Chapter Sixteen.5
“Calli? Riordan?” Suddenly strong hands lifted him off my back.
I blinked at her. “Shadi?”
“Oh, Meya, look at him,” Shadi hissed, feathers ruffling. “Of course I’ll help. I used to be good a healing spells,” she said, carrying him outside the door and away from the fighting. “I’ll do what I can for him, while you ”—her face hardened—“help them kill that beast.”
I just nodded.
Only when I saw her begin the healing spell, did I turn away, and ram my shoulder against the wall of bodies. “Down with Shadowsoul! Down with the faeriken!”
I shouted my nonsense, shoving through the crowd, and they parted way. Seeing a normal fae, hearing my chant—they let their sister-in-arms by, and chanted with me.
“Down with the faeriken! Down with Shadowsoul!”
I made it to the front, my soul coming alive to finally be near him. “Alisdair!”
Foalan’s barrier collapsed. No less than seven magical blasts sped through the air, hitting Bradach all at once. He plummeted to the floor, and Foalan reacted on instinct. Spinning, his hands shot toward his falling friend—the crystals sewn on his sleeves glowing.
The stampede surged up the dais, slamming into Foalan’s back and trampling him. Bradach crashed onto my throne, tipping it over on top of him.
He didn’t get up.
“No!” Aeris and I screamed.
The mob descended on Alisdair—kicking, punching, tearing, stabbing, and attacking with their stolen purple flowers.
My love disappeared under the mass of bodies.
“Stop it! You don’t know what you’re doing! This isn’t how to break the curse!”
“She’s right,” someone shouted. “This won’t break the curse.”
“Yes!” Hope soared as I fought harder, shoving through the crush and flying limbs. “Leave him be and I’ll—”
“We need his worthless rotting heart to save Elva!” shouted that voice. “I bet the beast will be more open to sharing its location when he’s short a few fingers!” A sword lofted high over the bobbing heads, and fell in a swift arc.
“Arrggh!” Alisdair roared, shredding my heart.
Boom!
The floor heaved, exploding us off our feet. The entire mob blew off Alisdair, taking me with them. I whipped through the air, screaming as the cold, hard stone rose up to meet me.
“Gotcha!” Hands seized me under the arms, yanking me up just in time. “Don’t worry, my lady. I’ve got it from here.”
Bright, iridescent wings fluttered on Aeris’s back, so beautiful and radiant, I couldn’t look at them for too long without being dazzled like the sun.
The curse hadn’t given her wings yet, so of course, the resourceful, unstoppable Aeris made her own.
She dropped me down beside Alisdair. He slumped against his throne—broken and bleeding. Gaping wounds covered his mangled, twisted beast form.
I fell on him, taking his face in my hands. “Alisdair? My love, can you hear me?”
“What are you doing, girl!”
I twisted around. Groaning and bruised, Alisdair’s would-be assassins staggered to their feet.
“Kill him before he rises! The blade is right there!”
“No!” shouted another voice. “We must torture him. Get him to tell us where the heart is, then we kill him.”
“The heart is here! It must be. This pit is a trove of stolen and looted treasure,” argued someone else. “After he’s dead, we’ll search until we find it. But we kill him now!”
I listened with half an ear. “Alisdair, please, wake up.” I patted his grizzled cheeks. “I finally figured it out, love. I know how to save you, but you have to wake up. Look at me, please!”
He stirred.
“Alisdair!”
A single, swollen eye peeled open. His red, bottomless orb swept my face... and he smiled. “Calli,” he rasped. “Thank you.”
“What? Why are you thanking me?”
“I wanted your face... to be the last thing I see.”
My chest squeezed. “It won’t be the last, and it won’t be today.”
“Calli, look out!”
A blur roared out of the corner of my eye. The brutal thud of bodies colliding forced me upright—standing between Alisdair and whoever dared to think they were going to take him from me.
Eadaoin tumbled head over heels with him. Landing hard on his back, Meallan got his feet between their bodies and propelled her off—throwing her clear into the heart of the mob.
“Stay back,” Meallan growled. He raised his one clawed hand, ever lethal even without its twin. “There is no discussion. There is no argument. I know exactly where Shadowsoul has hidden his heart. He needn’t be alive for one more second, so tonight, I finish this.”
“Yeah!” they sounded off. “Huzzah! Huzzah!”
The furry, scaled, clawed, winged, and beady-eyed Lyrican fae-beasts were a living mass—surging forward and back as one. I sensed their eagerness to storm upon the dais and finish Alisdair off, but they halted before their leader, trusting him to finish this like they trusted him to get them this far.
