Page 7 of Twisting Twilight (Homesteader Hearth Witch #9)

CHAPTER FIVE

His declaration hung like a guillotine’s blade above my neck. It seemed to suck all the air out of the night, leaving me nothing to inhale and fuel my thoughts for a contingency. Sawyer had called me the Queen of Plans B, C, and D, so there had to be a workaround. A loophole.

‘You will doom us all.’

Where was the loophole in that?

While I reeled from Callan’s words, Shannon was not perturbed in the least. In fact, the high lady seemed rather annoyed with her husband. She went so far as to cross her lithe arms over her chest and jut her hip out in the most unrefined manner.

“Snooping, my lord?” she accused. “And who is entertaining our guests while you lurk in the shadows?”

The oppressive gravity of the situation lifted briefly as he spared her a glance, his lips quirking up. “As the high lord of the Court of Beasts, I am quite good with illusions, you know.”

Must run in the family , I thought sourly.

Shannon rolled her lips inward to moisten them, then released them with a little pop! of skepticism. With the fluid grace of water, or a large cat, she lunged forward and tweaked her husband’s ear. He stumbled back with a surprised cry, smacking away her hand.

“Hmm,” she smirked. “Seems you are indeed my husband and not an illusion yourself. You have been known to make multiples, my lord.”

“My lady,” he began in a chastising tone. Perhaps this tomfoolery was permitted in private, like in a bedchamber, but in public, amongst non-members of his court, absolutely not.

She merely threw up her hand for quiet, as if she were the sovereign of the Court of Beasts instead of its consort.

“We have a difference of opinion, my lord, as to the nature of Misty’s quest. I protest its goal while you balk at its location.

And yet, from the vehemence with which she speaks, this is the only way to ensure the Banished One suffers. ”

Her eyes narrowed as her tone turned chilly. “And as I told you at the party, you owe me. We must find a way to make this work.”

“Your need for satisfaction does not outweigh the safety of this court,” he replied firmly. “I forbid it.”

“Well it’s a good thing the former Court of Shoals isn’t in your territory. You have no say?—”

“The whole of Elfame forbids it!” he roared.

Shannon gritted her teeth.

“No one can enter that place without breaching whatever strange magic is keeping that Blight contained. You would risk another plague?” With a sigh, Callan shed his anger and gently took hold of his wife’s hands.

“It was centuries ago, acushla. He was defeated, stripped of his title and authority, and banished. We have flourished without him. Isn’t that enough? ”

“Flourished? We are still childless and whatever child we might have will never know the joy of siblings because of the infertility of that infernal Blight. I cannot take vengeance on that evil, and the one I could— You ejected him from this realm before I could claw out his eyes,” she snarled.

“He stole me. You have no idea what that did to me. How that tore out my heart.”

“No idea?” Callan echoed, looking like she had just plunged a knife into his own heart and given it a twist for good measure.

“Is that what you’ve thought all these years?

That I didn’t feel our bond ripped from our souls when he stole you away and kidnapped you?

That I didn’t feel my world shatter and scatter to the wind?

Do you think it was out of mere obligation that I hunted him down and challenged him?

Me, the spare, who had no hope of winning against the true heir of our court’s power? ”

Shannon trembled, fighting to keep ahold of her venom even as her mate’s calm reasoning drained it away. Not once did he raise his voice, nor did he release his gentle hold on Shannon’s hands.

“I only let him live because he was my brother,” he murmured.

And you released him into my world without a therapist or a jailer. Thanks.

“He is not your brother anymore. He is a rabid dog that needs put down.” Though Shannon had regained her composure, it was clear she would not be dissuaded from helping me.

“Shannon,” he said sharply.

Despite the apparent love between them, the two fae seemed on the verge of coming to blows—quite literally dueling it out—and since I didn’t want to be collateral damage, nor have what little time I had in Elfame drain away while they spatted, I asked quickly, “No one , or no fae ?”

The two high fae gave me a quizzical look.

“The Court of Shoals, the Twilight Court, whatever. The place containing this Blight,” I said. “You said no one can enter it, but do you really mean no fae can enter it?” The fae were full of nuance, so maybe whatever plagued them was too?

Shannon’s face lit up like the night sky on the Fourth of July. She whipped back around to her husband. “Acushla?—”

“It’s too risky,” he shot down immediately.

“The Blight only affects the immortal lands and all its citizens, except the faelene,” she pressed. “ She is mortal!”

“It only affects those things because that’s all it’s ever known.”

“So it won’t recognize her!”

“Or it’ll just find another host for its infection.”

“Callan.” It was Shannon’s turn to say her husband’s name in a sharp tone.

“Is it, um, something we can test?” came Sawyer’s tentative voice from between my ankles.

“Of course not,” Callan retorted.

“What about the faelene?” I hoisted the sulking tomcat into my arms for a cuddle. I appreciated his suggestion. “Can we ask one of them to help us?”

The high lord gave me a look so full of disdain that had I been a house plant I would’ve withered down to my roots.

“The faelene cannot be reasoned with. They’re so volatile that we’re not even sure if they can understand us.

