Page 30 of Queen of Ever (Curse of Fate and Fae #2)
Chapter 30
Tarian
I surveyed the tall, wide cavern encompassing us, the same that had hosted the meeting the day before. Preparations for the conflict to come had set in fully now, and there was an air of activity around me as a defence strategy was planned out in dozens of small conversations. It was baffling that there was such a spread of power and decision making among them. They’d formed a dozen committees all dedicated to different aspects of strategising, and each group had nominated someone to feed information back to their queen at regular intervals. I was sceptical of how much accurate information Sylara was receiving based on this process, but she seemed to trust that the reports coming back to her were clear and accurate enough.
The strength in the approach appeared to be in the innovation that seemed to thrive because of the number of voices contributing, as some of the ideas I’d overheard had surprised me with their creativity. And I heard a lot of what was passed on to her, since she kept engaging me in conversation. I suspected this was a strategy to keep me busy more than because she wanted my opinion, since my presence made her people either grow nervous and fidgety or stiff and sullen. The effect was universal, no matter which reaction they leaned towards; they clammed up, and conversation stalled. Not the best conditions for brainstorming.
‘Keeping everyone below ground is risky,’ I said. ‘All it would take is a strong blast of magic to collapse your cave system and bury you all alive.’
‘But above ground we’re exposed,’ Sylara persisted. ‘We’d be too easily picked off. In the tunnels, they will be forced to thin out and split up. It’s the only way we won’t get completely overwhelmed by their numbers.’
I tapped my fingers, thinking. Lesser fae magic was no match for the might of both Seelie and Unseelie Kingdoms. Confront them on open ground and the whole conflict would become a slaughter. Those strong in Seelie magic would use concentrated light to burn their opponents, like ants beneath a magnifying glass, and tricks and illusions to disorient them. The Unseelie had powers such as my mother’s talent for causing pain at their disposal, as well as the likes of shadow bending and black flame weapons, which burned with a dark fire that consumed life and warmth and magic. Then there were those among each force with elemental affinities. Lesser fae magic, on the other hand, was smaller and more difficult to weaponise. It was usually limited to wisps of power that could achieve things like making vegetables grow faster, luring prey close, protecting a hearth fire from going out or altering appearance. In a fair fight, the lesser fae would lose. They always did.
But staying underground… if I was the one attacking them, I’d strike their walls with magic, turning rock to rubble until I triggered a collapse and brought their whole court crashing down.
A bubble caught my eye over Sylara’s shoulder, floating past in a shimmer of colour. My gaze found Imogen where she was sitting with Marietta, surrounded by a handful of children, her hands spread before her and brow furrowed in concentration.
‘Give me a minute,’ I said, already walking away. The children clustered around Imogen were blinking up at the bubbles. One, a little half-breed boy with pale hair, a pair of horns and a furred tail, was sitting as close to her as he could without touching. His eyes darted nervously to me as I approached, and the other children shuffled back. Imogen smiled up at me, brow smoothing.
‘I think I’m getting it,’ she said, eyes shining. ‘Look.’ She held a hand palm-up, that look of concentration taking over her expression again. In the centre of her palm the air shimmered like an oil slick on water, turning and distorting until a small dagger was lying where before there had been nothing.
‘You are,’ I agreed, picking it up, feeling the weight and texture of it. The blade was a strange, clear crystal, the hilt a twist of wood that looked more grown than made. The sort of thing that might be worn in a boot. ‘Why a dagger?’
‘A weapon seemed like something useful.’
I switched my focus to Imogen’s face, noting her high colour. ‘Are you being careful not to wear yourself out?’
‘I’m fine. I’m taking breaks.’
‘And eating,’ Marietta added. ‘She’s eating a lot in her breaks.’
‘Well, magic seems to make me really, really hungry.’
‘You’re burning energy,’ I said. ‘Eating is good. Rest is better. But would you try something for me?’
She climbed to her feet and dusted herself off. ‘Sure. What is it?’
I held out a hand and she took it. Marietta’s watchful eyes clung to us as we walked away.
‘Everyone here seems to think I’m going to bite you,’ I grumbled as we neared the cave wall. ‘I don’t expect them to trust me for their own sakes, but surely they realise I’m not going to hurt my own mate.’
‘The fact that you kidnapped me and threatened to kill me when we first met notwithstanding?’ She arched a brow.
‘That was months ago. I was stupider then.’
‘Even so.’ She sobered a little. ‘I think they’re worried because of the prophecy. I mean, here we are, plotting to turn against everything you’ve been raised to uphold. And… well, maybe they think it’s a little convenient for you to be so willing to support me.’
It didn’t bother me overly much if her new friends thought as much, but that twist of uncertainty around her eyes suggested she had some of the same doubts. That, I couldn’t accept.
‘I’ve never actually wanted to sit the Unseelie throne,’ I admitted.
She laughed. ‘Don’t be stupid, that was the whole reason you came looking for me in the Human Realm. Because you’d never be allowed to take it while you were prophesied to bring it down.’
‘It’s not that I don’t want to take the throne. Because that’s always meant casting Moriana off it. But being king has never been what I wanted.’
