59. Zendaya

Chapter 59

Zendaya

T he foliage in the Chayagali is so dense that it traps what little moonlight trickles from the crescent brightening the sky.

"What about Kanti?" I ask Lorcan the second he's in skin.

"You know those listening sigils she drew in Tarespagian homes? She also painted some here. One of them, inside the Kasha. There could be more. If I were you, I'd have the entire castle swept for hidden ones."

After balking, my jaw clinches.

"Anyway… Antoni came to me with something he's overheard. Something which he wants to use as a bargaining chip. Something about my people's curse. I cannot afford to give that male a bargain, Daya. I worry he'd use it to harm my people. I imagined Cathal would know, since he's been assisting you, but he claims the Cauldron told you that there existed no remedy. I'm not sure who to trust. This is why I've brought you here—where no one can eavesdrop—to ask if the Cauldron has offered you a solution to aid my people, or if Antoni's trying to fool me."

Though I hear rustling nearby, I cannot seem to care. I loathed Kanti before, but now…now I want to pitch her into the Mahananda and implore it to keep her there for putting my child in danger.

"There is a solution, isn't there?" Lorcan is inspecting my face. Perceptive male that he is, he adds, "It involves Fallon, doesn't it?"

"Please don't ask me."

"If there was a solution to keep your Serpents safe from that chemical that closes off your airway, wouldn't you do everything in your power to know?"

"Not if it meant harming someone I love." My heated murmur rids his complexion of color.

"Fallon is my mate. If the Cauldron's solution harms her…"

"It does," I say just as a growl sounds beside us.

Lorcan's outline trembles. One of his crows must break away from the others because I suddenly hear a wet snap followed by a muted whine. And then the man is back in sharp focus. "Spare me from accepting Antoni's bargain."

"Then strike one with me. Right here. Right now."

"Fine. Zendaya amMeriam, Queen of Shabbe, I?—"

"There's a way to break our curse?" The feminine voice that rings out through the jungle is soon accompanied by the shape of a body.

Two bodies.

I should've known our flight out of the Vahti wouldn't go unnoticed.

"Mádhi?"

I glower at Lorcan for having opened up a box that was safer left sealed.

"I've a right to know," Fallon says, her boots crunching over the silty soil as she moves closer. " Especially if it concerns me."

"You said there was no solution, Daya." Cathal's arms are crossed in front of his breastplate that gleams black like his eyes.

"Before you accuse me of keeping secrets from you, know that it was your idea that I strip the Mahananda's words from your mind."

"My idea?" Though I cannot make out his features in the obscurity, I picture him frowning. "Why would I ask you to mess with my mind?" His tone rolls with so much anger that I must be wrong about the frown.

"Because you were afraid Lorcan or Fallon would eventually steal it from your mind," I say between barely separated teeth.

"If Antoni knows, others will, too, so please just tell us before he uses it to hurt me or Lore," Fallon beseeches me.

I close my eyes. When another guttural growl resonates nearby, I almost turn and walk straight for the tendu so he could steal me away from the Crows. But I'd only be delaying the inevitable. "Your Crow magic, Fallon. That's the Mahananda's price. You'll lose your ability to shapeshift, to fly, to communicate?—"

"Goodness, Mádhi, I thought the cost would be my immortality."

"Perhaps it will be! Perhaps you'll lose your Shabbin magic, too." I toss my hands in the air.

"Did the Cauldron say I would?"

"It didn't speak of your Shabbin magic."

"Then chances are, I'll get to keep it." My daughter, forever the optimist. I wonder who passed this trait down to her, because it certainly isn't me or her father. Perhaps old-Daya was an insufferable optimist.

"Thank you for telling us," Lorcan murmurs.

"It isn't as though I had a choice in the matter," I grumble.

Fallon inhales sharply. "I've a great idea!"

"I'm listening." Lorcan clearly doesn't believe it'll be great for his tone is as bleak as the ambient air.

"If the Cauldron were to remove my Shabbin magic, then Mádhi will make me a Serpent."

My heart holds still.

The whole jungle holds still.