Fishing out one of my vials, I threw it at Meallan. It shattered at his feet, splashing on his foot and pant leg.
He arched a brow. “What is wrong with you? Get out of the way, girl!”
“No.” Breathing hard, I took my stance. The dagger Alisdair gifted me clutched in one hand, and a vial in another. “You’re not touching him, Meallan. You can whip up as many mobs and spell-addle as many kitchen maids as you like, but you’ll never win. You’ll never be king.
“To the end of your days, you’ll always be the cowardly little pup, who was too shit-down-his-legs scared to face Alisdair when he’s not on his back.”
His eyes flashed, lips peeling back in a snarl. “Who are you?”
“You know who the fuck I am, bitch.” I threw another vial, ripping out a furious growl when it broke on his chest. “I’m the queen of Wind and Wild.”
If I expected a gasp, or shout, or any reaction whatsoever... I didn’t get it.
“Enough of this,” he drawled. “Move aside.”
He flicked his wrist and I went flying, crashing into Aeris. I flailed—just managing to untangle myself and sit up as Meallan conjured a bronze blade ringed with purple flowers, and plunged it in Alisdair’s gut.
“No! Stop it!” Frantically I emptied my pockets, flinging vial after vial at him—bellowing my throat ragged. “Get away from him!”
One of the vials shattered over his eye, slicing his brow apart. He jerked, driving the sword deeper. “Fuck it to Meya, someone kill that bitch already!”
Half the cheering, celebrating mob came to life and surged toward me.
They tripped over themselves coming to an abrupt standstill.
Pure, unadulterated fear filled my heart, and theirs. Turning away from me, they faced the throne room entrance... and screamed.
“My lady!” Aeris seized and hauled me back, getting me out of the way as half the Lyricans trampled, stomped, and shoved each other running for the village entrance. Over their heads, five— seven— thirteen— twenty Taken stalked into the room.
“Wait— No!” Meallan cried. He sniffed himself and his eyes bugged. “NO!”
“That’s right,” I sang, smirking more wickedly than my husband ever could. “Linseed, rosehip, and suet, wolf bitch. Just for you. You really shouldn’t have given me that tip.” I laughed in his bulging, stricken eyes. “Or you should’ve been as smart as your other wolf friends, and run when you saw me coming.” I threw another vial at him, making Meallan roar to blow my eardrums out. “At least I won’t have to tell you twice.”
He ran.
Streaking past me, Meallan shot out of the village entrance, leading a snarling, charging horde of Taken like a dangled apple before a horse.
His howls faded in the distance.
“Should I go after him?” Aeris gritted. “Make sure they kill him.”
A groan sounded to my right.
“Someone else needs you more.”
“Bradach,” she cried, abandoning her queen, her duty, and her games—and racing to his side. But Aeris wasn’t nearly as fast as me.
I fell next to Alisdair, and grabbed my dagger. “Alisdair? Alisdair, can you hear me? Don’t you give up on me!” His eyes fluttered at my shout, but I could feel it. He didn’t have much time. “Alisdair, come on, please. Don’t you want to know how I figured it out?” I cried desperately, tears clogging my throat. “It was something Gisela said when she saw my bracelet. She called it a charm, but it’s not. It’s a jewel. A black stone. My sister had no reason to reduce a glittering, expensive jewel to a little trinket... unless it looked like something different to her.”
I brought my hilt down, smashing it on the jewel. Alisdair grunted.
“That’s right, love,” I said, seizing on any semblance of conversation. I had to keep him talking.
I had to give him reason to hold on.
“I almost figured it out that night when Meallan tried to kill us in the woods. He said he had to stop you destroying the cursed heart, so that you could love me back.” Bang! Bang! Bang! “If he said that’s how you break the curse, then that’s exactly how you don’t fucking do it.
“He’s under the beast curse. He can’t speak about it, and he definitely can’t speak about how to end it, so where did he get that from? Where did we all get that from? For centuries, this lie has spread through the kingdoms—fed by guesses that became rumor that became truth.”
“Cal...li...”
“I’m here, Alisdair. I’m here, and I finally understand.” I sensed them approach. Felt the weight of dozens of curious eyes, but no one rushed us or attacked.
They were listening.
“That day, when you faced Constance on a burning battlefield, you didn’t create the beast curse,” I gritted, lips twisting. “She did.
