19

19

M any hours later, as the sun began to creep over the horizon, Brecan returned, sporting dark circles and a bruised cheek that no doubt matched his injured pride. A muscle flickered in his jaw. “Mira is worried sick. She needs to get you ready for the day.”

I wasn’t ready to face the day, or to return to my room.

“Ready for what?” There was no way Tauren wanted to see me.

“You’re traveling to Sector Three, to a children’s medical ward.”

Witches rarely fell ill. Until their time on earth drew to an end, they barely even aged. But I’d never considered the people in the Lowers. I’d never given any thought to children falling ill or dying.

Silently, I stood, watching the garden for any other signs that Ela was gone. The leaves drooped on their stems, the edges curling slightly in on themselves, but they hadn’t fallen. “Is every garden like this?” I rasped.

Brecan nodded. “The trees and grass, too. Most are saying it’s just an early fall, but you know who they’ll look to once everything dies.”

“ If it does. A new Priestess can replenish the earth and stop the death spreading across it.”

Brecan didn’t respond, he just waited as I walked toward him, and then he did what he came to do. He escorted me to my room and lurked in the hallway while Mira flitted around me like a crazed moth.

Finally she went still, her lips pinched tightly together. She stuck her dainty, ebony finger in my face and squinted at me. “You… you love him,” she whispered accusingly. “You can pretend not to, but now I know the truth.”

“I barely know him.”

“You bound your soul to his, Sable. Even the best of friends would never do that.”

She was right. I wasn’t sure how it happened, or how he slipped so easily through the walls I’d erected around my heart, but I loved Tauren. Did it happen the moment he stumbled up to my table, or even before that, when I thought he might have been the boy I was meant to hang? Or did it blossom when I received his invitation, or the subsequent profession that he was sincere about his reason for sending it? All I knew was that something in him was mine, and something in me belonged to him. I couldn’t let anyone snuff that out. That was all I could think of. All that mattered .

I showered quickly, the steam clouding the mirror. Mira was frozen, staring into it when I stepped out, wrapping myself in a towel. “What do you see?”

Her braided hair trembled. “Sable?”

“Yes?” I replied, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my body.

“We are being recalled to The Gallows. The Circle demands that we return immediately.”

Fate roared in response. My skin turned molten and flushed bright red. My hair grew several inches at once. I expected ashy scales to erupt on my flesh and for fire to pour out of my mouth and nose.

Mira moved away, putting her hands out in defense. “I’m sorry.”

“I wouldn’t hurt you. This is Fate,” I gritted. “I can’t leave.”

She gulped. “Brecan!”

The door to my room burst open and Brecan ran into the washroom. He looked from Mira to me and sucked in a deep breath. “It’s getting worse.”

The dark stain had spread from my fingers, up my arms, and over to my collarbone. Inching up from my toes, it had spread to mid-thigh.

And I was hot. So hot.

“Stop hurting her!” Brecan shouted.

Mira started chattering about the message she received and what she’d seen from me afterward.

He cursed. “Mira, tell them that Sable is unable to leave. Fate forbids it. She cannot physically leave the Prince.”

Fate began to ease his grip on me .

But Brecan wasn’t finished. “And tell them that I refuse to leave Sable. You should go back so you don’t get in trouble.”

“I’m not leaving,” she said, balling her fists. A handle blew off the sink’s faucet and sprayed water across the room, catching us all off guard. Mira regained her composure and quickly raised her hand, using her affinity to stop the fountain, promising to repair the handle.

She stood up straight and spoke into the still-steamy mirror. “Fate won’t allow Sable to leave the Prince at this time, and Brecan and I wish to stay with her.”

Suddenly, a blurry image emerged on the steam-coated surface. “Bay?”

He tilted his head. “Can you see me, Sable?”

“Yes.”

“You truly can’t leave?”

“ I can’t.”

Mira chimed in, “Fate was furious when I gave her your message.”

Bay looked at me with concern in his dark blue eyes. “Were you injured?”

“No, but if I attempted to leave Tauren, I would be.”

He took in a deep breath. His wavy gray hair undulated like surface water. His dark blue eyes speared mine. “We need you here, but it’s too dangerous to bring the Prince to Thirteen now.”

“Why do you need me?” I asked, ticking my head back in surprise. “Why is it dangerous for him to enter our sector?”

“Has Mira told you that Ela is dying?”

“Yes. ”

He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. “Sable, if Ela dies, Cyril – your mother – will wake.”

“What?” I could feel my brows touch.

