Chapter 52
Chapter fifty-two
Merrick
The heavy wooden doors, carved out of the ancient white birch trees that grew throughout the Opal Kingdom, exploded open with a wave of Esmeray’s tattooed hand, and blinding golden light flashed through the massive throne room.
Gargoyles and fae alike screamed in terror as the light dazzled their senses. Merrick–unaffected since he had ducked his head at Esmeray’s warning–watched as a second wisp of gold blitzed up the opal steps of the dais, pouncing on a silvery, smoky vapor, and smothering it completely.
An anticipatory heaviness gathered as Esmeray held her head high and took her first step towards the dais.
With each thud of her black leather boots, beings shrank back from the Queen of Nothing–only a handful were brave or stupid enough to hiss insults as she passed.
Esmeray paid them no mind. Her focus was on the two beings atop the dais.
Adara stood at the top of the steps, and Merrick felt his throat constrict as he beheld Esmeray’s twin.
Adara’s normally beautiful face–the face her father had joked would bring any male to his knees–was now lined with shallow wrinkles creasing around her mouth and eyes.
Her face twisted in anger, but there was a hollowness to her that Merrick had never seen before.
Her hair was limp, lifelessly hanging around her shoulders like a heavy cloak.
Even the small opal horns atop her head seemed muted.
Adara’s wings were tucked close to her sides, the thin structure of them suggesting she rarely, if ever, flew.
Her light blue eyes were dull, the irises more grey-ish and full of hatred. Esmeray and Adara shared the same pale skin tone, but where Esmeray was curvy, lithe, and muscular due to independently training for decades, Adara looked bony and bloodless.
The spells that she so coveted were sucking the life out of her. Leaving a husk in their malicious aftermath.
But it was the gargoyle with the golden wings atop the second throne that made Merrick’s heart leap.
Keerian sat upon the large marble throne–face frozen in pure shock from watching his mate break down the doors with ease and waltz up the aisle.
His curly hair was pulled back in a bun, and his normally close-cropped beard had grown out past his chin, the red and brown curls thick.
He wore a simple, long-sleeved tunic with silver buckles at the throat, and loose satin pants, both pure white to match Adara’s lace dress.
But Merrick noted he looked unharmed. A little haggard and his beard was much too burly, but no injuries marred his body.
Adara’s eyes narrowed onto her sister, flicking up to the crown Esmeray wore as a challenge and a promise. Noting the murderous look in Adara’s eyes, Merrick stepped in front of Lenna, his grey wings opening wide, blocking the Oracle from any magic that was inevitably about to be unleashed.
As Esmeray approached the marble steps leading to the dais, the court around them started to panic once more. A handful of fae had tried to wane, only to realize they were trapped here. Esmeray had, once again, blanketed a throne room with wards–forcing everyone gathered to stay.
So the Oracle could project the truth.
Frenzied voices began ringing out as some beings screamed, others began pushing and shoving each other out of the way. Merrick saw the glint of steel being passed between gowned bodies, the ulterior motives unclear.
Were these allies?
Or foes?
Sparrow seemed to note the same, and a soft green sheen of light began sparkling around each of the Oracle’s footsteps, swathing her in a muted glow of protection magic. Merrick thanked the gods for Sparrow’s quick thinking. If anything happened to Lenna, they were fucked.
Merrick felt his ring heat up on his finger, Laurent’s steady voice welcoming.
“Keep an eye on Lenna. I don’t like how the court is behaving. This could get nasty real quick.”
The two curved daggers at his belt were easily within reach, and Merrick brushed the hilt of one lightly with his fingers to keep himself grounded. Focused. He glanced back at his commander, still seated on the marble throne.
Keerian seemed to struggle, trying to get off the throne he occupied, unsuccessfully.
His bright, moss green eyes were filled with fear as he witnessed Esmeray stop in the middle of the room and reach into that special pocket of space to slowly pull out her golden staff.
Merrick had asked Esmeray back at Sparrow’s house where she got the weapon.
She had cut her eyes to him mischievously before stating she found it, and its name was Goldriel.
Esmeray tilted her head to the side and smiled. “Hello, sister.”
Adara took one step closer to the edge of the dais, ignoring her twin to address the chaotic court.
