A Crown of Cursed Hearts (Kingdom of Blighted Thorns #3)

33. Tempest

33

TEMPEST

“ A s I said, his trial will be with stone.” Aunt Vera left the parlor and walked down the hall to the kitchen with me beside her. “And yours will be with water, the element of Lydel Court.”

“As Reyla pointed out, I can’t swim very well.”

“Then you’d better be good at holding your breath.”

I frowned. “The core would let me drown if I couldn’t claim it?”

“You’ll swallow it. To claim it you must prove yourself worthy.”

Of course. This would be no simpler than anything else I’d already faced.

“That’s why Vexxion took the pabrilleen pendant,” she said. “It belonged to Weldsbane. He’ll need it.”

“He can have anything .”

“All that man is and everything he will one day be belongs to you. Always trust that.” She opened the back door, and we stepped outside onto the broad landing overlooking the courtyard. Holding the rail, she sucked in a deep breath of night air perfumed with flowers. “I missed this place. There’s something incredibly peaceful about puttering in the garden and walking along the simple trails within this perfect part of our world.”

“Vexxion showed me my mother’s special rose garden. I wish I could remember her.”

She turned and leaned against the railing, sending me a sad smile. “Can you feel her among them? I do. After I told her you and your sister were safe, she gave every bit of herself to protect Lydel. I believe a touch of her remains in that part of the gardens.” Stepping closer to me, she fretted with a strand of my hair that had freed itself from my braid. “She loved you and Layla so much. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t have done to protect you.”

“You both arranged for my betrothal to Vexxion.”

“It was meant to unite our two courts and show a strong face to the monster sitting on Bledmire throne.”

“He didn’t know when you made the arrangement?”

“We didn’t confirm it. You were children. He would’ve killed Vexxion if he found out.”

“He used it against us. He killed Vexxion’s mother trying to find out where I was. He tortured Vexxion for most of his life. Why didn’t you help him? You left him in that horrible place among fae who happily scarred him inside and out.”

“I couldn’t help him, not without the fiend discovering what I knew. As it was, I had to cast a forget spell on myself to keep him from prying the words from my mouth. Spells like that are rarely used since they don’t last long. I’m not sure he even knows it exists. He did all he could to discover what I did, but I was able to resist him.” Determination stiffened her frame. “Or maybe he did know. He didn’t kill me. He placed me in that portrait. I initially assumed he’d drag me out periodically to prod me some more, but he didn’t. Of course, as he trapped me,” her sly smile rose, “I placed a forget spell on him .” Her smile fell, cratering her features. “Sometimes, it’s better not to know what an evil person is seeking. Then they can’t hurt you to obtain it.”

“Vexxion kept many secrets.” And I could see why, though at the time it hurt, because I thought it meant he didn’t trust me.

“He loves you. I can feel it just like I feel your mother’s love for you and Layla when I touch her roses. Try it sometime. Sit on the bench beside them and close your eyes. Let her love sink into your skin.”

If I could find time for something glorious like that. My future appeared to be full of death, not contemplation.

“I believe I’ll retire now,” she said. “I’m tired. My body tells me it’s not ready for what’s coming, but my mind says I am.” With kindness glowing on her face, she drew me into her arms for a hug. “Rest well. We’ll leave after breakfast.”

After she went inside, I walked to the rail and leaned against it, staring out at the garden, though seeing nothing.

Stay safe, Vexxion. I sent the words out into the world, though I didn’t direct them to him. He told me not to reach out to his mind, and I wouldn’t. When he was ready, he’d call to me.

I’d always be waiting .

Drask landed on my shoulder, and I stroked his gleaming feathers. “Where have you been, little buddy?” Time was slipping past at thrice its usual pace, and very little of it included those in my life who had the most value. I’d barely talked with Layla, and a longing to do so throbbed through my bones. Reyla was the sister of my heart, and I needed to make sure everything remained good between us. I wanted to get to know Airia, because I sensed she might play a pivotal role in my future. Brodine and I were friends again, and I needed to make sure that continued. And Aunt Vera was old, as she kept stating. How much longer before life stole her away?

“I’m going to my room,” I told Drask. “Want to flit with me?” I had a few things to do before everything started heating to a boil.

He cawed, which I took for agreement. A blink, and I stood in the suite I shared with Vexxion. Because it was chilly, I strode to the fireplace and used magic to light the logs placed on the grate many years ago by one of the staff now frozen in the city.

“How can I wake them?” I asked Drask.

He tilted his head, looking at me, before he pecked my cheek, though gently. Then he flew over to the perch near the window and peered out, watching as the horizon swallowed what was left of the blood-red sun.

Settling on a sofa, I tucked my feet beneath me.

I’d dreaded what I had to do.

Sleep would be a long time coming tonight.

I tugged the pouch holding the bones out of my pocket and opened the top, staring down at their bleached, desolate whiteness. Touching them had changed my life, but without the secrets they revealed, I wouldn’t have the knowledge I’d needed to save Vexxion.

After dumping the bones onto the cushion beside me, I stared at them, my own fingers clutched together against my throat. These things were both curses and saviors, instruments of despair yet also bridges to a future just beyond my reach.

Vexxion’s little boy bone cried out to me in a voice he’d bit back each time someone hurt him. Vera’s fingerbone whispered that it still held at least one more secret. I didn’t know who the third belonged to, but it was the longest and the most fragile. If I didn’t take care, one touch would snap it, and whatever memory it might be desperate to share could be gone forever.

I could ask Vera to tell me everything, but would she? The visions trapped within the bones could be too painful to give voice. Such grisly things. I hated to touch their pain, though I must.

