21. Aldrin

Chapter 21

Aldrin

T he wind howls around us, making the magic weave of our domed air shield flicker visibly. It protects us from the harshness of these frozen barrens, somewhat. Klara and Drake focus on those weaves, patching them as the torrent of air corrodes its surface.

Multiple orbs burn inside, but the fire magic of my people is slight, and the heat generated only takes the edge off the chill.

Nothing can help the fact that we climb through deep snow.

The apex of this region of the Dividing Cliffs is just ahead of us, the seam between Spring and Winter. A landscape of pure white stretches out in all directions as snow coats everything and the sky is a gloomy mass of clouds. Falling snowflakes are tossed sideways by the wind.

We reach the edge of the cliffs that overlook winter, I do not focus on the desolation beyond. I have seen it a hundred times before. I watch the reactions of my companions instead.

Silence has a grip on the group. They stare at the undeniable devastation laid out before us. Cyprien and Lily stand rigid with shock, their faces slack. A deep frown forms on Cyprien’s features and his lips compress to a thin line. A tear slips down Lily’s face, freezing upon her cheek.

My people have witnessed this corruption multiple times before. We have checked the entire length of the border in our exile, but the horror of it never seems to fade. The severity of the place keeps getting worse.

I look for Keira, because I desperately need her to see what I fight for, to understand.

Maybe then she will be open to helping me.

She is next to her sister, shivering uncontrollably. I don’t know if it is from the cold or the realization of what threatens this world. I create another orb and place it in front of her.

Tears are frozen on her cheeks. I take her hands in mine and rub them to return the heat to her flesh. Even through her gloves, I can feel the iciness of them.

“Are you okay? Can you handle this cold?” I murmur. Who knows where the limits of human lie.

“I am so sorry, Aldrin. This is the plague on your lands?” The howling wind almost whisks her words away.

“Come, I would like you to hear what I tell Cyprien,” I say, pulling her by a hand.

We trudge a handful of steps through knee-high snow to Cyprien. Despite the short distance, it is hard work. I place a hand on his shoulder. The muscles are rigid beneath my touch.

He doesn’t turn to me. “These lands have never looked like this before. Winter has never been a wasteland. There has always been life.”

I nod. “At a glance, a person might think winter is attempting a takeover. The ice and snow has crept deeper into our lands and the deepness of the freeze here has intensified. But this before us is not winter. It is a void. A desolation. This is what happens when the magic is stripped from a place. There is no substance, because our world is made of pure magic. Remove it, allow it to fade away, and there is nothing to remain.”

I look at the barrens before us .

There is a long drop from these cliffs to a field of ice and snow, which stretches as far as the eye can see. The plane is rippled, as though a god ran huge claws through the land. In each valley, there is a pit of blackness, with great flakes of ash rising from it.

These immense rifts are as wide as a river, dividing the field. The darkness within is so complete it is utterly devoid of light or substance. There is no hole to fall within, no bottom to crash upon. Inside those rifts is nothingness. Tears in space and time. The threat that will consume this entire world until there is nothing left of it.

We are sleepwalking toward a disaster.

Cyprien’s eyes are glazed. “The whole border looks like this?” he asks.

“Yes.” I swallow. “And the border with summer is exactly the same, except it is a wasteland of sand and heat and those horrible rifts.”

Lilly stalks to my side. “Why has the council not acknowledged this? We should be debating solutions in the Senate.” Anger pinches her features. It is so rare that any emotion ruffles her usual calm.

“Because neither the members of the council or the high chancellor have traveled here to view the evidence before shunning the idea that this threat could be real. It is much easier to deny this truth than to accept it and fight it.”

Cyprien and Lilly’s faces drain of color.

They have always supported the council, and the high chancellor after she became an elected official. I was removed from my throne and exiled over this issue and my solution to it. They were drawn into the web of convenient half-truths and fabrications, like the rest of my people.

“How did this high chancellor usurp your place, Aldrin?” Horror fills Keira's face.

From the corner of my eye, I notice Cyprien look away and a red flush of shame creep up his neck. This is new.

I let out a long breath. “The high chancellor is a brilliant politician. She has both an air of authority and wisdom, and thoroughly discredits any who oppose her. I have heard of her utterly destroying the businesses of minor merchants who threatened her own trades. She knows how to make the right promises to convince unwary people of even the most ridiculous things. To tap into people’s fears and greed, and she does it shamelessly. Ruthlessly.”

Lily shuffles beside me. “Her smear campaign against Aldrin was relentless.”