“The Queen of Nothing has come to interrupt us on this holy night with her nefarious intentions.” The beings quieted.
The mayhem and disarray abruptly changed throughout the room to a heavy tension.
The court seemed to await the next words with bated breath.
Adara finally addressed Esmeray, her voice lowering as she spat, “How dare you show your face here, you bitch.”
“That is no way to speak to your True Queen Absolute,” Esmeray replied, loud enough for the whole throne room to hear, black wings spreading wide as she stopped short, Goldriel tapping the ground lightly.
“I thought you’d learned your manners over the past century.
Or, at least, the way Irridessen’s succession magic works. ”
Merrick started, staring incredulously at her.
He knew what Esmeray had done the second she called herself the True Queen Absolute.
The magic saturated into the very ground of Irridessen had named her Queen on High with the current succession orders from her parents, and only Esmeray had the authority to change any future royal titles. And she was. Now. In front of everyone.
Even as she spoke the words, a sheen of glittering magic filled the air and collected around her, Irridessen itself acknowledging her authority.
Esmeray wasn’t here only to save Keerian and defeat Adara, she was here to take everything.
By discrediting Adara’s claim to either throne, and banishing the titles of Queen on High and Lesser Queen.
There was now only one True Queen of Irridessen.
One.
And it was Queen Absolute Esmeray.
Sparrow stepped lightly to Esmeray’s side, shooting a glance in Lenna’s direction.
“Now,” Laurent whispered to Merrick’s left, “Lenna show the court now–while Esmeray has Adara distracted.”
With trembling hands, Lenna reached into her pocket and pulled out the Prism.
A few beings closest to Lenna gasped as they lay eyes on the coveted cluster of quartz, whispers spreading like wildfire.
The Oracle. The Oracle has come. The new Oracle has been activated by Moirai.
Gods Bless the Oracle of Terramere. She closed her eyes, hurling her consciousness into the Prism.
The grey stone began to faintly glow. Laurent shifted himself in front of Lenna, cutting off Adara’s view of her and the Prism.
Merrick prayed to Moirai that those whispers that the Oracle had come to the Opal Palace would not reach Adara’s ears, that Esmeray would keep her too distracted to notice what was happening.
Lenna succeeded quickly. As Merrick watched, the beings closest to him twitched and flinched as the memory from the Prism began playing in their minds. Slowly, the entire court succumbed as Lenna pushed the memory of the King and Queen’s brutal murder at the hands of Adara into their minds.
With a smug smile, Merrick turned his attention back to Esmeray.
She was pacing, clacking her staff against the white tiles on the floor, keeping Adara’s focus away from the Oracle’s actions and the now fully dazed and unfocused court.
The memory was continuing to play. Merrick glanced at Lenna.
Her face was ghostly pale, eyes screwed closed, brows scrunched in concentration, as she shoved the memory from the Prism into the minds of the assembled court and held the connection open.
Tiny beads of sweat formed on her brow, but she pressed on.
“I’m offended. Really sister…I never received my invite to this party,” Esmeray pouted, the clicks of the staff in her hands a rhythmic beat as she continued to pace.
Adara shot Esmeray an acidic smile. “You were always too little, too late, dear sister. The full moon is already at its apex, and Carra has blessed me with the power to reverse this abominable soul tie.”
“You mean that little spell you had slithering around here?” Esmeray finally stopped pacing, and began inspecting her sharp black nails, completely unruffled.
Adara stiffened. Esmeray slid her eyes up, a wicked grin flashing across her face.
“Did you fail to notice your little silvery snake disappeared? That was the first step of your spell–right?”
Merrick and Laurent exchanged a look of confusion.
“How did Esmeray know about any of the spells Adara cast tonight?” Merrick touched his ring, throwing the question through all of the gemstones.
And a deep, rich, baritone–one he hadn’t heard for a year, but that he knew as well as his own–answered, “Because I told her.”
“Keerian?” Laurent’s voice barreled down the connection, jolting Merrick out of his initial shock.
Merrick’s gaze darted back towards Keerian. And there, sitting on his best friend’s left hand, sat a thin, gold ring with six stones embedded in the band.