“Her very soul is a curse. An evil, horrid thing that sucks the light, and the warmth, and the joy, and the faemanity from everyone and all. That terrible, rotten thing that puts everyone around it through the same pain it goes through. Constance turned herself into the worst kind of beast to have love and power, so what do we who fall under its influence become?”
“Beasts,” someone whispered.
Bang! Bang! Bang! “You didn’t know that would happen when you ripped her soul out of her chest. But when you realized, you did the only thing you could, and ripped out your own.”
“What?” Aeris cried, helping Bradach to his feet. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Alisdair never ripped out his heart. His heart never had anything to do with this, because it’s been here the whole time.” I paused only briefly, resting my hand on his scar. “It’s there, but it’s not beating. The body is just a vessel.” Bang! Bang! “For the soul.”
“Wait, wait,” someone cried. It sounded like Shadi. “I don’t get this. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“It does make sense. Constance was a soul eater, and her soul never stopped. The final stage of the beast curse isn’t turning into an animal. It’s losing your soul. Alisdair ripped out his and protected it, so that he could never reach that stage,” I said. “Over the centuries, the beast curse has ravaged and maimed him beyond recognition, but he retained his mind. He protected his true self. And he never stopped waiting for the sun to return.”
“But how... do you know all of this?” Foalan swayed on his feet.
“I know because Alisdair told me.”
Scoff. “Make sense, girl!” another voice put in. “You just said if he told you, then it’s not truth, because he can’t speak of his affliction.”
“What he did to Constance isn’t the affliction,” I snapped. “It’s what she did to him that is. You can exploit the rules of a curse if you’re clever, like telling a princess the names of your family, so you hold onto them just long enough.”
Whispers broke out behind me. They didn’t understand that last comment, and they didn’t need to.
“Alisdair could tell me about a horrible woman and the misery she spread everywhere she went. But he couldn’t tell me that misery took his soul, and turned him into a beast. Even so, he gave me the final piece of the puzzle, hoping my slow wits would put it together. Argh!” I belted, hitting the stone harder. “How the curse came to be, and how to break it.”
“Do you know how to break it!” a voice shouted.
“Of course, I do.”
Alisdair’s lips moved. I couldn’t hear him over the clamoring, but I thought he whispered, I love you.
“Well, it’d be more honest to say your soul gave me the final pieces. Hanging off my wrist, it beat that deceptive heartbeat in my ear when I thought fondly of you, pondered you, lusted after you, and loved you.” I laughed softly. “All the while, it was banging the truth into my head.
“If hatred ripped out your soul and turned you into a beast”—I cracked the jewel in half—“then only love could give it back. And I do, Alisdair.” Gathering the broken black diamond, I blew on it—sending all of my love with it.
“I love you too.”
Glowing, golden wispy tendrils rose from the jewel that wasn’t a jewel—enveloping his fur-matted limbs, curved fangs, black snout, and long, fuzzy ears.
His eyes snapped open.
“Alisdair? Alisdair!
He shot into the air, toppling the throne and hovering above it. The glow swirled around him—faster and faster. Glowing brighter and brighter.
I reached for him, then clapped my hands over my eyes—crying out. Too bright!
Alisdair burned as bright as the sun itself. He was the sun itself.
Warm and protecting. Harsh and steadfast. The same sun that nourished the flowers in the meadow, scorched the desert soil. He was maddening like long, summer days that beat on your neck while you wished for clouds and rain. He was brilliant like those same summer days—spent laughing and splashing in the river with your siblings.
Like the sun, his soul was always there, always protecting me, always guiding me, always loving me. Even if some days, the clouds came between us. Alisdair never left me.
“Little bird.” He kissed me, trapping my gasp.
And he never would.
Hot, fiery, and passionate—our tongues tangled, battled, and curled around the other, no part of us ever wanting to let go. I moaned, throwing my arms around him. Alisdair, Alisdair, Alisdair! He was finally mine.
We broke apart, grinning into each other’s eyes. Our real eyes.
The real him.
“No horns,” I whispered. “No claws. No fangs. I did it.”
My love was whole and handsome. He once told me I would’ve fainted if I saw him as he was, and Meya, take me, I swayed on my feet—stunned not by the beauty of his perfectly sculpted face, but the way his true and genuine smile transformed it.
“I can’t believe I really saved you.”
His gaze traveled over my head. “Not just me.”
Foalan touched his handsome face—again and again. No matter how many times he did, the fur and snout didn’t come back.
Bradach spun in circles searching for the wings on his back. Gone.
