Chapter 44
Ceri
We burst through the doors of my dress shop, the spring breeze blowing past us. The ground started trembling under our feet, and I locked eyes with Cillian.
“Please don’t tell me,” he started, but before he could finish his sentence, we were disappearing.
Like every other time, wind pushed my body this way and that, darkness swallowing me as it felt like I was spinning in open air, but a short second later my feet landed on solid ground.
My eyes had to adjust to the dim lighting of the cavern, and I braced myself for what I was about to see. All I’d thought about as I ran through the forest and to the other side of the castle was that I might be too late, that these brave, amazing women would be murdered in cold blood.
“You all have been busy,” Marsten drawled.
I forced myself to look, and my mouth dropped open.
Lila was back on the couch being fed grapes while Clio sat in her chair, feet being scrubbed.
Siobhan was reading her book like absolutely nothing had happened while Liadan was sitting on a soft white rug, sipping her tea while holding Lor’s magical axe, watching the struggling brotherhood members, all bound, gagged, and sitting against the wall.
“You all did this?” Cillian gestured to the brotherhood, his gaze immediately finding Lor, who scowled, baring his teeth.
A stone mask slipped over Cillian’s features, and he looked away from his brother.
Siobhan flipped a page. “It’s easy when your assailants underestimate you. They thought they’d just easily overtake us. They had another thing coming.”
Lila finished chewing a grape. “Nobody gets between me and my grapes.”
“Ooh, grapes?” Marsten put a hand to his chest. “And a tub for your feet? Is this where you’ve all been? Oh my godwitches, I would’ve begged for elimination far sooner if I’d known about this place.”
“What am I doing here? Oh, don’t tell me it’s another trial.” Meera had appeared with her lantern flickering by her side.
That was why we’d disappeared. Of course. We were starting a new trial. Except . . . I’d already been eliminated, so I had no idea what I was doing here along with everyone else.
“Glad I’m not part of that anymore.” Siobhan turned another page.
Liadan raised her cup in a toast.
Cillian clapped his hands. “Well done, ladies.”
“If this is a trial, why don’t Meera or Marsten have the crowns over their head?” I reached out to Cillian and brushed a strand of hair from his forehead. “Why don’t you?”
His hands went to his head, his face paling and panic flashing in his ice blue eyes. “I don’t know.”
“This is confusing.” Marsten was now sitting on the couch with Lila’s feet resting on his legs while he munched on a grape. “Mmm, those are good. So sweet and bursting with flavor.”
“I know,” Lila said. “They’re divine.”
I stared at Cillian’s head, ruminating over the absence of the crown. It didn’t make sense. Unless this wasn’t actually about what we’d all believed it to be about.
“This isn’t about finding a wife for you, Cillian,” I said. “Castle wants something else.”
His gaze softened, and he stepped forward, leaning his head down. “I could’ve told you that. Castle knows I’ve already found my wife. There is no one else. There could never be anyone else. Not for me.”
“That was what I was up against?” Siobhan asked, finally glancing up from her book. “No wonder I got eliminated.”
“I never had that with Grayson.” Lila’s voice quivered. “Ugh, give me another grape.”
I huffed a quiet laugh, and Cillian rubbed his thumb over my cheek before turning and staring at Lila. “Wait a minute. Did she just speak? And she’s not crying. What did I miss?”
“It’s a long story,” I whispered as he pressed his forehead against mine.
“Don’t ever leave me again,” he said, voice low.
“Never.”
“So if this competition isn’t about finding Cillian’s queen, then what is it about?” Meera asked, tail flicking behind her.
“I don’t know,” I said, feeling helpless. “But we’re here for something bigger than all of us. I can feel it.”
The brotherhood members continued to struggle against their bindings, and Liadan pushed the axe blade farther into Ronan’s neck, blood welling in the spot where the tip pressed. He stopped, swallowing while his Adam’s apple bobbed.
Leena tried to speak, but her gag muffled her words.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Liadan said, taking another sip of tea. “What was our rule?”
“It’s that silence is golden,” Lila said. “This is our retreat and they’re not to ruin it.”
I looked at Cillian to see if he was as amused by this ridiculous situation as I was, but he was staring at my chest.
“Those are new,” he said, and I looked down to see a key and a heart pendant hanging over my breastbone.
