!” She looked angry for the first time, and it was a terrifying look on her. “Do nothing. These fools are no match for me.”
Her mind control doubled down in my brain and immediately ceased all movement in me and everyone else too. Even Zareth and Sevrin. She must have been truly angry to control the ones on her side.
Or she was losing control. One could only hope…
With a deep breath and a moment of silence, during which she smoothed her hair down and wiped her brow, she continued.
“Excellent, Naci, very good. Yes, I am Aemilia’s mother.
It’s funny, really. Your whole little rebellion became what it is now because of me.
You see, I sought the child in the prophecy after substantial research with Sevrin.
At the time, I was just a maiden, powerful, but with no royal bloodline to seat me on a throne.
And I found you. As if the power within you from the fallen goddess called to me.
“At first, I observed your family from afar, watching you and forming a plan to take you. But the way Cassius had looked at your mother, I found myself wanting to be looked at that way, so I needed to get rid of Keryth and become your mother instead of steal you. This way, too, I could raise and shape you as needed. Two birds, as they say… I planted an obsession in Keryth’s mind, drove her crazy with thoughts of a rebellion growing in Elyndor. ”
“That is a lie! You have nothing to do with our cause!” Drayce broke through once more, drawing an annoyed look from Malvina.
“You insolent fools! No talking unless spoken to!”
The command set in over my mind. Her power terrified me, feeling like an ever-present pressure in my head despite the few moments of reprieve we’d all found from our emotions.
Zareth and Sevrin seemed to have been released from Malvina’s magic, and they stood behind her, heads following her when she started to pace.
“I planted the idea in her pretty little head so that she would leave Cassius and just maybe kill Caedryn for me—another two birds. So yes, Drayce, the rebellion’s favorite leader only sought the cause because I planted the idea in Keryth’s mind.
If the rebellion could kill the powerful Pyrrath that occupied my future throne, I would have an easier time seizing it. ”
Something feral snarled within me when she said Drayce’s name. I wanted to scream and rage at her, rip the tongue from her mouth that had uttered his name. But I was powerless to disobey her order of silence.
But not her order to remain still.
I shot another tendril of shadow at her, but this time she expected it and stopped it right before it could wrap around her throat. And then smiled.
“Thank you, Naci. I wanted to test whether I could control your shadows. It seems I can. Anyway, where was I…”
How was that possible? Sevrin had said the shadows were sentient, unlike elemental powers. Could she mind-control them? Or was she controlling me and my ability to control them? This made my head hurt worse.
“So,” she continued, “with Keryth out of the way and working every day to kill Caedryn, I waited, and I lived a beautiful life with Cassius for a time. You probably don’t remember this, but he was an excellent father.
So I had Aemilia, and she was born to be strong, no doubt about it, but I’d hoped for a male to become my eventual heir.
Much easier to control from the shadows than a daughter would be.
And males present a better facade to the world, as I proved with Caedryn.
“So I grew angry when I had Agnella, not a drop of magic in her wasted veins. I also grew tired of controlling Cassius. That swine never loved me. His mind was always full of thoughts of Keryth.”
I couldn’t take any more. I dropped to my knees, where I felt Drayce’s shaking hand close over mine. I looked into his honey eyes, the only thing in this moment grounding me.
If I wasn’t so consumed with grief, I would have noticed that I was able to move from the grief and overwhelming anguish.
Or maybe she wasn’t even holding me captive anymore. Maybe I wasn’t trying to fight her because of my own paralysis over everything she had revealed.
“Queen Seralyth fell ill,” Malvina continued, “and a new idea formed. The rumor was that she had an illness she would not survive, so Sevrin infiltrated the royal court with his umbra influence and…accelerated her death for me.”
I looked at Varyn, who was staring at the ground in silent fury. Malvina had taken everything from him too—his mother and now his father. Gods, I could almost feel bad for him despite everything. He was just another of her victims.
“With the queen dead, I made my move—grieving males are so easy to manipulate. After all, marrying the king would be easier than killing him, but I still had hopes that the rebellion could succeed there and get me to this moment sooner. It pained me to leave Aemilia behind, but I knew the time would come when I would show her the truth and bring her to my side once she’d emerged and I was Ashthorn’s sole ruler.
Before departing, I left a little bug in Cassius’s mind that she was the only child to be loved by him.
” She winked at me, and I felt the last piece of my heart shatter. I had nothing left inside.