"Fallon, no," I murmur.

"It's my body. My magic. My choice. But most of all, it's my people."

"Fallon, our curse is manageable, thanks to the Serpents." Pain abrades Cathal's inflection.

"Yeah. It just drains Mádhi every time she heals us. What if it ends up draining her completely someday? What if she loses her ability to shift?"

I shake my head. "The Mahananda will keep me safe, Fallon."

"Like it kept imTaytah safe?" she volleys back.

I try to catch Lorcan's eye but his stare is fastened to his mate. I hope he's forbidding her from entertaining the idea.

"Fine." Fallon huffs. "But if the Cauldron swears to keep my Shabbin magic and our mating link intact, then you will consider it."

"Lore, no…" Cathal's voice is barely above a whisper.

Fallon reaches up and takes Lorcan's face in her hands. "Mara made you king because she knew you would always take care of your people. You owe it to her and to them." After a beat, she says, "I will always be yours, Lore. Albeit less downy, but always yours."

" Tell Fallon that her altruism has just secured both her blood magic and mating link. If they're ready, then I'll welcome the Crow King and his mate tonight. " The Mahananda must read my next question, because it says, " No need for an obsidian blade or your blood, my child. All I've need for is them to enter together. "

"What did the Cauldron say, Daya?" Cathal must've brushed past Lorcan and Fallon because he's suddenly standing right there in front of me.

I inhale deeply. I'm aware the cost of her Crow magic isn't my fault, that it's my grandmother's, but still, it pains me. "The Mahananda has sworn that it will not strip you of either blood magic or mating link. And that it's ready to receive you and Lorcan tonight. I'd tell you to take some time to think about it, but?—"

"We can't risk it changing its mind. Besides, what is there to think about?" Fallon's eyes shimmer, and though her lips curve, I sense there's heartache mixed into her relief and enthusiasm.

I may never have dreamed of shifting into a Serpent, but if someone were to strip me of my power now…

"Swear to always carry me on your back, Lore?" Fallon asks, a slight tremor to her pitch.

He must close his eyes for the twin pinpricks of gold vanish. "I hate this."

"I know you do, mo khrá, but it's a small price to pay to keep our people and our kingdom safe."

He shudders. "Zendaya, do you swear to me that this is what the Cauldron said?"

"I know you've been duped before, Lorcan Ríhbiadh, so I won't take offence in your question, but understand that I will never intentionally hurt my daughter or your people. Never ."

For a long moment, the four of us stand there in the quiet stillness of the Chayagali. Though tendus surely prowl nearby, though my daughter is about to lose her ability to shift, a sense of righteousness drapes over the four of us. I know I'm not the only one to feel it because Lorcan asks Cathal to carry me back, and then he takes off with Fallon for her final flight.

" Dalich ," Cathal murmurs, a second before transforming and crouching.

As I climb onto his back, I wonder what he's sorry for—not believing me when I told him it was his idea to be stripped of the memory or avoiding me? I decide to leave it be for now. Once my daughter and her mate reemerge from the Mahananda, safe and sound and immune to obsidian, I'll request that Cathal and I have a long and private conversation.

When we reach the Vahti, Fallon and Lore are already stepping onto the source of all magic. My pulse hitches when they sink, and my fingers tighten around the feathers at Cathal's neck. He cycles over the courtyard. When he doesn't angle lower, I realize he has no intention of landing. I suppose we're just as well off pacing the stars.

I don't blink. Not once. I stare and stare at the opaque silver surface.

Can they see us like I saw them?

Are they in pain?

Why's it taking so long?

It had been much quicker the day Fallon went in on her own, hadn't it?

A ripple disturbs the Mahananda's surface.

And then a head of black hair. Lorcan's.

I wait with bated breath until a second head pierces the surface, and even then, my lungs refuse to contract.

Fallon twirls, surely looking for us.

Lorcan must tell her we're still flying, because she cranes her neck up to find us. I didn't think I still had air in my lungs to breathe out, but I must, for a gasp whooshes out of me when our eyes collide.

Pink.

Her eyes are Shabbin-pink.