Chapter 40

CHAPTER 40

WREN

The clothes Wren found waiting for her were far simpler than the elaborate affairs she had been forced into at the palace.

A long sweeping sheath of a dress, made of the finest silks, shimmered with a touch of lustrous threads. She could dress herself in clothes as simply cut as this, which suddenly seemed like the greatest luxury. And it was beautiful, the type of dress designed to make a woman feel beautiful. There was a discreet pocket in the seam into which she could tuck the little twist of straw and flowers in the shape of a bird Carlotta had given her. That seemed important somehow. She didn't want to lose it.

She plaited her long hair as tightly as she could and it fell in a braid down her back, tamed with a silk scarf at the end in midnight blue. It was all she could do with it for now. It wasn't as good as cutting it all off, but it was a start.

Finn had been gone when she finally awoke in the light of late morning, the bed cold beside her. She vaguely remembered him kissing her forehead, telling her he had things to do but she could sleep on for now. She had tried to reach for him, too sleepy to stop him, but he was already gone.

A murmuring sound outside the room called to her, and Wren frowned. It was almost like music, like a half-remembered tune that toyed with her senses, always on the edge of her hearing.

Shadows drew close, teasing skin made sensitive from Finn's lips, from his touch. And all she could do for a moment was stand there listening as the sound swept in over her. Calling her.

She needed to follow it. That was suddenly clear. It swelled softly, a little more urgently now. Come to me.

But it wasn't threatening or demanding. Not this time. It was gentle, cajoling. It needed her.

Wren slipped out of the door, the silken dress whispering around her, echoing the song that drifted on the air.

The embassy was silent and still. As she wandered tentatively along the long corridor, with its bright tapestries and plush carpeting, she realised she didn't know where she was going. Was this area for guests? Or just for Finn? Or his family…which meant she might run into Leander at any second. She was about to turn back but then she realised she didn't know where to go. It had seemed like one corridor but now…now it looked strange, as if she was on another floor or in another part of the building.

At the sound of soft, approaching footsteps, Wren froze and stepped back into one of the recessed doorways, holding her breath. She could find Finn, couldn't she?

A whisper of othertongue played across the back of her mind in that disconcerting way it would when the Nox was trying to manipulate her. Or help her. She tried to breathe calmly, tried to slow her racing heart. The Nox's promises of help were always a trick. Weren't they?

What had she been thinking, wandering off on her own? She didn't know where she was going.

Wren reached into her pocket and felt the little charm in her fingers. It stilled her racing thoughts and she took a deep breath, calming herself.

A figure passed her without noticing her hiding there, dark and drifting, dressed the same way Wren was, moving like her, but her long black hair loose and unbound.

And Wren followed.

She couldn't help herself.

She followed a shadow of herself down the stairs and along another corridor, and then down again, down and down, into the cellars below the house. Into the darkness.

It was like a dream. Or a nightmare.

But she had to follow the song and the shadow. And that vision of herself.

Herself as she might be, or as she might one day be, herself as someone else might see her.

The figure moved like a queen, like a goddess.

It stopped in an open doorway and Wren reached out to grab the shoulder, to turn this dark-haired woman around and finally know for sure who or what she was.

But the moment she did, the figure dissolved into shadows which slid away and Wren found herself staring into a dark, cave-like room, lit with tiny flickering candles.

In the middle of the chamber, another woman was kneeling in prayer or meditation. Head bowed as if waiting.

Wren tried to step back and her foot scraped on the floor.

Hestia looked over her shoulder at Wren, as if woken from a dream, her pale eyes wide in surprise.

‘Your highness?' she said. ‘What are you doing here?'

There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run. The woman knew it was her and Wren had clearly interrupted her. Whatever she was doing here in the almost dark. She was witchkind as well, a member of the Sisterhood of the Nox. One of their highest priestesses.

‘I-I'm sorry,' Wren gasped, suddenly embarrassed. ‘I didn't mean to – I'll go back.'

But Hestia smiled gently. ‘No. Please, you can join me if you want. You would be more than welcome here.'

Wren glanced around again. ‘What…what is this place?'

‘Our household shrine, nothing sinister, I promise. It simulates the caves of the Nox in Sidonia, our holiest of places. I was praying for balance, and patience, I'm afraid. It doesn't come naturally to me.' The diplomat seemed so completely at peace with herself that Wren frowned and Hestia gave a small laugh. ‘I mean it. Sometimes I want to scream at everyone and break some dishes rather than sit down and discuss things calmly.'

The comment made Wren smile in return. ‘I wish I could learn that. Elodie always said—' The thought of Elodie cut her off. Was she all right? Had she been hurt?

‘Word came to us this morning that she is safe and unhurt. The maidens are tending her and she wears her crown once more. There's no need to be afraid for her.' Hestia rose to her feet and held out her hands to Wren. Her touch was gentle and comforting, in the way Elodie could be comforting. Not soft or mawkish, but reliable. The type of strength on which you could depend. ‘They were looking for you. We assured them of your safety and that we would bring you back to them as soon as you were ready.'

