23. Keira #2
He nods, but struggles to leave.
I light a fire orb in my palm as I walk through the shadowy space of Titania’s office, past the rows of bookshelves and her desk to the vault behind.
The arching doorway juts out from the wall by a foot, plated in gold engraved with lines upon lines of protective fae runes.
The front of the thick metal door has a huge wheel on it, with many intricate cogs and bars across it.
This looks like the famed Winter Court technology that is far more advanced than anything I have ever seen.
Intermittent screams pierce the stillness of the study as I place my hand on the vault.
There is strong magic protecting the door that leads to a small room beyond.
The kind that pulls at my raw power and could soak up the entirety of it without opening the mechanism.
I would guess that it is tuned to only Titania’s essence and no one else would have a chance at opening it.
All of her secrets are guarded in here, including the location of the Spring Court’s army. Drake has tried to get access to the information, but Titania completely blocked him out, immediately threatened by the possibility of Florian overpowering her.
No spy can get past this door, but I am not a spy. I am the rightful Queen of the Spring Court, recognized by the Wisteria of Mythanar, the living, breathing structure of this palace.
I place my hand on the brick wall beside the vault door, funneling my raw power into it.
The branches within connect with my desire, pulling the blocks neatly aside one by one, until there is a second doorway into the guarded room beyond, framed by thick, interwoven branches.
I step through and the tree sets to work behind me, completely rebuilding the wall.
There are wards in place here that won’t allow anyone from outside the Spring Court to set foot in this room, even if invited inside.
It rules out any assassins teleporting in.
Floor-to-ceiling shelves line one wall, packed with neatly labeled ledgers and piles of scrolls, with more laid out on a table.
I open one of three huge chests to find it full of gold coins.
There is a rack of enchanted relics, mainly weapons and armor, and another with dozens of maps of different courts.
I find what I am looking for almost immediately among them.
On the table, I sprawl out the large parchment that depicts the entire topography of the Spring Court, with a dozen different locations marked to indicate where the soldiers have been sent and how many, notes referring to a ledger with more details. I locate it quickly, flicking through the pages.
A thrill rolls through me at both discoveries.
We actually have a chance at winning back this throne.
I pull out a smaller map from my box of cleaning supplies and circle the locations of the army, then take out a journal and jot down quick notes. My fingers ache by the time I am done, but there is so much more information here we could use.
In other ledgers, I find records of Titania’s schemes, past, present and future.
Embezzlement of money from the treasury into her own businesses.
A list of the names of every single member of the nobility and Senate, the blackmail she has over them and the perceived loyalty of each.
I scribble it down, because if we can negate what she holds over them, we could gain more allies.
Here is all the intelligence we need to expose and destroy our enemy. To gain the army we desperately need. But I can’t take the original documents with me and risk Titania discovering they are missing.
I am almost done writing as many details down as possible when I hear the door to the study slam open and multiple sets of boots stomp through the room.
Someone throws something; there is a loud crash as it hits the wall and cascades to the ground.
I hold my breath as my stylus stills, even though they cannot hear it.
I feel so damned exposed, despite being tucked away in a separate room.
“What. The. Fuck. Florian!” Titania roars, as more crashing and thuds indicate she has swiped the contents of her desk onto the floor, including multiple books.
“Do not growl at me! I followed your every instruction. I even confirmed that you were willing to proceed with the list before we started!” Florian snaps back. “Honestly, I don’t even know what your problem is. Tonight was the show you wanted, wasn’t it?”
“You don’t know what my problem is?” Her voice becomes shrill. “You don’t know what my problem is? Torin, surely you have an idea.”
A silence stretches out. My heart hammers so loudly in my ears that I have to focus intently on the conversation. This move puts Drake and his cover at far too much risk.
“You are so secretive with your plans, Mother, that no one knows when they go astray,” Torin replies, far too softly. “But even I figured out that the Assassins of fucking Belladonna were not meant to join us tonight.”
“It doesn’t take a genius to work that one out, son,” she yells. “Did neither of you idiots realize that you were attacking our closest supporters? People who were not on the fucking list?”
“Well, maybe you should have spoken up and said something! I am sick of you constantly preserving your own image at the expense of everyone else’s!
” Torin bellows, his voice shaking with fury.
“Maybe for once, you take responsibility for your own fuck-up. Did you not read the list of traitors given over by the queen before approving it? Because I did, this afternoon, and you wouldn’t even see me before the ball to hear my doubts. ”
I smirk at the brilliance of the game we played with them. The way we will pit mother against son.
“That was not the list I was given. None of those names were on it!” she snarls.
“What do you mean that was not the same list?” Florian cuts in. “I sent it to you through a trusted senator. A man I fought alongside in the Winter Wars. There is no way he would betray me.”
“Well, he did!” Titania replies. “He—whatever his name is—he gave me a different list of names to approve. I want Senators Ivy and Flint back, and whoever the hell else those demons swallowed into their darkness.”
There is a long pause before Florian speaks again. “I will have Senator Rowan executed for this little mess he clearly designed as a power grab for himself. Forget Ivy and Flint. They are already dead. Those Nightmares ripped them to pieces as their shadows consumed them.”
I shudder at the violence in his voice. Rowan was a man Drake only suffered to live after his arrival at the palace to use in a ploy like this.
Anyone who fought alongside Florian in that war committed so many horrendous crimes that they earned immediate execution.
Aldrin put a bounty on his head decades ago.
“There is no point in arguing over the details tonight. Tomorrow, we will do damage control,” Florian growls, his usual cloud of furious energy penetrating his voice.
“High Chancellor, allow me to personally escort you to your chambers. We do not know if all of the Nightmares have been removed from the palace.”
“I do not need you. I have an entire guard outside that door waiting for me.”
“Then one more warrior cannot hurt,” Florian pushes.Drake knows I am in here, and is trying to clear the space for me.
Footsteps ring out over floorboards, decreasing in volume as they move away, then the hinges of the door squeal as it opens, but doesn’t close. Heartbeats pass and not another sound is made.
I frown, desperately trying to understand what is going on.
“Are you coming, Torin?” Florian calls out.
“Clearly he’d prefer to stand there and stare at a wall,” Titania laughs.
My heart skips a beat as my blood freezes.
“Does this wall not look like it has been disturbed to you?” Torin says, so incredibly close to me. He is examining my entry point into the vault. Maybe the Wisteria of Mythanar didn’t have enough time to repair it completely. “There is mortar dust on the ground.”
“Well, have a word with the fucking maid if you are so concerned with the cleanliness of my study, Torin, but I frankly don’t care,” Titania spits. “The vault is impenetrable, as are the door and walls around it, so no, it has not been disturbed in any way that matters.”
Fast footfalls move across the room and Torin’s grumbling voice recedes.
“Get some sleep, Torin. You’ve clearly been hit in the head too many times tonight,” Florian rumbles at him, before slamming the study door shut.
I let out a shuddering breath and wait while the lock clicks into place. I remain within the vault for a long time to ensure they are all gone before I creep out with my prize. When the wall closes up behind me, I make sure I remove the dust left behind with a gust of air magic.
I only need to make it back through half the palace without the map or journal being discovered on my person. Through corridors that might be teeming with guards.