“Eadaoin?” A tall, muscled soldier broke through the pack of joyous, tearful people, and stopped in front of a young woman with smooth skin, a pert nose, and full lips. “Wow,” he breathed. “You are... hideous without fur.”
“What! Keefe!”
Bursting into guffaws, he swept her up, spinning her off her feet. “I jest, my love. You’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. And you always were.
“Marry me.”
Eadaoin hid her face in his chest. That didn’t stop me seeing her beaming smile. “Maybe,” she purred. “If a better offer doesn’t come along.”
“It worked.” I shrieked in delight, jumping up and down. “And— Wait!” I spun on Shadi. “Do you still have your magic?”
Twinkling, colored sparks burst out of her hand. “I would say so.”
“What about Riordan? Where is he?”
“Don’t worry. True healers came halfway through and took over. They heard someone screaming for help,” she said. “He’s going to be okay.”
“Of course he is.” I threw myself in Alisdair’s arms. “Because nothing can go wrong on such a perfect day. Make it more perfect by telling me everyone, everywhere, is truly free of the beast curse?”
“They are, Calli. All of Elva.” He nipped the tip of my nose—naughty to the last. “I’ve taken so much of her power within me, I gave more power to the beast curse infecting me. I fed it. I helped it spread. But of course, if I was the cause, I was also the solution. Freeing me from the curse freed everyone.”
Happy as I was, I shuddered. “But what about the rose?” I whispered. “Shouldn’t we get rid of it now? It’s still a soul-sucking leech. It’s not safe to keep around, even if it’s locked in a tower.”
“I’ve wanted to every single day,” he returned, keeping his voice low. “But I couldn’t until the binding spell was reversed for every woman in Elva. Until everything she destroyed was put right. I needed her power for such a massive undertaking, and well...” He gazed around. “It’s almost done.
“Almost?”
He captured my chin between two fingers. “Are you unbound?”
I shook my head. “Come to think of it, I don’t know if it freed Meli yet.”
“Then the work isn’t done. The good thing is now we know how to trigger the beast curse, and how to end it. You,” he whispered, stroking my cheek. “As long as your love protects my soul, the snow will always melt. The darkness will forever lift.”
“Alisdair,” I whispered, eyes swimming.
“If any woman out there is still bound, she need only come to us to be freed. We can control the curse now. We can—”
“Make it so no woman in Elva is ever bound again,” I finished. “And if they are, we can give them their life back.” I sighed, eyes drifting to the ceiling. “I just wish we didn’t have to keep that thing around to do it.”
“Constance has done nothing but spread evil and hate since she set foot on our land. Now she’ll finally do good for the people of Elva.” He smirked. “Which is what the deluded, would-be tyrant wanted, so what a fitting way for her to spend eternity.”
I laughed. “Sounds good to me.” I rose on tiptoe, eager for more of his lips on mine.
“Well done, well done.” A voice turned our puckered mouths toward the door. “You did even better than I knew you would, my lady.”
I stared at the woman, having no idea who she was, until six small baby cots floated through the air after her.
“Treasa?” I blurted.
She spun on her heels. “That’s me. I don’t normally acknowledge the part I played, but I have to say, I cried when the curse saved your mother. Life has pulled you all apart so many times, it tore my heart out that Meya should take her from you again.”
“Umm...” I blinked at her. “I don’t understand.”
“I do,” Alisdair growled. He was no longer a beast, but the threat was no less ferocious. “She did this.”
“Did this?” I repeated. “Did what?”
“I planted items marked with the Wind and Wild crest in your mother’s home, knowing that monstrous man would— well, do something monstrous.”
My jaw dropped. “You did what?!”
“I did as ordered, my queen. As your humble servant, I—” One of the babies started fussing. “Oh, hold on.” Treasa floated their cot around, and picked the little one up—bouncing her in her arms. “Hmm. Where was I— Oh, yes! I got your mother and sister sentenced to execution because I had to give you a real reason to leave Lumenfell and Alisdair’s side,” she dropped—calm as could be.
“I noticed that after Raelina died, the curse worsened. It ripped through the land quicker than ever, and bled over the borders of Quatassa and Sarabai. Which is of course why I had to convince my lord that you died too.”
My eyes bugged wider with every word. “Treasa!”
“Yes, yes, I was surprised too by how quickly his despair spread like plague,” she mused. “You are his one true mate, my lady. Never doubt that.”
My mind twisted into knots putting the scale of her manipulation together. “You! It was you in the square! You sent the mob here?”