As soon as she was ready? How could Wren ever be ready to set foot back in the Sacrum? The Aurum would destroy her. It knew her now. And she had let the Nox take control in that courtyard. She'd seen the destruction, the remains…Finn might not be willing to tell her what happened but that spoke volumes about what he must have seen, what she had done. She was a threat to him. A threat to all of them. Even someone like Hestia.

Before Wren knew what she was doing the words came rushing out. ‘I was so afraid. I couldn't…I couldn't get to her. I couldn't stop it. And I couldn't control the darkness in me. The shadow kin were everywhere. I couldn't keep them in, or make them obey. I couldn't help myself. I would have done anything, hurt anyone to get to her. But I…I wasn't in control. And I didn't know what to do. It was only afterwards that I…that I knew who I was again.'

To her surprise, rather than being horrified, Hestia drew her into an embrace, her hand soothing her trembling form, and it seemed like a pulse of peace rippled through her. Almost the way Finn calmed her. Nothing sexual, but it was almost like love.

Again, like Elodie. It was disconcerting.

‘You are so very young, my poor dear girl. And there is so much magic in you that…' she sighed. ‘No wonder it spills out when you're scared. It's all right. It's perfectly natural. And it is not your fault.'

Wren drew back, staring at the woman. ‘But you…you serve the Nox.'

Hestia nodded. ‘All my life.'

‘But it…it's…' She couldn't say evil. Not to her face, but it was. Wasn't it? All her life she had been warned against it, had felt it trying to lure her into its traps.

‘Wren,' Hestia said calmly, still holding her hands. ‘You have only ever been told about one side of the old magic. To us the Aurum is just as dangerous, as we saw at that farce of a trial. If you stare into the fires of the sun you go blind, after all. Light can drive a person mad. But in darkness there is peace and calm. The darkness of the womb, or the grave, the darkness of the night…' She released Wren and lifted her hands up to indicate the small room in which they stood. ‘The Nox and the Aurum went to war, we know that. But we don't know why. A madness overtook them both perhaps. I don't believe in war, religious or otherwise, not humankind and not for gods. I'm a diplomat. I believe in peace. And that is why I'm here. Will you help me?'

‘Help you?'

‘I need to speak to your mother. I believe between us we can help you and come to an accord. You're a daughter of two worlds now, a meeting point. You can bring balance. You are one of the few who can.'

‘But I can barely manage to control my magic.'

‘Because you are trying to suppress half of it. Or push it away. I'd like to help you as well if you will let me. Show you how to use it properly, the darkness as well as the light. It's easy, Wren. So easy for someone like you. Let me show you.'

Her hands spread wide, and her long elegant fingers moved in an intricate dance. The darkness behind her rose like an inhalation of breath and then subsided. Wren felt it inside her, moving in time with her own heartbeat. And then, just as suddenly, it fell back, a wistful sigh.

‘What did you do?' she asked, trying to stop her voice shaking.

‘It's an invitation. There's trust involved as well. But you can trust it, and me. I promise. Try.'

Wren swallowed hard. If Hestia was right she had hope of some measure of control. She hated the way the Nox spiralled out of control and tried to overwhelm her, but if there was a possibility of something else…

She closed her eyes, inhaled, and the shadows responded. For a moment, panic seized her but then Hestia took both her hands and held them gently. ‘Just breathe,' she whispered. ‘Let it in and then let it go. That's it.' Wren followed her voice and the power slowed its advance. It lingered in her, at the back of her mind, flowing through her like an underground river. She exhaled, and the magic receded. It was like the balls of light Maryn had had her conjuring. It was the same thing, she realised. Two sides of a single coin.

She opened her eyes to see Hestia smiling affectionately at her. ‘You really are a wonder. Your control is sublime. When you don't panic.'

She had never had control before. She longed for more.

‘When it cooperates, perhaps. It isn't like that normally. That was nothing like when the Nox tries to come through. It's…she's…She doesn't care what happens to me.'

‘We can change that. There is always a risk with any great power and she was once the greatest. Well, the Nox and the Aurum. But such magic can consume you, burn all the way through you and leave nothing behind. It's as dangerous for them as for us. But they don't have the capacity to understand that. They see things differently. I thought Elodie would have taught you that. She would know better than anyone.'

Wren shook her head. Elodie had left out so much. She'd seen the Aurum fill Elodie at the trial and now she knew why. If Elodie had her way, they would still be back in the forest behind all her wards, protected by whatever agreements she had made with the trees and the rocks and all its living things, and Wren would never have had to face any of this.

‘That's why you came? To teach me?'

‘One of the reasons. Even in Ilanthus the sisterhood felt what happened between you and the Nox, felt her reawaken, mad and desperate. I knew we had to help you or it could destroy you both.'

‘And the other reasons?' Wren flexed her fingers again and felt tendrils of shadows wreathe around them. Her hair drifted, alive with magic, a mass of living shades.

‘I am here on behalf of my king and my country, as I said. Ilanthus wants peace and that is going to take work on both sides. The other reason is Finn. He is the other key to all of this.'

A chill spread up Wren's spine. She didn't like the sound of that. What did the Ilanthians want with Finn now? She knew the stories. He'd told her, everyone had told her. They'd tried to kill him, as a boy, to sacrifice him to the Nox. And ever since he had been promised to the dark goddess which sought to steal Wren's body.

‘Finn? What do you want with Finn?'