Chapter 19 #2
Clio flipped over a five-hundred gold coin piece. I gasped. Those were rare. The highest gold piece I’d gotten was three hundred. “I’m ready to solve.” She took a deep breath. “Lead the way.”
The tiles flipped over, and my stomach sank even further. She’d won.
“Congratulations,” I said.
“Good game,” she said back with an empathetic look passing over her face.
Meera, Siobhan, and Clio had won the first round, leaving Marsten, Lila, and me behind, and I was in dead last with only twenty-five gold coins. I’d have to do much better this round.
I now sat across from Siobhan, who flipped her lavender hair over her shoulder.
“Did your mother play this game with you as well?”
Her violet eyes snapped to me. “All the time. My mam is very serious about my education. Always has been, even in the time of the godwitches, but more so after they were gone. She always said the best way to fight against this curse was to educate ourselves. That one day one of us would break it, and we’d be free once more. ”
“That’s a lot of pressure,” I said. “The expectation of breaking a whole curse on your shoulders?”
She cleared her throat as she grabbed a cookie, nibbling on it. “Not at all. She was right. We may not have broken the curse, but we found Fairwitch Isle, and now I’m close to becoming queen, becoming everything mam wants for me.”
I wanted to ask what Siobhan wanted for herself but didn’t have a chance as Morton announced the second challenge was beginning and that we would be completing another phrase.
I had to do well this round.
Siobhan chose her letter but didn’t get it correct, her seventy-five gold piece disappearing.
The game went on longer this time, both of us struggling with the phrase, and in the end, I once again lost with a measly fifty gold coin piece while Siobhan won when she risked a three hundred gold piece and correctly guessed, “X marks the spot.”
Now I sat across from Meera, who so far had won both her rounds. Godwitches, she might win another date with Cillian.
“I thought you didn’t want to go on another date with him,” I said to the cat.
She blinked. “I’m not trying to win a night with the high prince. I’m trying to not be disappeared.”
That was fair.
“What was so bad about the date?” I asked with a laugh.
“Well, he basically kidnapped me,” she said. “All I wanted was fish, and he promised me the best fish on the continent if I took him somewhere.”
I straightened. That wasn’t the story Cillian had told me. I tucked a curl behind my ear. “Oh. Really?”
She licked her paw. “Yes! And then he took me there and just left me on the beach to fend for myself while he disappeared for over an hour. What an arse.”
My throat went dry. Cillian had lied to me. He’d used Meera to go somewhere outside Fairwitch Isle, but I couldn’t understand why. Maybe he’d been looking for Lor and just didn’t want to tell me because he knew I’d tell him it was a bad idea.
I didn’t have time to think about it anymore as Morton announced that during this final round, we’d be guessing a person. The hourglass flipped over and Meera’s turn had begun.
The cat didn’t guess correctly her first try, and I stared at the words, cursing myself for always wanting to do puzzles and play cards instead of this game. I’d just accepted the fact that my sister was better at it than me and never tried to improve.
_ _ O F _ T_ _ _ _ R R I _ R M _ I _ _ N
My eyes twitched as I stared.
“Your time is almost up,” Meera whispered.
I jolted, grabbing a tile and putting it on the table. Just a twenty-five gold coin piece. I couldn’t be reckless this early in the game.
Finally I made my choice. The A’s flipped over, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Meera stared at the board, eyes boring into it as her turn began. She picked a small amount, only ten gold coins, then chose D.
My brain tickled as I watched the letter appear. This was so familiar. It was there, in the back of my mind. A name. I knew this.
A_O F _ T _ _ _ A R R I _ R M A I D _ N
Then it hit me. I’d read about her. She was in the book we were reading in book club. A great mythological hero who fought wars and won many battles.
“I’m going to guess,” I said, almost not able to believe it myself. I picked my highest amount: a three hundred gold coin piece.
“Aoife the Warrior Maiden.”
I watched with bated breath as the squares flipped over one by one, and my piece flew into my velvet bag.
Meera sighed. “Well, at least this means I won’t be kidnapped by the high prince again.”
I hadn’t won. I knew that much by how loudly Siobhan was proclaiming her points. She was at over seven hundred. But with this win, I also didn’t think I’d lost.
Others were still playing their game, so we stayed seated as my heart pounded.
“How did you know about Aoife?” Meera asked. “I didn’t think humans paid all that much attention to the Fair Folk.”
My mouth dropped open. “Aoife the Warrior Maiden was a faerie?”
Meera rolled her eyes. “Well, that answers that question. Of course she was.”
“She was real?” I whispered as Morton shushed us.
“Yes,” Meera whispered back. “A great warrior and leader.”
“What happened to her?” I asked, though I had a sinking feeling that I already knew.
“Fairwitch had her killed in a public execution after she led an uprising against the godwitches to free the Fair Folk from slavery.”
The more I was learning about Fairwitch, the less I felt like worshipping them, honoring them, having anything to do with them. They no longer seemed like the benevolent leader of the godwitches but more like a violent dictator.
“That’s so sad.”
“It was,” Meera agreed. “I liked Aoife. A lot of fire in that one.”
“You knew her personally?” I didn’t think I could be any more surprised. I didn’t actually know how old Meera was. The Fair Folk were made over thousands and thousands of years by Fairwitch.
She sent me a pointed look. “Yes, I did, and no I won’t be elaborating further on my age. She was Ambrose’s lover, you know. Poor man. Falls for Aoife, who gets turned to stone. Then falls for Enid, who falls in love with someone else.”
“You’re starting to sound like Margaret, giving me all this gossip,” I teased, though I did feel sorry for Ambrose.
It couldn’t have been easy losing two loves.
I wanted to ask more about this Aoife, ask if what I was reading in the book about her was accurate.
But my questions would have to wait for another time.
“Right,” I said as Morton announced the end of the challenge.
I expected us to be whisked away to the throne room again, but instead, Cillian appeared in a swirl of golden magic, right next to Morton, looking tired and unusually unkempt.
I thought about last night, falling asleep on the rooftop next to him, and wondered if that had anything to do with his appearance.
The rest of the trial sped by in a blur, and I was unable to concentrate on anything but not disappearing. I didn’t know everyone’s final count, and as we stood in a line while Morton droned on, I fidgeted and tried to calm my racing heart.
Siobhan won, which was no surprise. She looked absolutely delighted as she squealed and clapped, beaming at Cillian, whose gaze was on me.
And then it was time to announce who’d lost, but Morton didn’t even have a chance. Clio screamed as magic swirled around her until just like Liadan, she was gone.