She stared at me, brows raised.
‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not overly sociable,’ I added wryly. ‘It’s hard to avoid court when you have to rule over it. I’ll do it because I have to. I’m just not excited about it.’
She blew out a breath. ‘I don’t think any of that is going to reassure them. They’re sort of banking on you being a better monarch than your mother.’
‘A low bar even I should be able to clear.’
‘I guess we’ll have to worry about that if we survive the next day.’ She glanced at the ceiling, biting her lip. ‘I don’t like the idea of fighting down here. It’s bad enough being underground when there are no battles raging. I feel like it will come crashing down if there’s magic flying around all over the place,’ she said, mirroring my thoughts perfectly.
‘Hopefully you might have an answer for that.’
‘Me?’
‘Maybe.’ I picked a rock off the ground and placed it in her hand. ‘Lesson number two. Creating with something that’s already there. It should take less out of you. I think you can sort of add your magic to the energy already existing in something else. You could, say, grow a crust of quartz around this stone.’ She examined the stone, lip still between her teeth. I touched her chin, lifted her gaze to mine. ‘You’re chewing your lips ragged,’ I chided.
‘I can’t help it. It’s what I do when I’m anxious.’
‘I’ll do anything to keep you safe.’
‘I’m not worried about me.’ Her eyes flickered back to Marietta and that little group of children on the floor. She was talking to them, her face animated, gesturing with her hands like she was telling them a story. ‘I just wish there was a way to ensure no one will die.’ She took a breath, turned her attention back to the stone. ‘A crust of quartz?’
‘Try it. Use that worry and try to wrap up the stone to protect it. See what happens.’
She took another slow, deep breath, her eyelids half closing as she focused down. It began as a pinprick of brilliance, catching the light at the top of the stone and spreading out and around in webbed veins, spindly at first, but quickly connecting and thickening, rolling together until the entire surface of the rock was encased. I picked it up.
‘Or diamond,’ I said, throwing it into the air and catching it. ‘That works just as well. Do you think you could do that to brace this section of wall?’
She eyed the rock wall beside us, placing her palm against it. ‘I can try.’
‘Stop if you start to feel light-headed or sick,’ I warned as she closed her eyes. Slowly, the dark rock started to shimmer as veins of crystal began to crawl out like the roots of a fast-growing tree from the point where her hand touched the wall. It crept up the wall, consuming the rough, grey rock in raw diamond, multifaceted and clear, growing and spreading like centuries were passing before my eyes. Imogen drew her hand along the wall, eyes still closed, and the diamond coating continued to spread, stretching to reach across the ceiling above, encasing the brittle cave in a hard, enduring barrier. I switched my attention from the magic to her face. Saw the trickle of blood running from her nose.
‘Imogen, stop.’
She didn’t respond, her mouth opening, seeming lost deep in her creation. I gripped her shoulders.
‘Imogen!’
The diamond was deepening, reaching into the wall, into the earth above, hardening, spreading. Her hand seemed fused to the wall. I couldn’t break the contact. But I didn’t know where the creation would end. Where the diamond would reach its limit. Whether she’d turn all the earth above to diamond and be sucked completely dry doing it.
‘ Aurelia , stop!’ The name in my mouth felt heavy, resonant with a prickle of magic on my tongue.
With a gasp, her eyes shot open, and her hand finally broke free of the wall with what felt like a snap. She stumbled and I caught her, a shudder running down my spine as I released the compulsion magic, leaving behind an oily feeling in my mouth and a sinking in my chest. She wiped the blood off her upper lip. Her whole body was trembling.
‘I got lost,’ she said, staring at the blood. ‘I couldn’t stop. It just wanted to keep going.’
‘I shouldn’t have asked you to try that.’ I was a fucking idiot. She didn’t know how to resist the pull of magic yet. I should have left her with smaller creations, things with specific limits so there was a constraint on how much magic they could suck from her. ‘Don’t try anything that big again. Not for a while.’ Not ever, preferably. But she was looking up at the ceiling. And so was everyone else, I suddenly registered. The whole cavern was silent, all those voices of minutes ago gone still, hundreds of eyes roaming the now crystalline ceiling, the walls, the woman who had made it so. The magic had spread even farther than I’d realised. The whole cavern was encased in a shell of diamond.
‘I did that?’ Imogen asked, mouth stretching in a shaky smile. ‘I want to try again.’
‘You’re not trying again. Look at what it cost you the first time,’ I said, fear tightening my tone, making me sound angry. I was angry. Angry she could suggest something so dangerous.
‘You don’t get to decide what I can or can’t do,’ she said, straightening up.
‘Imogen, come on. Rest. Eat something.’ I softened my voice, taking her hand. I started to lead her away from the wall and through the crowd that silently parted around us as they gawked at her like she was a fallen star come to life.
‘Alright,’ she agreed, following along. ‘But then I’m going to try again.’
And for a moment, I seriously considered my options for getting her out of there. By any means necessary. Because she had a look in her eye I didn’t like. She looked like she’d just discovered the answer to all her worries.
And it looked like she was ready to pay whatever it would cost.