“Nope, that was my daughter. First-born,” she explained. “She was born six-hundred years ago, and has lived with her father outside of Lumenfell, and the curse. My first husband also hid and protected her, so she’d never be forcibly bound. Fortunate for she grew into a prodigy. She claimed the gift I gave her, and then surpassed me. Truly, she is a wonder.
“Anyway,” she breezed, still sounding like we were having a fun conversation about Elvan beaches. “I told her she had to keep sending people until she was sure she sent you. Thankfully, you caught on quickly.”
“And the flowers?” Alisdair barked. “How did you get so many of them!”
“Those flowers can pop up further than you know when you perform great magics, my lord. Whenever you missed one, or more, I helped myself.” She shrugged. “Never knew when it may come in handy, and this time it did.” She beamed. “Lit a fire under our lady and she—voila!—broke the curse! Huzzah, huzzah! What a great day for Elva.”
Every soul in the room gaped at her in disbelief.
“Treasa,” I said slowly. “I don’t think I like you very much.”
She laughed heartily. “I did ask you if you were willing to accept the consequences of spreading the curse faster. I do regret the lives that were lost today,” she said, losing her smile. “I never wanted that, nor do I take it lightly, but freedom is everything. There is no life without it. So, thank you, Queen Callidora Cursebreaker, High Lady of Wind and Wild. You saved us all. Long may you reign.”
“I—”
“Queen Callidora Cursebreaker.” Foalan dropped to his knees. “I pledge my fealty to you. Long may you reign.”
“Foalan, you don’t have to—”
“Queen Callidora Cursebreaker, I pledge my fealty to you. Long may you reign,” Bradach grunted out. “I won’t kneel, if you don’t mind, keva. Can’t inflate that ego too much.”
Bradach never ceased to send my eyes rolling.
“Queen Callidora Cursebreaker.”
“Queen Callidora Cursebreaker.”
All over the room, everyone dropped to their knees, and pledge their respect and loyalty to me. The poor girl from the Gutter. The Stolen Princess. The Queen of Nothing.
The Cursebreaker.
Amidst it all, Treasa ducked out of the—floating her babies behind her. She sent me one last wink as she disappeared.
“Um... I...” My jaw stuck forming words as I turned back. “Call me Calli?”
Alisdair laughed. “How could they call you anything else, my beauty?” He planted a searing kiss on my lips, scrambling my mind. “My little bird, my nightmare, my queen. My wife.”
“Till the end, my love. Forever and always.”
“Aww, now isn’t this a pretty portrait.”
I froze. That voice. I know that voice...
A figure crossed the threshold. “But you’re kneeling before the wrong person. I am your queen,” Emiana announced, smiling upon us all. “It is me who will have your undying fealty for forever and a day, as your high empress.”
“Meya, take it!” Alisdair shouted, shoving me behind him. “What are you doing!”
His shock was real and necessary. It wasn’t the surprise of the long-lost princess. It was what she held in her hands.
Emiana clutched the glass case to her chest, and within it, the glowing, dark rose.
“Put that down! Get away from it!” Alisdair bellowed.
“Hmm, I think not, husband.” Emiana’s smile was nasty. “Why would I do that when this tangled ball of ivy is going to give me everything I want—”
“Stop prattling and find me,” someone snapped. “Find me!”
I frowned. Peering around Alisdair, I searched for the owner of the voice.
“I want to thank you, little whore.” Emiana fixed on me. “You were only supposed to be a little distraction that gave me time to search for the soul in peace, as well as saving me from the bed of a beast, but then you did so much more!” She laughed—delighted with her fucking self. “You broke the bindings and destabilized every town, village, and city from Quatassa to Sarabai. It’s total upheaval, and what they all need now, is for their true queen to rise to her throne. I will bring order.” Her smile tinged around the edges. “On my father’s bones, I will rise higher than a son of his ever could.”
“—me,” someone shouted. “Find me now!”
Who is that? Where is that coming from?
“Aww.” Emiana mockingly pouted. “You look confused, little whore. Need me to explain it all? In simple words you can understand?”
Alisdair growled, launching off the dais at her. I shot in his path, holding him back. “Don’t,” I hissed. “Something isn’t right. She’s goading us for a reason.”
“Oooh, well, aren’t you the clever one.” Emiana was losing her sweet tone fast. “So clever, you tricked yourself into thinking you earned everything I handed you! Wealth, riches, power, magic, and the handsome king falling at your feet. All of this belongs to me! Their fealty belongs to me. Get off my throne, whore! You won’t be told twice!”
