Chapter 17 #2
“Tolerable,” he repeated skeptically before he laughed and shook his head. “You are… much more than that.”
I was not sure how to believe him when he was sitting next to me looking like a sinful angel. When every other high fey I had encountered looked almost as stunning.
“Nuala, I need to know who it was,” he reminded me, his expression darkening as he grew deadly serious again. “Who hurt you? Who is hurting my people?”
“It is Aoibheal. Queen of the Autumn Court,” I said.
Rian was stunned for a moment, almost disbelieving, but then he nodded as if everything made sense now.
“She is keeping me preoccupied so I cannot find her,” he realized aloud, and his hands clenched with fury.
Before I could answer, Rian stood up from the couch. He began pacing, dragging one hand over the stubble on his chin and cheeks while he pondered this revelation. The soft scraping sound of callused hands on his day-old scruff made me itch to touch him, so I tucked both hands between my knees.
Rian turned back to face me, his eyes sharpening with determination. “Do you know where to find her? Or is she still hidden from you?”
I closed my eyes to remember what I could from the interaction with the Autumn Queen when I was briefly able to perceive her with my Sight.
“She is still hidden, but I think she was underground. There were tiny bones crunching beneath her every step like dead leaves, and it smelled of damp earth and rot.”
My eyes snapped open when I recalled the gaunt and greyed face of the decrepit thing that was meant to be ruling this court but was instead hiding in a graveyard.
Then my gaze shifted to Rian who had moved silently back to my side and was now kneeling next to where I sat on the couch. Waiting eagerly.
“You will not need to find her, Rian,” I advised him, unsure whether he was even breathing as he waited for me to continue.
“She did not mean to reveal anything of herself to me when she grabbed me, but I Saw that she is using blood magic to control the Fuath. You could reach her through the bond she has forged with the Fuath mage she has ensnared to lead them. The one who destroyed the aes sídhe villages and attacked your riders at Aes Suri. Capture him and you will get her,” I implored Rian.
Rian was horrified again as he sat back on his feet and stared up at me in disbelief.
“She is using…” he trailed off and shook his head in disgust at the knowledge that his queen was using a magic that tainted the Tithriall further. A magic that was usually only used by the dark witches he had sworn to destroy.
“What does it have to do with the Vale? Could you see the connection—” he cut himself off, his golden skin suddenly paling as something occurred to him.
“Has she already formed an alliance with Riordan? Will Aoibheal seek to abandon this court as Balor abandoned his own? Will she risk its collapse just to save herself?”
“I didn’t see any of that,” I tried to assure him softly, but it did not seem to calm him. Rian raised his arms and threaded his long fingers back through his hair to rest his hands on the back of his head in clear distress.
“I will know more if you capture the mage and allow me to interrogate him. The closer I get to her, the more of the queen’s plans should be revealed to me,” I told him.
“I do not want you near her,” he told me firmly before his eyes dropped to my burned throat, and his expression darkened angrily again.
“The blood magic she is using… It did feel like it was coming from somewhere else. I do think it comes from the Vale, but I am not yet sure how,” I insisted calmly, knowing the key to Rian was logic.
“The only way I have been able to See her seems to have been with proximity. The trouble is knowing where to look next. I didn’t know that I needed to go to the aes sídhe camp until you said you were going there.
And I had no idea what I was even looking for until I got close enough to the teine ceangal.
That means we need to use every lead we get. ”
I could tell he understood and agreed, but his concern for my safety prevented him from admitting it aloud.
“So… Riordan or another griffin is sharing this power with her so she can distract us? They wanted to prevent us from being able to focus solely on the Vale, and it served Aoibheal’s purposes in keeping us away from her too.”
I nodded in agreement with his reasoning, resisting the urge to reach for him and brush away those angry frown lines between his brows. I could almost see all the plans beginning to formulate in those sharp and cunning eyes before his expression settled into one of determination.
“We need to ensure that she cannot abandon this court to the Rot. I will recall Darragh and summon Ciaran and Ornella here to us. I have an idea,” Rian informed me.
