Chapter 18 Lily
EIGHTEEN
LILY
Rose closed the door to the small sitting room. The sun had barely peeped above the horizon and the sky was still a chilly gray, but we’d gathered in this room of faded colors and dusty furnishings before the rest of the castle woke.
Keane raked ancient ashes out of the fireplace then craned his neck to look up the chimney. “I can see daylight. That’s always a good sign.” He reached to the pile of logs, cobwebs crisscrossing them, and lifted one off the top before placing it in the grate.
I cocked my head at him. “You don’t have to set our fire, Keane.”
“You have more important things to do this morning than worry about being cold,” he replied.
Rose sat in front of me. “You know this is necessary now, yes? You have to be able to protect yourself. Whoever is trying to kill you wants you dead badly enough that you won’t even see the danger coming. You need every advantage you can get. We need to use your fae abilities.”
I nodded, but my lips pulled tight instead of smiling, my skin frozen not by cold but by fear.
She touched my knee as Keane blew on his fledgling fire, nursing the tiny crackling flames in the kindling. “I know you’re scared, but you don’t need to be.”
“You were never scared.” My statement of fact came out a little like an accusation, but Rose simply shrugged.
“Maybe I should have been. I don’t know. I do know I wouldn’t still be alive now without my magic. It’s certainly scariest when you don’t know what you’re doing.”
I sighed. “All right then. Where do we start?”
“With the basics. We can do that while Keane checks on the investigations into what happened last night and gets an update on Lord Vasso. Is that all right with you, Keane?” But she’d already moved to open the door and was looking at him pointedly.
Apparently, Rose wanted this to be a private tutoring session, which I understood, but I missed Keane before he even stepped from the room.
“Someone will be stationed outside this door,” he said, before stepping out with one quick glance at me.
“I believe Lord Vasso is recovering but weak,” I said as Rose closed the door with a firm click.
“I’m pleased to hear he’s recovering, but your concentration needs to be in this room with me. Stand up.” When I did so, she came to stand before me. “Now, can you do anything with runes?”
“I froze Malren. Somehow.”
She nodded, but she always seemed to know my very thoughts. “Yes, you did…. But if he came in here, could you freeze him right now?”
I bit my lip as I considered her question. “Maybe?”
She clapped her hands together, her amber eyes dancing with excitement.
She loved magic in ways I would never understand.
“Back to the start, then. You froze Malren, so let’s begin there.
I’ll show you a frost rune. You cast the runes by drawing them out with your finger in the air.
Eventually you may be able to draw them in your mind, but that’s a more advanced move. ”
“Should I draw them on paper first? That way you can correct me if I’m wrong.” If I was going to do this, I wanted to do it right.
She laughed and shook her head. “Half the battle is going to be getting you to lighten up. No, in the air is fine. The runes have a basic shape, but really every person will draw them slightly differently because the intention is what matters. And then the runes can be expanded to include extra flourishes based on your will.”
I shook my head. “Intentions? Extra flourishes?”
She grinned like my spark of irritation annoyed her.
“When Raith first taught me, he told me ‘the runes are simply a way for you to channel your fae magic into something more specific and precise.’ That’s how you need to see them.
As a tool to protect yourself. You need all the tools you can get right now.
Magic is an invaluable asset to your arsenal. ”
I nodded, unable to deny that fact. If it took magic to protect myself, then magic it was. The fire crackled and reminded me of Keane. I had his approval in practicing my magic, and that approval meant more than I expected.
“Raith covered my eyes to help my focus, but…” Rose trailed off and studied me, her eyes narrowed, like she was deciding whether or not to blindfold me.
I held up a hand. “What a husband and wife do privately is of no concern of mine. I want to see how to form these runes. I want to get it right.”
“Very well.” Then she held up her hand and pointed her index finger, using it to draw a delicate silver shape in the air. When she finished, a beautiful crystalline snowflake hung in the small sitting room, each frosted point detailed and precise. “Is this the rune you used to subdue Malren?”
