AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I do too. “I decide what to do with my magic.”
“Not anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Because you are now the Summer king’s adopted royal subject.”
What does that mean?
14
CHLOE
“The Summer king’s subject” sounds like the commander means I’m under his king’s rule, but I’m a Spring fairy, not a Summer one. “I can’t be the Summer king’s subject.”
“Not directly, no, but you can come under his protection.”
“If I have no magic, I don’t need his protection. I’m of no use to anyone, and I can return to my village.”
“Even with no magic, you are a royal widow and maybe even a convict in the Spring Court, and if they do convict you, they’ll take your head.”
“In that case, don’t you think I should leave the fae lands? I can round off the tips of my ears, and you can help me by putting me on a lycan ship that sails for the savage lands of Kilselei or even Stenan lands, where I can live as a Stenan female.”
“Not a bad plan,” he says. “But my plan is better than yours. Ready?”
“No.”
He smiles. “My king will behave in your best interest. I promise you.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because he loves power, and if I’m wielding your magic, you are his proxy in the Spring Court. Trust me, he will protect you with all his might.”
I frown. “You took on my magic so your king will spare my life?”
“My duty is to my king.”
A portal appears. It doesn’t pop or burst or sparkle into existence. It rises from the floor like a fast-growing tree. I recognize my magical signature laced with the commander’s. It reads as if he placed boundaries around my light, and now the magic flows freely within its borders, but not outside, over, or above them.
“So this is what order feels like,” I say.
He chuckles. “I’m not done yet.” The portal solidifies into a perfect arch made of glass. Stones from the pile of dirt the commander “swept” away from the cell trail over the floor and begin to form around the glass to make a doorway of sorts. The glass parts down the middle and opens, revealing the swirling magic of a portal that’s still on the way to reaching its destination. The swirling stops, and on either side of the door, green flames ignite, illuminating the space beyond.
“How extraordinary,” the commander says.
“Right. Who knew it could make a door. And flame.”
“It’s a gateway,” he says. “Not a portal. The portals move us from one place to the next, but we have to know where in order to set them up. The gateways allow us to use old magical pathways woven throughout our world. They are said to come from the well itself. Only the fates can use them.” He stares at me.
“I’m no fate.”
“Can your magic travel through time?” he asks. “Present, past, the future?”
I shake my head. “Nothing like that, no.”
“Hm. Have you ever been tested and had your magic classified?”
“Yes, at the military academy. I tested as a weak astralum, so I didn’t qualify. They sent me back home.”