“I won’t need to be told twice, but I’ll tell you once, nothing here belongs to you,” I said lightly. “You’re not very subtle, Emiana. And even if you were, it was all right here.” I tapped my temple. “In your head. You spoke about running away with your true love, and living a simple, quiet life in a cottage in Rajadom. But those thoughts were never in your mind. Kaelan was never in your cesspool of a mind. He was so insignificant, he never came up at all.
“Not like your hatred for your father, or your obsession with taking back the power he ripped away from your mother, and then from you. I had a feeling we’d be seeing you sooner rather than later, but this!” My calm broke gesturing at Constance’s mangled soul. Just its nearness sucked the warmth from the room “That’s the desperation of a madwoman!
“So let us end this right now.” I yanked up my sleeve, revealing my runes. “You are no queen, Emiana.”
Her eyes flashed.
“Find me! Find me!”
“The runes that bound us in marriage were inked on our souls, not our bodies. I am Alisdair’s true mate and the queen of Wind and Wild.” My smile was just as wide. “And you are not welcome in my kingdom.
“Arrest her,” I announced, “for theft and treason.”
Foalan, Keefe, Bradach, and our soldiers sprung to action, narrowing on her.
“Carefully,” Alisdair barked. “Don’t break the glass—”
Holding my gaze, Emiana opened her hands, letting the case slip through her fingertips.
“Noo!”
Alisdair sliced the air. A fallen throne cushion shot across the room, slipping beneath the falling rose. It landed softly on its bed—glass intact.
Foalan and Keefe seized Emiana’s arms, dragging her back and away... just as her kick connected.
The case flew off, shattering on the floor.
Boom!
The soul burst free, blowing us off our feet. We crashed into the walls—Emiana and her captors included. None were safe in its path.
Alisdair collapsed on top of me. Through his arms, I saw.
The rose petals ripped free of the stem and swirled around the room, summoning a whirlwind maelstrom of malice and magic. It was as if the whole of the howling, cursed forest was brought down on our heads.
“Calli, we have to run!”
Chilling, whipping winds tore at our clothes, hair, skin, and his shouts—trying to rip away and smother them.
“We have to run now!”
We both tried to stand and were blown back, pinned to the wall
“What”—wind rushed down my throat, ballooning my cheeks—“is it doing!?”
“It’s looking, Calli!” An emotion I’d never seen in his eyes before, terrified me to my core. “It’s looking for her.”
The swirling roses descended on Eadaoin, swallowing her and her screams. They flung her away, soaring across the room and dumping my friend still and unmoving on the floor.
Shadi tried to run but they were too quick for her. Lifting her into the air, they threw her away just as fast—bouncing her body off the stone.
“Stop!” I screamed. “Stop it!”
The petals were flying toward the entrance and the stairs, when they veered sharply off-course, and came straight for me.
“No!” I thrashed against the wind—fighting to run. Fighting to move! “Stay away!”
The petals loomed over me, a dark, ominous cloud of screaming, tortured souls—that veered away again.
They slammed into Aeris’s chest, tearing her from Bradach’s arms. She screamed—kicking and flailing as the petals lifted her into the air... and poured into her gaping mouth.
“No.” My voice lost to the wind. “Please...”
Aeris shrieked, her body jerking, twisting, and contorting as she changed. The woman I knew melted away before my eyes.
Hard, unsmiling mouth.
Dark eyes.
Severe cleft chin.
Sharp cheekbones casting their own shadow over gaunt cheeks.
Raven hair falling in wisps and tangles around her shoulder.
I’d seen her once before... in a painting locked in a tower.
“Constance.”
Her head snapped around, those dark eyes latching on mine. “Callidora,” she mocked. “Are we on a first-name basis? I don’t remember bestowing you the honor.”
My skin crawled. This was not Aeris. Not her face, not her voice, not her kind, stern smile.
Constance floated down to the dais, her foot touching the platform just as the wind died down.
Alisdair grabbed me and ran.
“Not so fast!”
Invisible hands seized and ripped us apart.
“Calli!”
“Alisdair!”
She threw us clear across the room, slamming us against opposite walls. I didn’t have a chance to think before golden manacles surrounded our ankles, wrists, and throat. Alisdair and I weren’t going anywhere.
Alisdair roared—the veins in his purpling face bulging.
Constance clicked her tongue, mock-pouting. “Ah, my poor love. Not so easy to fight me when you don’t have my own magic to use against me!”