Every attempt at starting a dialogue with them has ended in severe maiming.

Usually dismemberment. Not even the draig bother them. ”

Okay, Plans B (test the Blight) and C (ask a faelene for help) were shot down, soooo… Plan D?

“What about summoning it?” I asked.

Callan arched an eyebrow and looked down at me from his superior height. “Summoning it?”

Forgetting I was in the company of high fae, let alone royals, (or just not caring that I was), I rolled my eyes.

“We know the true name of the object: the Samildánach. You fae are big on that, remember? Knowing a true name gives you power over it? Can’t we just cast a magic spell and summon it out of the Twilight Court and right into our hands? ”

“Fae do not ‘cast magic spells.’ We are magic and will made flesh.”

“If you do not cast spells, how did you curse your brother?”

Callan glared down at me, obviously irritated that I’d discovered a hole in his argument.

“The texts of the Tuatha,” Shannon gasped excitedly.

“Those are the incantations of the ancient ones. Their magic is powerful enough to thwart the Blight—they created the fated bond, after all, which was our weapon against the Blight when it came to our shores! It gave you the curse to condemn your brother—not nearly bad enough, in my opinion. But surely they’ve something we can use. ”

“Point me to the library!” I cried.

“Your mortal brain would liquify the moment you opened any one of those sacred books,” Callan told me.

I was really starting to believe he was just being obstinate for obstinance’s sake. And just like that, those shreds of patience and politeness I’d been clinging to were yanked from my grasp like linens from a clothesline by a tornado’s wind.

“Now you listen here, Lord Callan.” Warmth and a tingling sensation pricked the backs of my eyes as magic glowed emerald green from my ivy-colored irises.

“ High Lord Callan,” he corrected waspishly.

“I did not just survive your psychopath of a brother, summon and anchor a fae portal out of thin air, and hold back at your little masquerade party to be told ‘no.’ If I can’t read these sacred texts, then you get me someone who can.

Or is finding an accomplished linguist beyond your abilities as one of the five sovereigns of Elfame? ”

The muscle in Callan’s jaw flexed as his teeth ground together.

“If it is, I’ll politely excuse myself from your court and find someone else willing to help me.

I can only imagine they’ll be too happy to do it, too, especially if that means ensuring Ossian never returns.

Our legends say he caused quite the stir before he left.

And I can tell you from firsthand experience that he has nothing less than a warpath planned for Elfame should he ever set foot back here.

And my, won’t they be surprised when I tell them the Banished One’s own brother did nothing to help the woman trying to prevent his return? ”

“Are you blackmailing me?” he snarled, getting right into my face.

“Don’t make me.” I shot up on tiptoe so I could do the same.

“Acushla.” Shannon she placed a hand on her fated mate’s shoulder, then one on mine.

“Friend.” She forcibly yanked us apart. “There is no need for threats. My second brother is married into the Solstice Court. I’ll send him a message requesting a linguist. He won’t deny me.

And in the meantime, we have Master Tiernan. ”

Callan quieted, measuring the reasonableness of her suggestion.

“My lord,” she said firmly when Callan hadn’t replied but continued to glower at me. “We are responsible for Misty Fields and her quest.”

“And what of your misgivings, which you seem to have conveniently forgotten until now?” he inquired icily.

“She seeks the Samildánach . Wasn’t it your own great-grandfather who’d been beguiled by an Unseelie temptress into forging that mirror with his very hands?

I’m no scholar of the Solstice Court, but I do believe that his actions directly led to the Battle of Lough Arianrhod, which would have undone the Last Fae War had it not been for High Lord Trostan’s Moonlight Army running maneuvers nearby.

And didn’t your family vow never to let that mirror ever fall into Unseelie hands again? ”

Shannon was still, serene like a frozen lake in the peak of winter. Were it not for the manic glittering in her deep blue eyes, I would’ve thought her carved of marble.

“I think I know how to solve that problem,” I offered.

Those tempestuous blue eyes flicked to mine, warning and hope swirling within their depths.

In a rush, I explained my exact bargain with Arcadis and my proposed plan. Voicing this scheme put flesh to it and the repercussions I would face should I fail. My gaze dropped to the ring of five diamonds on my finger; I would have to do something about this, too.

“You put a lot of faith in your ability,” was the high lord’s assessment when I was finished.

“If I don’t, who else will?”

“I like the witch’s plan,” Shannon announced, smiling again. “It is very fae. The matter is settled.”

“The library and master scholar then,” Callan reiterated, “for a summoning incantation. No one is to travel to Blighted land.” He glared down at me in warning.

“If you or any one of your friends steps a toe out of line, not even my wife’s tears will save you.

It will be straight to the lion’s den. They will pry out whatever secrets you have with their horns and then devour what is left with their teeth. ”

Before her husband could threaten me further, the high lady seized my arm and pulled me over the threshold and into the inner grove.

Balmy warmth washed over me, dispelling the chill of the night-blooming flower gardens.

“My ladies will secure lodging for your friends in the outer court. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to the guest wing, Misty Fields. ”