Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
Away
Satrine
“Valentine, bring her before me.”
I didn’t move or speak, and not only because I couldn’t
believe what I was seeing.
That being, her feet drifting in the air, the rest of her
immobile, the witch at the back was lifted from her seat and she floated…
Literally floated…
Until she came to a swaying halt in front of the king.
“I assume you know why we detained you,” he remarked.
“Your Majesty—” she said in a trembling voice.
“I believe I made myself clear on this subject,” Noctorno noted.
“My king—”
“Regardless that he needed to learn when to be silent, it is
illegal to place curses in this realm, or any realm in the Northlands or
Southlands,” Noctorno shared. “I sense, as you took
pains to hide your powers, you’re quite aware of that fact.”
She decided not to try to speak this time.
“And it’s a high crime to amass magic without permission
from the crown,” he went on. “But more, you aren’t even registered as magical.”
When Noctorno finished speaking,
and didn’t start again, she decided to give it another go.
“I—”
“We found Sjofn ice diamonds,” he
cut her off. “Firenzian rubies. Lunwynian
furs. Dellish wool. And a good deal of coin. You’ve
become quite rich, selling curses and spells.”
“My magic is almost depleted, laying down that curse,” she
informed him.
“Laying down those curses and bringing
forth women from the other world.”
Mom made a quiet noise.
Slowly, my eyes closed, and I felt my shoulders slump.
Yes, Loren knew.
He knew I was what Dad-not-Dad said I was.
A swindler.
A fraud.
A liar.
“What’s he on about?” Aunt Mary whispered.
No one answered her.
“I came from nothing. I have a talent. It is not fair that
magic is regulated,” the witch asserted.
“She has a point,” the redhead noted in a droll, silky
voice.
The king shook his head with exasperation but kept his
attention on the woman floating in front of him.
And his voice was quiet, and even mildly forlorn, when he
said, “You know the punishment for this.”
“My king!” she cried, which meant she knew, and it was less
fun than being at the king’s leisure.
“I wouldn’t have denied you,” he informed her. “I have
denied no witch who has come forward. If her intentions were pure and good, she
was granted my leave. We have many witches who have greatly grown in their
craft since we defeated Minerva and her connivers. I’ve even sent some talented
youngsters to Lunwyn to study with Lavinia.”
“I…did not know that,” the witch replied wretchedly.
“Because you didn’t submit your application,” he returned.
“And because public sentiment will need much healing in its regard of witches
before these women feel safe and comfortable to practice again openly. And, I
will note, something that doesn’t assist in this matter is witches who practice
like you.”
She grew silent again.
“You’ve given me no choice,” he stated. “And it
disappointments me, because it’s clear you have a gift, and it has been a gift
squandered.”
He waited.
She said nothing.
He turned to the redhead. “Is she bound?”
“She is,” the redhead replied.
“Is her curse broken?” he continued.
“On the women, yes. On that man, no.”
On the women?
Mom and I weren’t cursed anymore?
Noctorno sighed. “Release him from
the curse.”
The woman in green rolled her eyes, kept them rolled, lifted
her fingers and snapped.
“There. That odious man can speak again. Happy?” she asked
insolently.
Who was this woman?
The king didn’t answer her.
He looked somewhere else and murmured, “You can take her
now.”
Two women, well-dressed, eyes focused on the witch, came
forward, and it was then I glanced around the room to see no guard, no person,
no one but the king’s retinue, our group, the witch, and those two women.
One lifted a hand and the witch who brought us to that world
drifted toward her.
They didn’t use the main doors to leave.
They went out a door in the back.
It was over.
I watched, feeling weird. Hollow and listless and spent and
numb besides.
So it was slowly that I realized when Noctorno
spoke again, he was doing it to Mom and me.
“You are no longer under her curse. You are also no longer
imprisoned in this world.” He lifted a hand in the direction of the redhead.
“Valentine will spirit you home. And I will allow, if it is your wish, the
other you”—he was looking at me—“to return with you.” His regard went to Mom.
“Say your goodbyes, if that’s your wish. Valentine will be ready first thing
tomorrow to take you home.”
He stood and turned to help his queen to her feet.
When he did, Loren, Ansley, Mary, Marlow and Loren’s friends
stood too.
So Mom and I did as well.
“Will someone tell me what in blazes is going on?” Aunt Mary
demanded.
I didn’t pay attention to Mary.
I turned directly to Loren.
“Honey—” I said urgently.
He looked down his nose at me.
“I’ll be at your father’s house at eight tonight. We’ll say
our good-byes then.”
I made a noise like a king’s guard speared me through my
stomach, which was what I felt Loren had just done to me.
“Brother,” Marlow bit off.
“I’m away,” Loren bit back.
And then he was just that.
Away.
From me.