The air is heavy between us, filled with regrets. Cyprien still won’t look at me. Keira’s eyes dart between us, her lips parted in shock.

I continue. “She attacked right when I needed my people to trust my judgment. When I presented my evidence and solutions, and I was most vulnerable. The high chancellor scented my weakness and took full advantage of it. By the time I limped into my exile, I had begun to thoroughly doubt myself, my abilities and my predicted disaster.”

I rub my temples. There is so much more to the story than that.

Had the council shown a unified front with me, I could have convinced the people of what we need to do. Of the sacrifices we high fae must make. It astounds me that I could have called them to war, and they would have followed. But asking them to leave the comforts of the city to tend to the wilds, as is our duty, was an outrage.

“The high chancellor is a great politician, but a terrible leader.” Cyprien’s cold words send chills down my spine.

I hold his gaze. “You have seen spriggan turn to rot and ash as their magic dissipates. You witness the rifts across this border. As you traveled through our lands, I’m sure you noticed lakes that no longer hold a maiden and groves of trees with no nymphs. We passed through a Watchtower Tree on our way to the Frozen River Fortress, and two of the nymphs didn’t have enough magic to form a body and disconnect from their tree. Have you seen enough to believe me?”

Cyprien glances at the frozen planes for a long time without responding. When he finally speaks, it is with a hoarse voice. “I have been urging the high chancellor to send an emissary to the Winter Court for a year now. To arrange a meeting between our ruling powers to parley. To question Erik on the increasing frosts and snow and ice in our land. She immediately refused, and recalled our ambassador to the Winter Court.”

He falls into silence and Lilly picks up the tale. “It’s almost as though our probing made her tighten her grip on the communication between the two courts. It became a treasonable offence for people to contact anyone in winter. We have communities of high fae who were originally of that court, or who belong to both, and cannot speak with their family across the border. It is wrong. She claims to protect against spies, but I wonder if she is only protecting herself.”

Anger runs through my muscles, causing them to ripple and twitch with the need for action.

Cyprien looks as though he has bitten down on something bitter. “I tried to talk to our ambassador Joven as soon as he returned, to gleam what he knew of the brewing war in winter, but he only remained in the capital for a day. He was immediately reassigned to a country estate. I wanted to visit him, but he hasn’t responded to my messages or anyone else’s on the council.

“Aldrin, you should have seen him that one day he was in the capital. It was as if he were a man hunted by the soul ripper itself, looking for threats in every corner and always accompanied by guards. At first, I thought he had seen things in the Winter Court that terrified him, but I came to wonder if the real threat to his life was in our court.”

“So much has changed since you left,” Cyprien utters. “New laws. Different members of the council. I started to truly lose my faith in the high chancellor when soldiers were pulled from the border of winter, after they started returning home from rotations speaking of things that gave substance to your claims. As you said, what kind of leader would pull soldiers from the boundary of an enemy they believed was planning an attack? One that is either vastly incompetent, or who is covering for her own lies.”

He shakes his head. “I had to come to witness the truth for myself. I had to talk to you. Properly. We haven’t had a conversation since—” His voice breaks.

“Since Lorrella died.” I finish for him gently, that all too familiar throb of pain building in my chest.

“I heard your proposal to the council,” Cyprien runs a hand across his face. “I listened to your arguments and your evidence, but I was still too far gone in my grief and pain and anger to truly hear you. And when everyone turned against you, one by one, I too got swept away by the current.”

I touch Cyprien’s shoulder and he flinches with the contact. “Listen to me now.”

“This is a lot to take in.” He motions with an arm to the sight before us. “Let me think first. Tonight we will talk.”

I nod, fighting the wave of emotion that rolls through me. It is much more than I expected and I am afraid to dare to hope. Not when he has let me down before.

Cyprien and Lilly stalk away to another buff to take in more of the view, creating their own air shields. My thoughts fall into a brooding cyclone that whips as harshly as the frozen wind around us. Keira takes my hand in hers, and I jolt at the contact, forgetting she was there.

“I’m sorry that happened to you, Aldrin.” She peers up at me, the wild curls of her red-gold hair erupting from her fur cap. Those strands are the most vibrant thing up here. “Not only that an imposter used deception to steal your birthright and smear your name, but that your friends did not stand by you. That you still have to convince them.”

I blink at her, surprised by the warmth. “Too many of my friends followed me into this exile. Ten was enough. More would have joined, left their positions in the Senate or the army, but the Spring Court needed them. Perhaps I will still have friends in places of influence when I return to the capital.”