I shook my head. “I’m quite sure I used nothing so fine as that.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “If not, it would be a similar one. Now watch the movement of my finger and see if you can do it too.”
I concentrated, watching every flicker and movement of her hand and did the exact same thing half a dozen times until I had my own, slightly wobbly snowflake hanging in the room.
Rose clapped. “Perfect!”
I pressed my lips together. “Far from ‘perfect,’ but it’s a start.” And it was a start that made me want to do better. “Again,” I murmured, as I drew the rune another time.
“Remember it’s not just the movement. It’s intent.” Rose drew her own rune again. “And you can change that intent to whatever you desire.” As she finished the rune, she added a flick or her finger giving the shape a long tail, and suddenly snow fell delicately from the ceiling.
I gasped as the flakes kissed gently against my face before melting away. “Your magic has come a long way since marrying Raith.”
She shrugged as if that shouldn’t be unexpected. “Ilidan allows magic and Raith is one of the best fae mages. But Talador could allow magic too…” She looked at me, but anxiety flickered in my stomach at the thought of overturning Father’s laws.
Instead, I changed the subject to something else I’d been meaning to ask her about. “When you volunteered to go with Raith, did you really believe you could have love with him?” I couldn’t hide the naked curiosity in my voice.
“I…I hoped. Isn’t that all we can ever do?” She worked another rune as she spoke, this time a shimmering heart formed of frosted flakes of snow.
“Yes, I suppose so.” But I sighed. “I just can’t see myself finding love with any of these suitors Dahlia has sent.”
“If it helps, I don’t think Raith expected to find love, either.”
“But you harbored something… Your ‘hope.’” I didn’t even have that.
“Yes.” Rose nodded. “And there was certainly curiosity. And attraction, perhaps.” She blushed a little, and my lips pulled into a small smile.
That blush-inducing attraction was missing from any of my interactions so far with the seven suitors. Many of them were handsome, but that wasn’t enough. “I’m not sure I can imagine—”
But my next words were interrupted by the sitting room door being thrown open. It rebounded from the stone wall behind it as Iris barreled inside.
“There you both are!” she cried. “I half-feared you’d left me here to rot in all of this dullness and disrepair. What are you doing in this room, anyway?” She flopped down and watched us expectantly, while she picked at the fraying threads of one of the cushions on the sofa.
“I was…” I hesitated. Telling Iris I was practicing magic was tantamount to admitting that I was breaking the laws of Talador.
“I was showing Iris some basic fae runes she can use as protection, should she ever be in a dangerous position again.” Rose’s voice was calm and measured. In that tone, practicing runes sounded nothing but sensible.
Iris nodded, her eyes wide. “Show me?”
Rose drew a perfectly crafted rune in the air. “This is the basic form,” she said. “But my finger is only proving a focus for my mind’s will.”
I admired her patience as she explained the same principles to Iris that she’d just explained to me.
“Your mind’s will?” Iris stood and went to Rose’s side, watching every movement she made, and I smiled at the intensity of Iris’s gaze.
“Yes. My intent—simply put I just have to want the result badly enough.” Rose didn’t flourish the basic rune this time but left a perfectly crafted snowflake spinning slowly in the air.
Iris reached out to touch it, but it crumbled the moment her fingers brushed against it. “Can I try?”
Rose looked to me, and I shrugged.
“It can’t do any harm,” I said. Left to her own devices, Iris would become exactly like Rose—half wild and determined to learn on her own, so it made sense for Rose to guide her if she could.
Iris bit her lip, her concentration and focus evident to anyone watching, and raised her finger, drawing a silver shape painstakingly in the air. When she’d finished, a basic snowflake remained, and she whooped with glee.
Rose patted her shoulder. “Fantastic, Iris. Did you know your fae magic had emerged?”
Iris shook her head, uncharacteristically speechless as she leaned forward to examine her creation. My stomach fluttered again as I fought against pleasure and worry over this new development. I had enough to fret about without the emergence of Iris’s fae abilities too.