Chapter Fifty Riela
Chapter Fifty
Riela
It took far too long for Garrick’s words to sink through the layers of shock and denial. I wanted to tell him it was impossible,
but it was clear he wouldn’t believe me. The woman in the painting, if she was in fact my mother, was the sister of one of
the six Etheri sovereigns.
It was laughably absurd, but Garrick wasn’t laughing.
“Would she have had the power to bind my magic? You said a sovereign would’ve had to do it.”
Garrick nodded. “She loved Aryu—the Sapphire Queen and her older sister—and refused to challenge her for the role. But she
could’ve. And she likely would’ve won.”
“Do children inherit their parents’ power? Because I barely have any magic, and what I do have, I can’t control. Maybe you’re
mistaken.”
Please let him be mistaken. Maybe this was just a vast misunderstanding. Even if my mother’s name had been Inna, too, according to my father. Coincidences happened all the time, and the name wasn’t that uncommon.
I clung to the hope with fierce tenacity, but I recognized that I was being ridiculous.
“You’re young, and your magic is bound,” Garrick said, his voice infinitely gentle. “It would not be unusual for you to be
less powerful than your parents at this point.”
My hope fractured under the weight of evidence. The Sapphire Queen’s sister was my mother. I was half Etheri.
Wait.
I’d been so shocked Garrick had recognized the woman in the miniature that I’d nearly forgotten why King Roseguard’s envoy had arrived: the law of primogeniture. Roseguard was claiming I was his daughter, too.
I slumped back in my chair. Garrick reached for me but curled his fingers away before he touched me. “What’s wrong?”
“King Roseguard is claiming he’s my father. Why would he do that?”
Garrick’s jaw clenched and his eyes flashed silver. “He could be using it as a way to force you to visit the Blood Court.
Until the claim is proven false, he has the right to meet you to judge for himself.”
“He has the right?” I demanded, furious. “He has no right.”
“If he has evidence that indicates it’s possible, then under Etheri law, he does.”
Fear began to edge out anger. If Roseguard could force me to visit the Blood Court by law, then Garrick couldn’t protect me.
And I couldn’t even escape the forest and disappear.
“There’s another possibility,” Garrick murmured. He waited for me to look at him before he shattered my world. “He could be your father.”
He said it so easily, like it truly was possible. My vision wavered, and I drove my fingernails into my palms until it steadied,
but my heart was beating like it was trying to escape my chest.
“Explain,” I gritted out.
His face was back to being impassive. “Your magic is bound. Someone wanted you to stay hidden. Why? Human mages aren’t uncommon.
You wouldn’t have been shunned for being half Etheri. Most humans wouldn’t even notice.”
I snorted. Mages might not have been uncommon once, but that was no longer true. The only reason I’d been left alone after
I’d diverted the flood was because the villagers hadn’t wanted to draw the crown’s attention.
And because I was useful.
For all of the other lies that he might have told, my father had truly loved my mother. His face had glowed with love and sorrow every time he’d talked about her. So he had to have known that she was Etheri—especially if she couldn’t leave the forest.
“Maybe my mother knew she was going to die and wanted me to be able to live with my father in the village. If Etheri are born
with magic, then I would’ve been just as trapped by the forest as a baby as I am now.”
Garrick shook his head. “If you were only half Etheri, then you would also be half human, and the human half is usually dominant.
You wouldn’t have come into your magic until later. And how would she have met your father and stayed in Edea long enough
to give birth to you? Feylan controls the only door, and he would not have let her wander in the woods alone.”
Garrick paused, and his gaze was full of something I couldn’t quite read. “The Sapphire Court has long allied with the Blood
Court. Inna often traveled between the two. It is possible Feylan truly is your father.”
“But I’ve been to Lohka. If I were fully Etheri, then my appearance should’ve changed. It didn’t. He’s not my father, and
he has no right to claim otherwise.”
“The seal may be binding more than your magic,” Garrick murmured, looking thoughtful.
I shook my head. “If King Roseguard were my father, why would my mother not leave me with him? Or even take me back to the Sapphire Court? Why find a human to raise
me?”
Garrick’s forehead furrowed, and he admitted, “I don’t know.”
He didn’t have all the answers, as much as he liked to pretend otherwise. It was cold comfort, though, because my world was already in pieces
on the floor.
“Can King Roseguard force me from your castle?” It was as close as I could come to asking the true question: Will you protect me?
Garrick’s mouth twisted into a snarl. “He can try.”
“But the law—”
“Is a problem,” he agreed with a sigh. “There is a way around it.”
He didn’t continue. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be something easy. I stared at swirling dancers in the painting behind him without really seeing them. If I were the Blood King’s daughter, would that be enough to prevent him from hurting me? If so, then I could open the door for Garrick
before making my way to the Blood Court.