“So not only can we assume the Fuath know where the tribes are hiding now, but the one who has been attacking them has been Aoibheal all this time? With blood magic,” Ciaran verified, looking just as sick as Rian had.
“I assume you have a plan,” Darragh prompted Rian impatiently. The dragon shifter was even more broody than usual after this revelation. His brows were furrowed as he leaned against one of the posts in Rian’s tent with his arms crossed over his broad chest.
The three male riders stood around the massive table, which was the only thing in his whole tent that Rian had asked me not to touch.
On the surface was a raised-relief map of Autumn Court that was complete with mountains and little clay pieces that represented cities and armies.
While Rian was busy, I often stared at it in the hopes that something would trigger my intuitions.
Ornella had come in with Ciaran and walked straight over to heal me, so I suspected Rian had informed her of my injury through Ciaran.
Now the redheaded dryad was sitting on the floor between where I still sat on the couch and the table where the men stood.
She had insisted on sitting there so she could be closer to the two vargr that were both eager for her affections.
The sleek female who jealously shoved her head onto Ornella’s lap belonged to the dryad, and the black male belonged to Sage.
He had curled up with his back against Ornella, his head resting on his paws while he stared at the doorway.
It seemed as if he expected his master to come through at any second.
Ornella would seem a pillar of strength and resilience to anyone looking at her. But every time she glanced back and saw the vargr staring at the door, waiting, I saw her heartbreak flashing in her eyes. She stroked his head to console him, but the vargr kept his stubborn vigil.
“I have a plan,” Rian reassured his riders.
“Finally,” muttered Ciaran, earning himself a glare.
“First order of business is bringing the aes sídhe here,” declared Rian unapologetically.
“Here? But we cannot portal them that far. Nor will the Sua agree to come!” Ciaran objected.
“How will we feed them?” Darragh wanted to know.
“Darragh and I will move them in three stages over two days,” Rian explained. He drew their attention to the map on the table as he tapped locations where I assumed he would rest between portals. “And I propose we allow the nobles of Mionlach and Brighde to feed them.”
“We all know that is not going to happen of their own free will. So does this mean you have reconsidered our suggestion to take over the cities and put an end to their endless grousing?” Ciaran guessed hopefully.
“I intend to seize the surplus stores at Calah. We have been more than generous in our donations to those stores over the years,” Rian pointed out.
“If we take Calah, the Lairds of Feura will see it as an act of war. They have been waiting for you to prove you are the conqueror they feared,” Darragh cautioned.
“I am still not convinced that we should even bring the tribes here. This is no place for children,” Ciaran added.
“We cannot continue to fight wars across Ahnnaòin,” Rian insisted sharply enough that Ciaran’s golden vargr raised his head from where he lay behind his rider.
Rian looked instantly apologetic and heaved a sigh as he braced his hands on top of the table and leaned over it.
“We need to consolidate our strength and eliminate any possible weaknesses. Aoibheal knows where our people are now, which means it is only a matter of time before the tribes are attacked by the Fuath again. We are too far away to know if they need us, and now the ceangal stones cannot even be used to communicate with them. We are essentially down two riders with Sage—” Rian nearly choked over his next word, but it still hung in the air.
Gone.
“Ornella is unable to be initiated until the Wild Hunt is reunited, which leaves only the three of us connected,” Rian continued haltingly.
“So we cannot afford for one of us to stay with the tribes and watch over them. There is nowhere else that is safe and provisioned well enough to support so many people. And if Aoibheal abandons this court and it collapses while our families are so far away, then there will be nothing we can do for them. We will be lucky to save much of this army,” Rian explained much more calmly.
Ciaran kissed his teeth and shook his head but seemed to be in reluctant agreement. “The Sua won’t agree to it. They have wanted to fight this war from the beginning and will not be asked to leave their lands to the enemy.”
Rian released a heavy exhale, glowering at the map in clear frustration as he acknowledged Ciaran’s point.
Darragh suddenly pushed away from the post he was leaning against and went to Rian’s side to place a hand on his leader’s shoulder in consolation.
“You’ve been flirting between the roles of saviour and conqueror for a very long time, brother,” said the dragon.