Do it.

I stretched out my hand, but Drask squawked and flew across the room, sweeping past my shoulder close enough to brush his claws against it. He snagged the unknown finger bone and lifted off, soaring back to his perch.

“Give it back.” I leaped to my feet and rushed after him, but he darted out the open window.

“Hiding a memory, are you?” I called after him.

Stark terror shot through me.

What must I wait to see?

I stood with my hands gripping the window frame, peering through the glass, but all I received for my efforts was a steamed-up pane. My crow had flown away and taken the bone with him.

Something bigger than me or my friends was at play here, guiding us all as if we were insignificant pieces on the Wraithweave board.

The true master.

He or she would reveal themselves when the time was right or they’d cackle and slip into the shadows, never to be seen again.

I returned to the sofa and closed my eyes, reaching out to grab one of the two remaining bones. If fate was guiding me onto one path or another, then I’d let it decide if there were more visions I needed to see.

The world roared around me, and I was sucked away.

I found myself inside a large bedroom with polished wooden floorboards covered with pretty carpets, small, ornately carved wooden tables standing here and there, a fireplace with lush furniture carefully placed in front of it, and a big canopy bed draped with dark blue fabric.

Someone stirred there, a whispered rustle of blankets. I sensed what I needed to see lay in that direction.

“Ah,” Vera said in my mind. “I’m glad you’re here for this. Watch. See. Remember.”

“I understand.” I was along for this ride, and I’d let it take me where I needed to be.

“There you are,” a woman said with a jerk to her voice from behind the bedding. “I hoped I wouldn’t see you for many more years, Vera.”

“I’m sorry,” Vera said. “I prayed to the fates I wouldn’t need to come here so soon.” She remained near the door, her hands clenching and releasing by her sides. Finally, she gripped the smooth fabric of her dress tight enough I thought she’d rip it. “I promise this will make a difference.”

“You’re sure?” The woman’s voice wavered, choked off with guttural tears. She sniffed and bedding fluttered as she shifted on the soft surface. Would she part the drapes and rise?

“Am I sure about this vision?” Vera said. “Yes.”

What had she foreseen this time?

“Is this the past or the future?” I asked her.

“Watch,” she growled in my mind. “See.”

While she’d snapped, I could tell she wasn’t upset with me. No, she hated this situation and the reason she had to come here.

“Can’t I have more time?” the woman asked, her voice dropping to a desperate whisper. “I’m so tired.” The words seemed dragged from her soul.

“Of course you are. It’s expected.” Vera walked to the bed and tugged aside the drapes, revealing a pretty, pale woman lying beneath the blankets, propped up in a sitting position with pillows nestled behind her.

“Vexxion’s mother?” I asked.

“Yes.”

She held a baby. As Vera watched, she kissed the child’s forehead, her long red hair sliding over her shoulder to enfold the child much like her embrace.

“Is this Vexxion?” My greedy eyes ate his appearance, from his tiny hands clinging to her hair to his sweet little face. She’d swaddled him in a sapphire blanket that matched his eyes .

“Her name is Ellyn,” Vera said. “Watch.”

I feasted on her beauty, sad that Ivenrail had done all he could to destroy it. He’d claimed her life, but the loveliness inside her continued on. Her touch had taught Vexxion how to love, and he’d bathed me with his unending devotion.

Would he ever love me again? The ache in my chest was slowly shredding me. His indifference pierced deeper each day, turning my longing into endless torment.

“How could she sleep with Ivenrail?” I snarled.

“She grew up with him. They were childhood friends. From the time she was small, she adored him. It took her too long to see who he truly was.”

And he murdered her.

“He always was a conniving person. He took advantage of her innocent devotion,” Vera said dryly. “Even her parents didn’t see until it was much too late.”

“If she hadn’t been with him, we wouldn’t have Vexxion.” And I couldn’t imagine missing out on anything we’d done together, not even the moments when I thought he was betraying me.

“You would not, but would all of this have happened?”

“I’m sure the monster on Bledmire’s throne would’ve stumbled onto his current path.”

“Paths take wanderers in too many directions. If only I could see down them all,” she said sadly. “But enough questions. I’m here for a reason, as are you.” She held out her arms to Vexxion’s mother. “It’s time. This is the only way.”

Ellyn clung to Vexxion, holding him tight to her breasts.

“Where are you taking him?” I cried out .

“One more kiss,” Ellyn said, tears rushing down her cheeks to bathe his sweet face. “One last hug.”

“She raised him,” I said. “Yet you’re taking him?” Vera must intend to return him, or his future would’ve changed. I clung to that as reassurance because I hated to see his mother sad. “What sort of spell are you going to cast on him?”

“Stop talking,” Vera snapped in my mind.

For one moment, a serpent slick with distrust coiled across my heart, squeezing tight. Had she cast a spell that impacted Vexxion today?

“Tell me,” Ellyn pleaded, drawing my attention back to her. Her gaze clung to her child.

“You know I can’t say. If I do . . .”

“He’ll know,” Ellyn said harshly. Her chest lifted and her sigh seemed to empty out everything inside her. After giving Vexxion one last kiss, she lifted her arms, holding him out to Vera. “ Don’t tell me. Then he can’t force the information from me.”

“She knows who Ivenrail is now,” I said softly.

“Even dreamers lose hope,” Vera said with brutal honesty.

She took him from his mother.

Ellyn pressed her fist against her mouth, her face awash with tears. She reached out, tentatively at first, then with more purpose, stroking his face and smoothing her fingertips across his brow.

“Fare well, sweet love,” she cried out.

She gave way to sobs as Vera took the baby from the room.