“I’ve missed you too. Unfortunately, things are far worse than before, and I’m here on a very important mission.” I fill her in on the highlights of everything that’s happened, including why we haven’t been able to send a raven.
“I knew we should have sent one to you. Catarina can see through her raven’s eyes, and I kept asking her to send it to find you. She insisted that you were traveling and that she checked in on you in her dreams. She swore you were fine.”
I shrug. “Honestly, she was right, until recently.”
Karyl’s shiny black braid swings over her shoulder. “I’ve had enough of this hiding. If the rebels are on the brink of war, we need to join the fight.”
“You are no warrior,” Queen Nyxadora says from the door, the handle of a large basket of herbs slung over her elbow. When she sees me, she spreads her arms, and I accept her enveloping hug.
“I don’t have to be a warrior to help, Mother! I’m sure there’s plenty I can do.”
Catarina walks in the door, breaking up the start of what could be a major squabble. “Do you have enough?” I ask her.
“I think so. Without knowing exactly how much water is in each barrel, there’s no way to to be certain of the final concentration. I’ll make as much elixir as I can with the ingredients I have on hand. The rest will be up to you. Although, I’ll warn you again that this is expulsion magic, and if the spell can’t be expelled, it could kill the children.”
“Kill the children?” Nyx drops the basket in her hands and gives me an incredulous look.
“It’s a risk we have to take. They are bound.” I explain it all again for her to hear.
The former queen studies me for a long, hard moment. “How did you free my son from his bonds?”
I can follow what she’s getting at. I am the key. In theory, I should be able to break the charm on the children. “I threw the object binding him into the fire. I don’t know exactly how I did it, but I think it had to do with my house being possessed by my ancestors.”
Catarina scratches a mole on her chin that’s sprouted a gray hair. “It’s a wise question, Nyxadora. She is the key.”
“I am,” I confirm. “But my ancestors say that it would take them days to develop a potion that would serve as anantidote. None of my ancestors understands elf magic. We’d need to capture and study an infected child, and there’s no way to do that without putting the resistance at risk.”
The witch lights up from within, her eyes sparkling. “I understand elf magic, Eloise. We don’t need the child. We only need to augment my recipe with your blood.”
I reach out to Phantom and have a quick conversation with Aunt Sara. “How do we know it will work without testing it on a child?”
Catarina takes a deep breath. “We don’t, my dear. It’s all theory. But I believe it will have a better chance of success than my expulsion elixir alone. Come, let’s get started.” She leads the way into the kitchen and doles out roots, branches, and berries to each of us, instructing us how to prepare the ingredients for the cauldron. I’m handed a thick branch and a knife to peel the bark. Katarina mashes berries with a mortar and pestle, and Nyx dices a hefty bunch of herbs with all the dexterity of a woman who has spent most of her life not having to cook for herself.
“Now that you’re healed and we have a plan, tell me, when did you find the dragon, Eloise?” Catarina asks.
Nyx and Karyl stop what they’re doing and stare at me.
“You have a dragon?” Karyl asks.
Catarina laughs. “She rode it here. Magnificent beast.”
“I thought it was dead,” Nyx says.
“I found her bones in the bowels of Mount Damocles. She is dead.” I concentrate on my bark, finishing one branch and grabbing the next.
“You resurrected the dead?” Catarina says in a grave tone edged with accusation.
“No,” I say, meeting her eyes. “The dragon’s flesh is inhabited by my ancestors and is the anchor to my spirit magic. I did not raise a dead dragon. I possessed a dragon body with the anchor of my power.”
The spoon in Catarina’s hands slips from her fingers and clatters to the floor. She curses and tosses it into the sink, grabbing another one.
“Can we go back to the part where my sister-in-law rode a dragon here? Where is this dragon?” Karyl asks, eyes wide.
“Phantom comes when I beckon them.”
Nyx is chopping again, slowly, methodically. “This is good news. The dragon is powerful. Surely, Stygarde will be ours again. We will avenge Malek’s murder.”
I wince. She has no idea the agreement we made with Jaqual. Am I to be the one to tell her? Hell no. Certainly, she should hear from her own son that their ruling line might end with this battle. “The only thing that will help us win this battle is more warriors,” I say carefully. “We need every free citizen to fight as they’ve never fought before. We are outnumbered, and they have magic we don’t have. They also have our children.”