“If Ela dies, Cyril will wake,” he said again, sterner and louder than before. I’d heard his words, but didn’t understand what he was saying.

“My mother is dead.”

He shook his head. “No one could kill her. Not even the four of us together. So, we did the only thing we could.”

“What did you do?” I whispered.

“Ela bound her in the soil.”

My throat constricted. I could almost feel particles of dirt inside my nostrils. Caked in my throat. The taste of a grave in my mouth.

They buried her alive. She’d been under the earth for seventeen years.

I wrapped my arms around my ribs, unable to breathe. No wonder they were frightened. If someone buried me and held me in the soil for even a moment, I’d claw my way out and make them pay for every suffocating, agonizing second.

Bay was still talking, but the cool air from my room was thinning the steam. Bay began to fade. “Brecan, turn the hot water on again,” Mira instructed, closing the washroom door and stuffing a towel into the space at the bottom of the door. We waited as the steam built and for Bay’s face to grow bolder again.

The first words he spoke were, “Sable, you need to be on constant guard.”

“Why? She is no longer Fate’s chosen. Why are you frightened?” I asked .

Bay shook his head. “Even without Fate, she’s one of the strongest witches to have ever lived.”

My mother no longer required Fate’s powers, and that was a terrifying thing to consider. Could she really be as big a threat as they believed her to be?

“Witches are trying to kill the Prince,” Mira blurted.

Bay went still. “You know this for certain?”

Mira looked to me. “Yes,” I answered.

“Likely cast-outs from the House of Fate.”

That’s what Brecan suspected, but hearing it confirmed by a Priest sent goosebumps over my skin. Brecan stood a few inches taller beside me.

“How will you contain her?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Without your help, Sable, we can’t.”

“ My help? I have no affinity.”

“Only a witch of Fate can end her. And if you can’t bring yourself to do that, you could use the power of your blood connection to bind her once more. Though you won’t be able to do it in the earth.”

Fate confirmed his statement with a gentle warmth, but soon that warmth turned hotter, scorching my marrow. He wanted my mother to burn.

But if I couldn’t leave Tauren, how did he expect me to end her? How could I get close enough to? Unless she was coming here, for him. The thought made me welcome Fate’s flame.

If I finally saw my mother face-to-face, would I be strong enough to do what Fate or the Circle required? I had so many questions. “What did she do to deserve the punishment meted out? ”

My grandmother lied to me – to everyone – about her death, but hadn’t the foresight to see she would escape her prison of roots and soil. I wanted to know what she’d done to garner such a harsh punishment.

Suddenly, Bay was gone.

Mira called his name, but it was no use. Brecan turned the shower off.

“Do either of you know anything about my mother?”

Mira shook her head, but Brecan refused to look me in the eye.

“You know something.”

He put a finger to his lips. “I won’t speak of it here.”

A knock at the door startled all three of us.

Mira let out a pent-up breath. “It’s just your schedule. I wonder what time you’ll leave with Tauren today?” She was trying her best to remain cheerful, but the morning’s revelation had set us all on edge. Brecan and I waited as Mira went to retrieve the paper.

He still wouldn’t look me in the eye. “I have to shower. I’ll be back soon.”

Clutching my towel tighter, I nodded and watched as he left the washroom.

Mira returned a moment later, looking pale. “You leave just after breakfast and will return this evening. Sable…”

“What?”

“Escorts are not allowed to go with you on this outing.”

A key turned in the lock to my door. Mira and I stepped into the bedroom and watched as the Queen and her guards stepped in. “You’re dismissed,” she said to Mira in a cold tone .

Quiet as a ghost, Mira slipped through the small entourage and out the door.

Rage roiled in the Queen’s eyes. I called on her residue to find that it was gone. Her guards, four hulking men whose arms were larger than my waist, looked straight ahead at nothing at all.

The Queen’s golden eyes locked onto my stained fingertips, tracking the ichor up my arms and across my chest.

I clutched my towel tighter to my body.

“Your grandmother is dying,” she said slowly.

“I know.” But I wondered how she’d learned of it.

“I know what she did to your mother.”

I hadn’t known until moments ago. The thought of being trapped in the soil made a shudder roll through me. “My earliest memory was of my grandmother telling me my mother was dead.” I didn’t elaborate on how Ela told me she’d died. “I just learned of her lie.”

The Queen stalked forward and didn’t mince words. “After we were married, your mother came to the castle often. Lucius said it was for readings, and I believe him when he said he wasn’t unfaithful. Cyril didn’t want him… she wanted his crown.”