“We know it is not your preference to override the will of others, but we cannot continue to take a soft approach to the security of this court. We can either protect them all, even against their will, or wash our hands of their fate.”
“That is an easy choice,” Ornella spoke up, drawing all of their attention. “You protect them whether they want it or not. I don’t care if we have to drag them here kicking and screaming. Just get them here,” she growled.
Her words seemed to lighten the mood of the room, bringing slight smiles to the faces of the men.
“Agreed. Although I personally do not like our odds if we attempt to drag upwards of eight thousand people here kicking and screaming,” Ciaran admitted with a smirk. “What is the second order of business?”
“We need to get our hands on this Fuath mage so I can use him to track Aoibheal. And until we have our ignoble queen in hand, we need to ensure she cannot cripple our court as Balor did to the Spring Court,” Rian answered.
“How do you plan to do that?” asked Ornella.
“By ensuring that it is against Riordan’s best interests to allow her into the Vale,” Rian explained simply as he straightened. “There is nowhere else she could go, so if we can take away her only option to flee, it will prevent her from destroying this court with a mass exodus.”
“How will you convince Riordan?” the dryad pressed, her deerlike ears perking up with renewed interest.
“You are going to bring your witch friend here as our prisoner. Not only will it dissuade him from endangering this court whilst she is here, but she may also be able to provide us with direction on how to get Sage back.”
“Yes!” Ciaran agreed right away, clearly well pleased with this idea, but Rian focused wholly on Ornella whose expression had gone cold. It was impossible to know what she was thinking as she processed his plan.
“He would never risk putting her in danger. If Amira were in the Autumn Court, Riordan would do anything to ensure it was safe here for her,” she agreed thoughtfully.
“What if taking her does the opposite of your intention and incites him to violence faster?” asked Darragh.
“He can either stick to our bargain, and she will be completely unharmed, or he can defy me and watch me rip out her throat,” Rian stated unflinchingly.
“Killing her would incite him into immediate action. There will be no more diplomacy or attempts to avoid the loss of life,” Darragh cautioned Rian. “We should only kill her if we are ready to meet him in open battle.”
“War was inevitable the moment he took Sage and destroyed the Spring Court,” Ciaran stated dismissively. “We should just kill her once we are finished with her. Regardless of whether Riordan keeps to the bargain.”
“And are you at peace with this fate for your friend?” Darragh asked Ornella.
The dryad had drawn her knees up and was clenching them to her chest, glaring at the floor while she listened impassively to their exchange. Her face was devoid of all emotion as she raised it to look at Darragh.
“Amira stopped being my friend when she allowed my mate to be taken from me by monsters.”
“If we can get our hands on the mate of the Vale King, he is not getting her back in one piece,” Ciaran insisted. “Riordan and Balor must be made to pay for all that they have done. I want them to bleed for it!” he snarled.
“I hear you, Ciaran, and they will atone. But the fate of the witch belongs to Ornella alone,” Rian insisted firmly before he looked at the dryad. “Sage is your mate, and the witch is your friend. It will be your choice, but it is not one you must make right now,” Rian reassured her.
Ornella was silent for a moment before she suddenly rose to her feet with a fluid and powerful grace.
“I protected and provided for Amira in Uile Breithà when she would have died. Despite my reservations about helping a witch! I sacrificed myself to the Wild Hunt to save her and her mate, and I bargained for your clemency for them. And yet, when I was the one who needed her, Amira just stood there and watched as Sage was dragged away from me!” she ground out.
Her voice trembled from the rawness of her emotions, and I knew just enough of her to recognize that it was uncharacteristic.
Ornella reached the other side of the table and leaned on it with her palms splayed as she faced Rian. He was watching her with a rapt scrutiny because he also knew that this display was very unlike her.
“It has always been a matter of time before everything good is taken from me. But I cannot allow this. I will not allow it. I am done sacrificing and bargaining for Amira. All I want is my mate home and safe. I don’t care what we must do to make that happen,” she hissed before turning her head to Ciaran. “Do as you wish with her.”