My hand went to them. “Those are from the challenges I won.” After I’d won them, I’d put the items in a safe place, not really knowing what else to do with them. I assumed they were just part of my prize, along with my dates.
Marsten pointed at the cat. “And Meera’s lantern came along.”
The one with everlasting light. She’d won it during our very first challenge. It was hard to believe that had only been a few weeks ago. It felt like lifetimes had passed since then.
I swiveled toward Marsten, noting the book in his lap. “Did you bring that with you?”
He shook his head. “It just appeared along with me.”
Clio looked up from her foot bath and pointed at Siobhan. “What did she win again?”
“A game,” Siobhan said. “Whatever that one was that we played. But it’s not here . . .” She trailed off, staring at the table by her side, where the Birendelle board game lay.
I bit the inside of my cheek. “What if this final trial involves all of us?” I asked. “What if it’s about these items? About figuring out what Castle is trying to tell us?”
Lila groaned. “I don’t want to be involved.”
“Me neither,” Clio said.
“I don’t think we have a choice.” I studied the key, its brass coating glossy and gleaming.
Meera pointed at me. “Why is that heart moving?”
“Moving?” I asked, lifting the heart.
I gasped. A tiny arrow spun round and round inside it. I’d never even noticed it before, but the arrow lay inside the heart, visible through the slightly transparent outer layer. “Oh my godwitches.”
“What is it doing?” Siobhan was on her feet now, inching closer as she peered at the pendant.
“Has it done that before?” Cillian asked, and I shook my head.
“Not that I’ve noticed. We were a little preoccupied when we found it,” I said, giving him a look that made him smile and waggle his brows.
“Will you stop the cutesy stuff?” Meera asked.
“Ah, good, you’re all here.” Morton appeared in a swirl of pink magic, and I put a hand to my heart.
“What is this, Morton?”
“It’s your final trial. Surprise! You’re all being brought back for it.”
“So what do we have to do?” Marsten asked, a hesitation in his voice that sounded like he didn’t really want to know.
“Simple,” Morton said. “It’s finally time to find the queen of Fairwitch Isle. Good luck!”
“Wait, Morton—” I reached for the bookwyrm to stop him. To tell him that the brotherhood was here. That we needed help. But he was gone before I could finish my sentence.
Marsten popped another grape into his mouth. “Well, that cleared absolutely nothing up.”
“There goes your theory about this not involving finding my queen,” Cillian said, jaw locking. “I won’t do it, Ceri.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “I won’t have anyone but you by my side.” His voice was desperate, panic filling his words.
I cupped his cheek. “Cillian, I was wrong this morning. This isn’t impossible, you and me. We can be more. We can be everything. We will figure this out, no matter what happens.”
“Why the change of heart?” he asked.
“You,” I said simply. “I thought Papa and I were all alone in this world, but we’ve never been alone. You’ve been by our side from the beginning, and then you brought Margaret into our world.”
His eyes widened. Right, I’d never even gotten a chance to tell him that I knew he’d done that.
I turned toward Marsten. “And I have friends who have shown me their friendship isn’t conditional.
It’s not dependent upon me being able to fit into their lives and their schedules.
” I shook my head. “Even your family. They all rallied around us so we could have a night together. We have a whole community who believes in us, and I believe in us too.”
“But if Castle forces a queen on me—”
I didn’t let him finish. “I still don’t think that’s what’s happening. All these trials have been cryptic in one way or another. I think this is just another puzzle to solve.”
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips. “I love you so fucking much, Cerriwen Morgane.”
I smiled against his lips.
“Um, what is happening to your heart?” Marsten asked.
Cillian and I stepped apart, and we both looked down. The arrow had stopped spinning and was now pointing toward the back of the cavern, to the area shrouded in darkness.
“This arrow is telling us where to go,” I said slowly.
“We don’t go back there,” Lila.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s creepy,” she said. “There’s also a steep set of stairs that leads underground, and I don’t feel like falling to my death. I already almost did that in our first challenge.”
My gaze landed on the lantern. “But we won’t fall to our deaths. Because we have that everlasting light.”
“Oh my godwitches.” Siobhan’s hand floated to her mouth. “I think Ceri is right. We have to go down those stairs.”
Liadan pointed the axe toward the brotherhood members. “What do we do with them in the meantime? We can’t just leave them here unattended.”