I pursed my lips. It was painted all over her face that she thought I was no better than my scheming, manipulative mother.

“I’m sure that when she rises, it and you will be the first things she comes for. She’s powerful, Sable.”

“I know that.”

“Are you being honest when you say you want to protect my son? Because he’s a good man. He doesn’t deserve to be hurt. He certainly doesn’t deserve to be killed.”

“I bound my soul to his, Queen Annalina. If anything happens to him, if anyone mortally injures him, my soul will guard his. He will live.”

“And you?”

“I will accept his fate.”

“You would die for Tauren?” Her face blanched. A tear rolled from the corner of one eye. “Truly?”

I’d seen the Queen plenty of times since arriving at the palace. Never was a hair out of place. She remained poised, showed grace, and most of all, was the strong anchor on which the King depended. You could see the love between them as they presented themselves as a united front. This was the first time I’d seen her the least bit undone.

I should’ve expected nothing less from a mother who loved her son.

“Tauren isn’t very happy about the spell I used to bind us, but yes.” I took a deep breath before continuing, “I may not know very much about my mother, but I know without a doubt that I’m not like her.”

Her brows furrowed. “Do you care for Tauren?”

I swallowed. I couldn’t tell her how I felt when I hadn’t even told Tauren.

She nodded, straightening her spine and her suit jacket. “Thank you, Sable. I just pray that you are stronger than Cyril, and that you never give in to the darkness that consumed her.” Again, her eyes caught on my stained flesh.

Did she see the same spread over my mother’s skin ?

Queen Annalina left as quickly as she’d come, her brawny guards trailing behind.

A moment later, Mira slipped back into the room. “Are you okay?” she asked, concern shining in her eyes.

“She knows about Ela’s failing health.”

“How?” she gasped, clutching her chest.

“Someone from Thirteen must have told her.”

“If the Circle knew someone was reporting to the King and Queen…”

“It could be a Circle member, for all we know.”

Mira was holding a black garment in her hand. “We made this for you to wear today.”

“Do you know what the other women will be wearing?”

“They’ll all be in pastels, of course,” she said disgustedly. “All of them are wearing their hair up in twists and braids.”

“I’d like to wear mine down.” Not only would it set me apart, it might conceal the stain if it spread farther up my neck.

She nodded. “Straight or curled?”

“You decide.” I didn’t care, but knew she did. Mira reveled in the details.

She’d made me a pair of dark trousers and a turtleneck to match. I held the shirt up. “It should hide the stain,” she suggested.

“Thank you,” I said, clutching the shirt to my chest and wondering how long anything would conceal it.

“You still don’t know what it is or why it’s spreading?”

I shook my head. “I wish I did.”

“There must be a reason,” she reassured. “I’ll get the hair iron ready while you dress. ”

In the end, she ironed my hair and applied my makeup lightly; slight, dusky brown shimmering eyelids and peach cheeks with kohl-rimmed eyes. She motioned to a pair of sleek black witch boots near the door, complete with pointed toes and a broad heel. I grinned as I went to tie them on. “They’re perfect.”

I finished the look with a short pair of matching gloves.

Brecan brooded in the hallway. “I want you to see if Tauren will make an exception and allow me to go.”

“I’m not asking him for that.”

“Why not?” he asked, his pale brow rising.

“I’m not sure if you noticed how angry he was, but I’m probably the last person he wants to speak to today.”

“The cameras will be rolling. He’ll have to speak to you,” Brecan argued, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re leaving the palace, traveling into a sector you’ve never visited. There are a thousand places for a would-be assassin witch or witches to hide. His guards cannot keep him safe if you have to go after them. But I can.”

“I know you can, but I need you and Mira to do something for me while I’m gone.”

He stood up straighter. “What?”

Mira’s brows furrowed. “Name it.”

“Protect the King and Queen.”

Mira’s eyes grew wide. “Are they in danger?”

“If someone wants Tauren dead, if they want the crown, they’ll have to remove his parents first.”

Brecan shifted his weight on his feet. “Then I want you to promise me something in return.”

“What? ”

“If an attack occurs, protect Tauren, but do not leave his side. Don’t go after the witches. They’ll eventually plan an ambush for you if they know you’ll run after them. And if you leave Tauren unprotected, they’ll strike. We know there are at least two, but many more were cast out of the House of Fate when Cyril was buried. Who knows how many are involved in this scheme?”

I nodded. He was right. “I promise.”

Seeming satisfied, he and Mira vowed to keep a close eye on Lucius and Annalina.