Chapter 6 #3
I froze. So much for sitting down, then. The string tying me to her was vivid. I refused to let myself envision how good it would feel to pull it taut until her bones gave way beneath my power. “Do tell.”
She leaned forward, her voice barely a whisper but still managing to cut like a blade. “Demonstrate your Lurae.”
“What?” I couldn’t keep the surprise from my face.
If I tried to use my magic purposefully right now, would it even listen to my commands?
Or would it do what it had always done and consume without mercy?
I scrambled for an excuse. “My Lurae is dangerous. And you must know it’s rude to ask for such a display. ”
“Of course it is. But nonetheless, I insist.” She looked at S?ren. “I’m sure S?ren here would have no qualms about being held captive by your Lurae for a few moments. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
So she knew what had happened when he visited me after the Trials as well. That moment had been private—only the two of us in the room. No one but S?ren could have divulged the intimate details of it.
My heart sank. He was the one who’d told her about our relationship.
You thought you loved him, and he has betrayed you in every possible way, my thoughts whispered, their deadly steadiness whipping my suppressed Lurae into a frenzy.
I tilted my head, hoping the stretch in my neck would distract me from the gold blurring the edges of my vision, the string between him and me growing tauter with each second.
Every sacred moment between the two of you, handed directly to his master. Her perfect lapdog.
S?ren’s hand twitched, and panic sliced through me.
Was it a muscle spasm or an accidental tug of my magic?
There was no way to know. But if I tried to unleash it for a demonstration, someone in this room packed full of innocent civilians would die.
Most likely S?ren, if he was the target my Lurae latched on to.
I thought back to the body of a would-be assassin, bloody in the cobblestone street.
I hated S?ren. Hated him. Maybe even enough to want him dead.
But not right now. Not at the hand of my Lurae.
If I’m going to kill him, I thought, I will accept only the satisfaction of my sword through his gut. Nothing less will do.
I studiously ignored the twinge in my stomach at the lie.
“No.” The word settled into the air of the room, and for the first time since we arrived in Kryllian, I breathed easily.
“I do not oblige petty requests to demonstrate my magic for all to see. You invited us here to sign a treaty—so sign it. Or don’t.
Either way, our delegation will depart in the morning. ”
She laughed again. “So much fire in you. I will not sign any treaty with a girl masquerading as a monarch.” The words hit like a slap to the face. “Only with a queen. And a queen can use her magic in any way she pleases—so why won’t you?”
“She can’t.”
S?ren’s declaration sent a chill up my bare spine. I turned to face him. “Excuse you?”
His expression was unreadable. “I said you can’t use your magic,” he repeated. He pitched his voice low, unable to be heard by those dancing and milling about. “Or you can, but you aren’t able to control it.”
“That’s not true.”
“But it is.” His gray eyes snapped to mine, and I wondered how he managed to see through my facade every time.
Still, after all the hatred I was desperately cultivating around him.
“I didn’t lose my grip on that wineglass at dinner last night—my hand was yanked by something I couldn’t see.
Your Lurae is untamed and untaught, a dangerous combination. ”
The lullaby was echoing in my ears. I barely heard it when the queen said, “As I suspected.”
Meanwhile, I was attempting to hold myself together. Everything was falling apart around me—like the moment when an avalanche is no longer a sound in the distance but a visible downpour of snow devouring everything in its path.
The treaty. We were only supposed to sign the treaty. Instead, the queen was poking holes in the careful mask I’d constructed before arriving here. I wanted to fold up into a ball on the floor and cry. Or maybe sleep forever.
All she had to do was sign the damn treaty.
Instead, she continued. “We cannot ally with you and end the war unless your magic is controllable. I hope you understand—the point of removing your father from the throne was to work with a leader who didn’t destroy on a whim. Your Lurae, to be frank, threatens that.
“Which brings me to a proposed solution. In three weeks, I will visit Bhorglid. Demonstrate your magic for me then, after spending that time with an experienced teacher. He will teach you how to wield your Lurae and take control of it. If, when I arrive, you are fully able to keep yourself under control and can use your magic how you like, then the treaty will be signed. But until then, we cannot move forward, unfortunately.”
The ringing in my ears was dissonant against the familiar notes of my mother’s lullaby. The question forming on my lips filled me with dread—I suspected I knew the answer already. “And who, exactly, is this great Lurae that will be teaching me to use my magic?”
My heart pounded a steadily increasing tempo, so hard I wondered if it might bruise. The queen smiled serenely.
“S?ren, of course.”
For a long, long moment, everything was still. The only way to save my people from impending starvation, years more of war, and eventual conquering by our enemy nation was to let the Hellbringer instruct me in how to use my magic.
The scream building in my chest, the one that had sparked when she first threw the knowledge of our relationship in our face and burned to a blaze over the course of two long days, escaped.
And the ballroom exploded beneath my rage.