Horrified understanding dawned. “The door,” I murmured. “King Roseguard bound it, and I can open it with my blood.”
Garrick’s complete lack of surprise told me he’d already made that leap. What else wasn’t he telling me? “Does the Sapphire
Queen know about me? Can she prevent Roseguard from requiring me to appear in his court?”
“I don’t know if she is aware of your existence or not,” Garrick said slowly, “but it’s likely. She and Inna were close, and
hiding a pregnancy is not easy. You are family but not her daughter, so Feylan’s claim is higher. She can’t protect you, nor
am I sure she would.”
Despair threatened to swamp me. If my own family wouldn’t protect me, what chance did I have?
My family . . . I blinked as my thoughts shifted. My mother was from the Sapphire Court. “Lord Mar knew,” I whispered. “Or suspected, at
the very least.”
Garrick’s eyes went flat and cold. “What did he tell you?”
I shook my head. “Nothing like this. But when I asked if there was anything he could tell me to help, he said, ‘Beware your father.’ I was just about to ask him what he meant when you barged in and scared him
away.” I glanced up at Garrick. “Do you think the Sapphire Queen has been looking for me?”
“If she knew of your mother’s pregnancy, then it’s likely,” Garrick said slowly.
“Maybe she will help after all.”
Garrick’s expression turned gently sympathetic. “She might have been looking for you for Feylan. I refused to allow a Blood Court envoy in my court, but Lord Mar arrived as a diplomatic foster from the Sapphire Court. He could be the one feeding information to Feylan even now.”
My stomach twisted. I didn’t want to believe it, but Lord Mar had been strangely persistent in questioning me about my mother.
Garrick braced his hands on the edge of the desk as he stared down at me. “We have two options, maybe three,” he said softly.
“We can do nothing. If Feylan has proof and you remain in the Silver Court, he will declare war.”
“That’s not an option.”
He slanted an amused glance at me. “You think I’ll lose?”
“No, I think you’ll win. But I won’t put all the innocents in both courts into the line of fire because I’m too cowardly to
face the Blood King on my own. What are the other options?”
“We go through with the betrothal bond. It will have to be me, not Vastien. If we are bonded, then I will be allowed to accompany
you to Feylan’s court, if it comes to that.”
“If we’re bonded, wouldn’t that be a higher claim?”
“It might be,” Garrick said. “But the law of primogeniture is tricky. We would have to look into it.”
He did not sound super confident, and I sighed. “Then no. I’m sure he would like nothing better than for you to show up at
his court.”
Garrick’s eyes glinted. “And I would like nothing better than to do the same.”
“Seriously? He will try to kill you, and he’ll have an entire court to help him out.”
“Do not underestimate me, little mage. There’s a reason Feylan hides in his castle rather than facing me directly. It would
also solve the issue with the door, at least temporarily.”
“What’s the third option?”
“We marry,” Garrick said, his voice carefully neutral. “Marriage to a sovereign is the highest type of claim. Feylan would
not be able to recall you to the Blood Court.”
It wasn’t a proposal any more than Vastien’s had been, and yet, my heart leapt. But Garrick had offered it as a solution to the problem of protecting me, not because he wanted to marry me. I threaded my fingers together so they wouldn’t give away my anxiety. “If we married, could we divorce later?”
“No. For sovereigns, marriage is binding. We could separate, but we would still be married.”
“What about multiple partners? If we married, could you marry again later when you found someone you wanted?”
“No. I could have other partners, but I couldn’t marry them. Same for you. Sovereigns are bound by many laws that don’t necessarily
apply to other Etheri.”
If we married, I’d be safe from Roseguard, but I’d be stealing Garrick’s future and binding the Silver King into a marriage
he didn’t want. I shook my head. “No. There must be another way.”
A wry smile tugged at Garrick’s lips. “Most Etheri would give up a lesser-liked cousin or two for a shot at marriage to a
sovereign, and yet you’ve turned me down.”
“I’m not trapping you into a lifetime of marriage because you’re feeling honor bound to protect me,” I snapped. “And, frankly,
I’m kind of insulted you thought I would.”
His head tipped to the side, and his expression took on an edge I couldn’t quite read. “Marriages have been built on less.
And you undervalue yourself. You are the daughter of two powerful courts.”
“Supposed daughter,” I muttered. Sadness stabbed deep. It was too late, and I was too tired to be having this conversation right now,
but there was one thing I knew I had to do.
I stood on shaky legs and stepped in front of Garrick. He stood up straight and watched me warily. I took his gorgeous face
in my hands and reached up to whisper in his ear the one phrase that my research had actually provided.
“I release you from all of your vows to me.”
The magic between us snapped and shattered, and I briefly wondered if it had taken my future with it.