“You!” Bradach charged her, hate contorting his face. He truly hadn’t known the woman he was falling for was the body? vessel? of Constance, and he didn’t give a shit. Looking into his eyes, all he wanted was her dead.
Constance flicked her finger. “Ferramenta.”
Bradach vanished in a cloud of dark smoke. Thudding to the ground, a golden candlestick dropped at her feet.
Roaring, Foalan unsheathed his blade—his crystal-studded hilt glowing. “Eld—!”
“Ferramenta.”
The cloud snatched Foalan. A mantle clock fell on the pile of his empty clothes.
“Attack!”
My guards came at her from all sides, Eadaoin leading the charge. Magic burst from her palm—soaring straight at Constance’s smirk.
“Ferramenta!” She clapped, her voice resounding through the throne room.
The feather duster that was my first friend in Lumenfell thudded next to her love, Keefe—the broom.
The cloud shook out its collection of furniture, utensils, plates, and cleaning implements—striking the entire room dumb.
“Hmm, that was always my favorite spell.” Constance swept the room, grinning. “Anyone else?”
No one moved. No one breathed.
Except for Alisdair.
“Evil, rotted bitch!” He fought against his bindings. “I put you down once, Constance! I’ll do so again! I swear it on the deepest depths of your black heart! Your victory will be short-lived.”
Her smile twisted, teeth clenching. “You’ve become quite ill-mannered during our time apart, darling. A few hundred years in a dungeon ought to help you remember your manners.”
“I’ll remember them when I burn the flesh from your bones and piss on the ashes.”
She snarled, that disgusting grin finally gone. “How dare you! You should be begging for my forgiveness! You betrayed me,” she shrieked, madness in her eyes. “You turned me into a filthy servant, bowing and scraping after that !”
I didn’t know what she was talking about, until she pointed at me.
“You dared to marry that worm. To make it your mate and promise it the throne that belongs to me!” Constance roared, red eyes popping out of her head. “You will atone, Alisdair, and you’ll do it in silence!”
Her hand slashed the air, and Alisdair’s jaw snapped shut.
“Hmh! Hmpf! Hmm fmnnm!” he shouted, but nothing got out. He couldn’t open his mouth. He couldn’t speak.
“What did you do to him?” I yanked on my manacles. “Undo it! Release us and undo it!”
She didn’t so much as look in my direction.
“My throne.”
Constance twisted around. “What?! Who spoke!”
“Me.” Emiana stepped forward, chin held high—not a trace of fear on her face. “I think you’ll find the throne is mine, Constance. That was our deal. I free you, and you free me. It’s me who’ll become the high empress of Elva. No one else.”
A thousand emotions flit across Constance’s face—all variations of rage and disgust. Then they washed away, leaving her expression blank. “You’re right, of course. Forgive me. I’m sure you know how a lover can goad you into saying things you don’t mean.”
My soul burned hearing this madwoman call my husband her lover.
“You held up your end of the bargain, and I will hold up mine.” She snapped her fingers. “The binding spell is lifted.”
Emiana cried out, joy filling her as she lifted into the air—cradled by the magic that was always there, but just out of reach.
“But.”
Emiana’s joy vanished. She dropped hard on the floor. “But?” she snapped. “What but?”
“Well, surely you know it’s not as simple as declaring yourself high empress,” Constance breezed, shrugging. “As the worm told you, you didn’t marry a king. It did.”
I bristled at the way she spoke about me.
“You have no claim to the throne of Wind and Wild. You don’t even have a claim to the throne of Lyrica. You are a princess in name only. Your father made sure of that.”
“You said you could fix that,” Emiana cried, rushing the dais. “You promised you could make me high empress!”
“If it was as easy as waving my hand, I’d have done it myself!” she shouted back. “I said I could give you a throne, I never said it would be easy!
“There will be war, girl. War, and death, and pain. Are you ready to accept the toll—?”
“Yes,” Emiana sliced in. “This is my birthright. I will fight for it. No matter the cost.”
“To everyone else,” I exploded. “You will plunge the nations into war to force their submission to an empress that has no business breathing the same air as them! And I don’t speak of you, Emiana.” I glared at Constance. “I speak of her. Whatever lies she told you, she will not give you rule of Elva!”
Emiana’s expression flickered.
“Once she’s gained control of the kingdoms, she’ll slaughter you and take—”
“Silence.”
My jaw snapped shut. I shouted—yelling and cursing through lips that wouldn’t open.