If I ever return to the seat of my power. That old pain radiates through my chest, seizing my heart. Longing floods me, to see my city once more. To have a chance for redemption and to save my people. It had become a distant hope for too long.

We leave the howling edge of the Dividing Cliffs in huddled groups, with shields of air tucked around the clusters of people, a fire orb in each. Warmth spread through my body from the hike back.

Cyprien is deep in thought by my side, a severe frown pulling at his stern features, as we descend the cliffs through a path cut into its stone. An outcrop scoops over our heads, shielding us from the worst of the snow and wind.

“Are you planning on taking a human consort?” Cyprien suddenly asks.

“What?” I choke on the word.

“It’s why you are keeping the girl near, is it not?”

“Do not say that in front of humans.” I grab him by the arm. “Our realm has been separated from theirs for hundreds of years and they do not remember us favorably.”

Cyprien gives me one of his probing, questioning glances.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. This is the worst place to have this conversation, but I know Cyprien won’t let it go. “In our history with humans, there have been fae who have kidnapped a human consort. A corrupt minority, but it seems this is the only part they remember of our relations. I have been told that even recently, human women have been held against their will after wandering into our realm. The humans seem to think we are all slavers and rapists wanting to take their women. It doesn’t help that we have both tried to contain these two.” I tip my head in Keira and Caitlin’s direction.

“They’d end up dead if they wandered through the forest on their own,” Cyprien snaps.

“Would they?” I raise an eyebrow at him. “You’ve seen them fight.”

He gives me a conceding bow of the head. “You didn’t answer my question.”

I huff out a breath. “I’m not looking for a consort, Cyprien. She promised me information, that is all.”

“You have a very interesting way of trying to get information from a woman’s mouth.” His lips actually curl up into something that resembles a smirk.

“Are you making jokes now, are you?” I laugh at him. “I thought you were challenging the frozen planes for iciness.”

“You give a man far too much ammunition, Aldrin. You ever like to dance on a knife’s edge.” His eyes glitter with amusement. The irony is that I have always thought the same of him .

Cyprien shakes his head, then removes my hand from his arm. “You are far too distracting. I need to think.”

I raise both my hands. “I was respecting your silence. You started the conversation with your inappropriate questions.”

Cyprien pats my shoulder, then joins Lilly, immediately talking in tones that I cannot hear. I watch them for any hints to what they will decide.

The path leads out of the stone cavity and a winter wonderland sprawls out before us. Cold dread pumps through my veins at its presence in my lands. Every inch of me screams that this is wrong.

A thin layer of snow completely covers the plateau, crunching beneath our boots, with only the green leaves of the odd tulip or daffodil sprout poking through. No flowers. Pine trees dot the plane, with a light dusting of snow on top of the broad branches, alongside skeletal oaks.

Everything is far too monotone for my tastes, the white of frosty ground, the frozen lakes and overcast sky, against the almost black of the trees.

As we enter a forest, and the snow thins to mere patches, Keira joins me at my side.

“Would you believe that I have never seen snow before crossing to this realm? The winters of my home are mild.” Keira’s pale cheeks are flushed a pretty shade of pink.

“Is that so?” I ask. “What do you think of it?”

“Not a fan. Too cold.” Her breaths come out as streams of mist. “Too wet.”

I lean into her, close enough for her to feel my breath on her skin. “Do you want to know a secret?” She nods vigorously and I almost smile at her eagerness. “Neither am I. It's too…white. Boring. Where are the different colors and textures of the scenery? There are no leaves or flowers to set a landscape a hundred shades. I can’t hear the gurgling of a stream or the buzzing of bees, smell the pollen and dirt or the sharpness of bruised herbs. It’s all more of the same.”

She smiles. “I agree with that, though I’m sure there are people who believe otherwise. ”

“Yeah,” I say. “There’s a whole Winter Court of them.”

“Aldrin,” Keira bites her lower lip, and I remember how she did that to mine this morning.

“Yesss.” I purr.

“Why are your lands dying?” Her voice is gentle, and so innocent.

I look away. “In short, because most of us have abandoned our posts in the forests for the comforts of the cities.” Those doe eyes continue to stare at me, unsated. I stare at the ground, watching patches of snow turn brown from the mud of my boots.

“This entire realm is made of magic, created by the powers of the Tuatha Dé Danann,” I say. “Without high fae tending the lands and nurturing them with our magic, they fade. It is a cycle, where the more magic we put into a place, the more it generates in return, like a farmer tending their crop.”

Light motes of snow drift down and land on my skin. They dust Keira’s hair. I am entranced by the beauty of her, but I drag myself back to our conversation.

