Chapter 16
We held an emergency council meeting to discuss the conflict with the Sun Soldiers.
I wasn’t eager for a repeat of the first time, when I’d felt like the odd one out in a room bitterly divided.
Why should Hector and Drustan each get an extra guest while I had no one?
So I invited Lara to come as my advisor, and though she was nervous, she agreed.
Hector had proposed a new location: a chamber one level above the human quarters, where Noble Fae were unlikely to congregate.
I kept my magical senses open along the way, searching for the bodies of invisible eavesdroppers.
I didn’t find any, but the effort left me fatigued.
This wasn’t a skill I could use constantly.
Part of the balance, I supposed, since it offered a major advantage against Illusion House.
The others had already arrived and were in discussion around a six-sided table when we entered the room.
Hector was seated next to Kallen and Drustan beside Gweneira, with empty chairs separating the two factions.
Each had a piece of paper and a quill and inkpot.
Silence fell as the four faeries stared at us.
Even Kallen, who seemed to know everything at all times, looked taken aback.
Drustan looked Lara up and down, and a scowl crossed his face. “No.”
I’d expected some disapproval at my decision to invite an extra person, but the bluntness of the refusal was startling. He hadn’t asked a single question or consulted the others before issuing it, as if his were the only voice that mattered.
Perhaps it wasn’t that startling, after all.
“Please clarify what you mean by ‘no,’?” I said.
“I don’t need to clarify.” He turned that glare on me. “Send her away.”
Lara had been expecting this, since magicless faeries were never given positions of power. She looked at Drustan with withering condescension, then turned her attention to me. “I thought you said this was a council of equals. Perhaps you meant a council of one?”
Hector’s inhale was audible, and Drustan’s hand formed a fist on the table.
Gweneira was looking at Lara with intense interest. She wore a white tunic embroidered in gold over matching trousers, with the same sparrow belt. “I believe what Prince Drustan means,” she said, “is that however pleasant it is to see Lady Lara again, she was not invited to these council meetings.”
“And you were?” Hector pushed back his chair and stood, bowing to me and Lara in succession. “Princess Kenna, Lady Lara, welcome. I will admit to some hesitation myself, but I invite you to explain.”
A tendril of smoke rose from Drustan’s clenched fist.
I resisted the urge to grin. Lara might have no political experience, but she was used to the slippery insults of the Fae court. With only a few words, she’d wounded Hector’s pride and challenged Drustan’s proclaimed intentions.
“Thank you, Prince Hector,” Lara said, curtsying. “I appreciate your reasoned approach.”
Drustan stood, smoothing his orange-and-red brocade tunic. “Lady Lara,” he said, bowing stiffly, “I apologize for my abrupt manner, which stems from a deep love for this realm and concern for its future.”
Hector snorted.
“I respect you both too much to lie,” Drustan continued, ignoring Hector, “so I will tell you plainly that I question Princess Kenna’s decision to invite a young, politically inexperienced outsider to this confidential meeting, especially without consulting the rest of the group.”
“Both you and Hector invited a second person without consulting the rest of us,” I said. “And I’m also young and politically inexperienced. Do I not belong here?” Truthfully, I doubted I did, but the Fae believed in the privileges of inherited power, and I would never refuse a weapon offered to me.
Drustan looked like he was grinding his teeth. “The Shards elevated you. You have a place here because they ordained it so.”
“You acknowledge that the Shards trusted me with this authority.”
Drustan eyed me like he suspected a trick in my words. “Yes.”
“That means they trusted my character and judgment. My judgment says Lara will provide a valuable voice on this council as a formerly high-ranking member of Earth House. If Gweneira offers a unique perspective, so does she.”
Though Drustan clearly didn’t like that answer, Gweneira looked even more intrigued. She stroked the metal bird at her belt as she studied Lara.
Kallen was harder to read, but I was getting better at decoding his shifts in expression. There was a slight lift at one corner of his mouth—amusement. He studied the others, assessing the responses to my proclamation.
Kallen seemed to enjoy the unexpected. A faerie fascinated by the inner workings of things, like a clockmaker who found more beauty in the maneuvering of hidden gears than in the steady sweep of hands across the clock’s face.
That dark blue gaze landed on me and lingered. “A new perspective could be valuable.”
Hector swept out an arm. “Please, have a seat, Lady Lara.”
“I have not agreed,” Drustan said sharply.