“As I was saying,” Constance continued. “If you accept the cost, then we will begin here. Today.”
“What must we do?” If I planted any doubt in Emiana’s mind, she promptly ripped it out and tossed it away.
“There are ancient texts within these walls. They will aid us,” Constance said, receiving Emiana’s bobbing acceptance. “Also, hidden in the dungeons, is a siren.”
“ Hhhmph! ”
“Alisdair had brilliant plans for the creature. An idea so good, I wish I thought of it myself,” Constance said. “We will take it with us.”
“Very well. What else?”
“There’s a rat woman somewhere nearby, who has power not even I possess. She will serve us or die.”
“Naturally. All are my subjects. They serve me loyally, or they burn in the Plains.”
“And the witnesses,” Constance said smoothly, “who have been listening to your treason and now know I am the power behind you. They must die.”
Emiana held her gaze unflinchingly. “Kill them.”
“ Hhhhm! ”
Constance snapped her fingers, and the world ripped away.
A jolt resounded through my chest, twisting my stomach. It was like falling from a sudden, unseen cliff. Blinking, I found us on the other side of the drawbridge, standing at the edge of the burned-out, smoking village. Us being me, Alisdair, Constance, Emiana, and a large, glass orb—filled with seawater, and the siren within it.
I couldn’t even marvel at the sloshy, cold puddles everywhere I could see. The ice was melting—beaten down by the humid heat sweeping freely through the green, verdant trees—chasing the stars across the horizon.
Alisdair and I reached for each other, our eyes frantic.
The wrist manacles snapped together, then plunged to the floor—dropping us both on our knees.
“Pay attention, Alisdair,” Constance called. “I want you to watch this.
“Nabud Kardan!”
The ground rumbled beneath us. I had no idea what she’d done, until the first tower came down.
“Hmmh!”
Castle Riagin imploded. The walls crumbled, the windows blew out, and the towers collapsed—tumbling down on the people inside.
“Hmm! Hmmhh pghh!” Alisdair threw himself side to side, near wrenching his arms from their sockets.
It was no use. Our home. Our people. Our friends.
Gone.
Emiana nodded, folding her arms. “Unfortunate, but it had to be done. What about the books?”
“Those will be easy enough to fish from the wreckage. It is the rat woman that will be hard to track down. And her daughter,” Constance added. “We will find and take them both.”
“What about her?” Emiana’s hateful gaze turned on me. “We don’t need a Gutter rat. Why did you take her?”
“It was necessary. The worm only serves one more function now, but it is an important one,” Constance said. Once again, she did not deign to look me in the eye. “Torturing her in front of Alisdair will bring him endless pain, and me endless pleasure.” She turned. “I think I’ll start... by...” Constance trailed off, eyes widening as they landed on me. “Meya, help me...” she breathed, daring to call upon our deity.
“What?” Emiana snapped. “What are you—? Oh, her hair. Revolting, isn’t it? You don’t know how it disgusted me to wear the skin of a moon-kissed whore, but thankfully, her affliction didn’t pass to me.”
Constance didn’t seem to hear a word Emiana said. She bore down on me, eyes rolling in her head raking me up and down. “You’re moon-kissed,” she whispered. “A worm like you? Bestowed such an honor?”
My brow crumpled. Honor? What the fuck is she talking about?
“By the goddess, look at the dull-witted confusion on your ugly face. You don’t even know what you are. You have no idea the gifts you possess. The gifts you don’t deserve!” She spat on me. “Curse you, worm. You’ve been given a stay of execution.”
Constance clamped down on my face. “I have bigger plans for you.”
Magic shoved inside of me. Racing through my pores, it surged through my body, filling me to bursting, and latched on the chains around my soul. Taking hold, Constance tore them free, shattering my chains—erasing the binds around my magic.
I exploded.
My magic roared like a wildfire, burning all in its path. Incinerating my insides. Scorching my nerves. Decimating my bones. Wiping out my mind. Breaking the manacles.
Ripping open my jaw, letting my screams loose.
I screamed. I screamed and screamed as overwhelming, unnatural power consumed its weak and fleshy wrappings—the poor, little woman ill-chosen to be its host. My little body couldn’t contain it.
Nothing on this earth could.
Constance backed away, her grin nowhere to be seen. Snapping her fingers, she vanished—taking Emiana, the siren, and my Alisdair with her.
I couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t even try.
All I could do was scream... and cry.
Thank you for reading Kingdom of Tricksters and Fools!