“Once fae were spread throughout the court. The fortresses and villages of the forests, mountains and meadows were brimming with high fae and the wild parts with low fae. But then my ancestors erected a sprawling metropolis modelled on those in the human realm, and after each war, refugees fled to it. The lords amongst our people took up residence there, realizing the depth of power they could hold if they were permanently around their king, forming the council.

“The cities became a place of culture and comforts, where delicacies are imported from other courts. Anything a fae desires is available, bars, restaurants, venues that host parties all day and night. There is an abundance of work in the city, much of it far easier than the country life and the existence in the wildlands. The people there keep all their magic for themselves, funneling it into businesses or self-indulgences, rather than sowing it back into the earth.”

Keira sucks in a breath. “I would love to visit your city. See how the people live there.”

I shake my head. “The problem is, we became lazy, greedy and selfish. We sold our souls for comforts and extravagance. When my people stopped giving part of themselves back to the land, the land stopped returning the magic. Our powers began to fade, and our very life force with it. Conceiving a child gradually became near impossible. There isn’t enough magic to go around. Then…” Words escape me for a moment. “Then our women started dying in childbirth.”

It takes me a long time to pick up the narrative again. “Our numbers dropped drastically, and it wasn’t clear what was happening at first. When the magic dipped below a crucial threshold, our world stared to fall apart. You have seen this. The lower fae whose bodies dissipate on the wind. The land falling away to nothingness in great rifts.”

Keira moves a branch from her path, the staircase up the rocky incline to the Frozen River Fortress barely wide enough for us side by side. She pants at the pace I set in my frustration, but pushes to remain at my side. I slow my strides, forcing myself to not take two steps at a time.

“What is your solution? I know it's controversial,” she asks.

I give her a sidelong glance.

My answer might terrify her, but she will find out eventually. “It’s a two pronged attack. Fae need to move back to the outposts of this court and nurture their land, rather than being concentrated in one city. There will be incentives, land given away, much smaller cities built, trade expanded so commodities are available throughout the court.

“But, we also need to vastly increase our population. You must understand, low fae take their magic from nature, but we high fae generate it within ourselves. More high fae means more magic in this realm. My grand plan, the one that got me exiled, was to invite humans to migrate to these lands as full citizens, and hope they would interbreed with our kind to produce the next generation.”

Keira raises her eyebrows at me.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I utter.

“I didn’t say anything.” Her expression is unreadable to me .

But she hasn’t run away from me screaming, and that is something.

“I know what you are thinking.” Vulnerability rolls through me. “I promised you we don’t steal human consorts, and here I am suggesting breeding between our races. But this is different. A solution that relies on choice and freedom. Our people once wanted to live in each other’s lands. To intermingle. Humans have a far longer life span here, so close to the source of their magic. Their power is vastly increased. I hope they would make a home in these lands.”

“The idea of having humans here was that repulsive to your people that they exiled you?” Her eyebrows shoot up.

“Humans have their prejudices and we have ours,” I grumble. “I think the bigger outrage was suggesting they move to the forests where they would initially lead a more primitive existence.”

By the time we return to the Frozen River Fortress, the cold has thoroughly seeped into my bones and I don’t know if I will ever feel warm again. We drop the air shields as the icy claws of the wind are cut off by the high walls.

I turn to Cyprien. “Are you ready to talk? I think you have had enough time to mull over what you have seen here.”

“I am ready to talk.”

“Lilly?” I ask. A shadow of a smile curls her lips, and she dips her head in agreement.

I lead the party to the great hall, stalking with built up frustration.

The hearths rage with crackling fires and a wall of warmth hits me upon entering, making my frozen skin sting with a thousand prickles. A banquet table is set with hot, spiced wine and a spread of nuts and dried fruits, but I ignore them, rounding on Cyprien.

“Do you stand with me?” I demand. “Or do you stand against me?”

I have had enough of uncertainty.

Cyprien kneels. “I stand with you, my king. My loyalty is to you and my soldiers are yours. I will help you dispose of the high chancellor and gain your throne again.”

There is a blaze of passion within his eyes, and he is going to need it to do half of what he pledges .

Lilly kneels beside him, an arm crossed over her chest, fist clenched. “I stand with you, my king.”

“Good.” I reach down an arm to each of them, and pull them up.

I grasp Cyprien by the shoulders, and he places his arms on mine. “I have needed you. The gods know I have I needed you.”

He gives me a curt nod.

I hide the wave of relief that crashes through me. This man doesn’t know it, but he had the power to break me. I never want to be that weak and vulnerable again.