“It’s merely a conversation,” Hector replied. “Unless there is no room for dissent in your proposed rule of Mistei? Osric wasn’t fond of discussion, either.”
The atmosphere in the room was already tense, but at those words, it became nearly unbearable.
“Very well,” Drustan said, tone clipped. “I welcome your perspective, Lady Lara.”
Lara moved towards the chair between Gweneira and Hector, which left me seated between Kallen and Drustan. Kallen bent his head towards me. “How are you feeling?” he asked softly.
I nodded at him. “Fully recovered, thank you.”
Drustan was looking at Kallen with narrowed eyes. “Let’s talk about Light House,” he said. “Walk us through what happened last night.”
I launched into the story I’d practiced.
“Kallen and I decided to do a late-night survey to get a sense of any preparations Light House was making.” I omitted how Kallen and I had been conducting that survey.
“We followed six Sun Soldiers and saw them placing crystals in various places throughout Mistei.”
“Did you know about this?” Hector asked Gweneira.
She shook her head. “Torin oversees the Sun Soldiers. They’re supposed to serve the house impartially, but many of them are loyal to him first and foremost.” She looked at Kallen.
“Can you draw a map of where you saw them? I know of a few spots where ambushes can be laid, but Torin may have additional ones.”
Kallen nodded and grabbed his piece of paper, then started scribbling.
“And why were you doing this survey with Kallen?” Drustan asked me, running a thumb over his golden ring.
I looked at him coolly. “Because I wanted to.”
His jaw clenched. He didn’t like that answer.
“When the soldiers got to Blood House,” I continued, “they released a bonebreaker salamander. Kallen killed it, which led to a fight. Kallen obviously won.”
Drustan eyed Kallen with obvious distaste. “Witnesses?”
“None,” Kallen replied.
“And the bodies?”
“Gone,” Hector interjected, planting his elbows on the table and leaning in. “We stripped that cursed armor off and sent what was left of them into the void.”
“Good,” Drustan said. “Then there’s nothing to officially tie us to this—though I’m sure Torin and Rowena are aware Blood House was involved.”
Was that a hint of judgment in his voice? “You think it was reckless,” I said.
He shrugged. “They broke the peace first, and you retaliated. As much as I want to avoid public conflict this month, some things are unavoidable. Our hands just need to look clean.”
They notably didn’t need to stay clean.
“Torin and Rowena won’t acknowledge it,” Gweneira said.
“That would invite questions about why Sun Soldiers were near Blood House to begin with.” She traced her finger over the tabletop, a furrow between her brows.
“Bestial magic is rare. I didn’t realize we had anyone within Light House capable of it. ”
“Bestial magic?” I asked.
“The ability to influence living creatures like that salamander,” she explained. “It’s not an elemental power, but something that was rumored to originate with the Nasties, like shape-changing magic. It surfaces occasionally among the Noble Fae.”
I made a face. “Wouldn’t that require interbreeding with the Nasties?”
“There has been some of that. They are not all entirely monstrous—some can be quite beautiful, depending on what form they choose to wear.”
“And some faeries prefer the monstrous,” Hector said.
I thought of Queen Dallaida—woman on top, spider on bottom, with bloodred eyes and a taste for murder—and shivered.
Was she from a line of faeries who had always looked like that, or was she the result of interbreeding?
Her face had been as beautiful as a Noble Fae’s, but I couldn’t imagine whatever unholy union would have resulted in that combination of features.
The Nasties didn’t belong to any of the houses, so I’d never really considered what magic they might have. I’d seen one of them shape-shift, though, hadn’t I? One of the winged fiends who had pursued me had transformed into a hawk.
“Speaking of the Nasties,” Drustan said, “I plan to meet with Dallaida soon.”
I stiffened. “Why?”
“Because she’s our ally, and she will be essential when it comes time for war. She may also be able to send her people to spy on Illusion and Light House.”
“She tried to kill me once,” I pointed out. “Won’t that be an issue?” It certainly was for me.
“Really?” Gweneira asked, looking interested. “How did you even meet her?”
“I was…” I gave Lara a guilty glance. We’d already been outed as cheaters in the trials, but that didn’t make this comfortable. “I was looking for information about something. She tried to take my dagger by force, and I ended up running for my life.”
“And you killed some of her people,” Drustan said.
I bristled. “In self-defense, yes.”