Chapter 15
Aoife
Ihated this room. Avoided it every chance I got. There were parts of the castle that gave me good memories, warm ones filled with love, joy, community, resistance. But this was not one of those rooms.
I sat at an oversized round table, right next to Lor, our crowns hovering over our heads.
I ran my hand over the smooth cherry wood, hearing the echoing of clinking chains, remembering the way I used to stand at the back of the room, near the wall, ready to fetch water or food for anyone who wanted it, bracing myself for the inevitable glares I got from Fairwitch anytime I dared move and my chains clinked too loudly.
Meera curled her body around my legs, her tail flicking my calf, and I jolted, looking up to see the entire table staring at me while I’d been massaging my wrists.
Lor’s gaze was planted firmly on the area I’d been massaging, where raised scar tissue wound around my skin from those horrid chains.
His brows pinched together like they did when he was putting together some puzzle.
I quickly tugged down the sleeves of my tunic over my wrists and cleared my throat, hating the permanent reminder of my slavery.
“Queen Aoife?” Wolfe asked from across the table. “Do you have any thoughts?”
I swallowed, brain scrambling for something to say. I had no thoughts because I hadn’t been paying attention.
Something tapped my foot under the table. Lor stared at me, but as I looked down, I saw his foot nudging mine. I glanced back up at him, and he raised his eyebrows, a question on his face.
If I wasn’t reading this wrong, I was almost certain he was asking permission to help me. Or humiliate me, but that didn’t sound like a Lor thing to do. He was too principled to humiliate anyone. I gave a small nod, and he cleared his throat, turning to face the council members.
“I don’t want to speak for my wife, but if I know Aoife, and I’d like to think I do, she would disagree with me.”
My head snapped in his direction, and I narrowed my gaze, but he wasn’t looking at me, just staring straight ahead as he addressed the council.
“If what the royal guard has reported is true, and the brotherhood really does have a new weapon at their disposal, then I’m assuming Aoife would want to try and seize this weapon.”
“And you don’t?” I asked, understanding dawning on me.
That’s what they’d been talking about while I was stuck in the past. A new weapon from this Brotherhood of Magic, who sounded as horrible as the godwitches from everything I’d heard.
Just another group of power-hungry monsters who wanted control over magic, over everyone.
Lor shook his head. “Too risky. If we expose ourselves to them, they could find a way to follow us. Now that the Fair Folk are visible, I don’t want to risk them finding out about you.”
“They might already know about us,” Ambrose said from the other side of me, tapping his strong square jaw.
“But they might not.” Lor’s knee bounced under the table.
“From what I’ve been told by Wolfe and others who were present years ago, the Fair Folk were still invisible to everyone.
So all the brotherhood saw when the Fair Folk saved this city was Fairwitch Isle disappearing into a portal. They didn’t see who made the portal.”
Right. That had been four years ago, if I was counting correctly.
Ambrose had told me all about it. Fairwitch Isle had been on Enid’s bog, and the brotherhood had found it again after years of trying to track the hidden city down.
They’d been close to attacking and breaching Fairwitch’s border, but the Fair Folk had arrived and created a portal to move Fairwitch Isle to the top of Kiln Mountain, where all the Fair Folk resided.
That was when our two communities had first merged.
The brotherhood had been searching for this city ever since.
Fargus’s wings twitched as his head swiveled round. “His Majesty has a point. The brotherhood might have just assumed it was Castle’s powerful magic that allowed it to portal away. They have no reason to know of our existence.”
“If they did know of our existence, what do you think they might do?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
Everyone shot each other unsure looks.
Morton raised head from where he sat next to Fargus, the bookwyrm’s wings spreading out.
“Well, from all the literature I’ve read about the brotherhood, plus my own experience with them”—he paused, shuddering—“I would say if the brotherhood knows of the Fair Folk’s existence, they’d be looking to use you, your magic, just like the godwitches did. ”
My entire body tensed. “But I thought that was impossible.” I turned to Lor, feeling the cold, hard metal closing around my wrists. “I thought you said our city was safe, that the border is safe.”
“It is,” Lor said. “Castle’s magic seems to be at its strongest. We’re completely invisible, and nothing can cross our border. That’s why I say we do nothing with this information. So what if they have some new weapon? It doesn’t concern us.”
“Unless the weapon can break through our border,” I argued, finding it hard to breathe at the thought of being under this brotherhood’s control.
“We don’t know that it can. We don’t even know if they have a new weapon. It’s all hearsay, rumors that our scouts have picked up on.” Lor rubbed his stubbled jaw. “There is nothing for us to do right now.”
“No.” I pounded my fist on the table, and Morton jumped. “That’s not true. We have to know what weapon they have, if they’re planning something.”
Lor’s face hardened. “There’s been no sign of the brotherhood anywhere near our city. They don’t know we’re here.”
“You were part of the brotherhood just a few years ago,” I shifted in my seat to face him, not bothering to address the rest of the room. “You brought the brotherhood here.”
Lor’s jaw clenched, and I knew I’d hit a nerve.
“I only brought two members with me. And they were coming no matter what. I came with them to protect Fairwitch Isle. One of them was part of my rebel group, and I took care of the other,” he said, looking away, shoulders tensed.
“I did everything I could to protect Fairwitch Isle and take down the brotherhood.”
“But you failed,” I said, voice shaking as I imagined Fairwitch back in this very seat, staring at me with their cold, hard gaze.
I wouldn’t ever go back to that. I wouldn’t ever let my people be subjected to that again.
It wasn’t the mortals the brotherhood would want to control, to use.
Mortals were useless to them, but the Fair Folk?
With our abilities to shift and portal—that would be valuable, exactly in the way it was valuable to the godwitches.
That was why they made us—to serve them with our abilities.
“Okay.” Wolfe held out his hands. “Let’s adjourn our meeting for today. Nothing has to be decided right now.”
Lor and I continued to stare at each other, clearly at a standstill.
“Thank the godwitches you stopped them before a punch got thrown,” Morton mumbled.
Ambrose laid his hand on mine, and Lor abruptly stood, his chair falling backward and hitting the stone ground with a clang. “Meeting adjourned,” he said before spinning on his heel and marching out of the room.