Her silence is telling.
I meander around the room, taking in the priceless fae artifacts that litter the surfaces, simply sitting on shelves out in the open in a casual display of power. Some of these trinkets I recognize, having seen them in books during my schooling inDead City. Each one is worth my weight in gold. Some haven’t been seen in centuries, but they’re just lying around, strewn about like baubles from a peddler’s stall.
‘I am a spy for the Underhill.’ I glance at her. ‘But of course you know that already.’
Fiana glides across the room and sits daintily in the chair behind the round desk, looking at me expectantly. ‘Warrior may have mentioned something.’
I wave a flippant hand that could be read as me working a conjure, and I note that she doesn’t even tense. Either she’s a fool who’s overconfident in her abilities, or she is a very powerful magick-worker herself. But when I reach for her magick with mine, it’s markedly different from anything I’ve ever sensed before, and yet strangely familiar. She doesn’t feel like a mage, but where have I felt this brand of strength before?
The Harbinger.
Her power feels like Lia’s, or at least very similar.
And a bit like Bryn’s now I come to think of it.
‘There was a time,’ I begin, ‘just after Gaila, the First, rebuilt the Underhill, that its standing as a formidable realm in its own right was practically a given. But that power has been squandered over the past two decades. The Houses squabble amongst themselves. Their intrigues and games, fears and bureaucracy, have made them weak. Every fae of the Underhill can see it, though they pretend that they cannot.’
Fiana sits back, her eyes guileless, but I’m not fooled for a moment. She’s assessing me deeply. ‘Go on.’
‘When I heard stories of what you’re building here in the Dark, I knew I had to find you. Join your court if you’d have me. The Underhill is a snake eating its own tail. It won’t last much longer. Soon, it’ll be ripe for you to take it, succeed where Varrik failed.’
Fiana regards me for a moment, and then smiles darkly. ‘What makes you think ruling the Underhill was ever my plan?’ she asks.
I’m thrown for a moment, though I hide it well. Wasn’t this what everything has been about? The Underhill has locked itself down in fear of this fae female for years, sure that she was going to try to find a way into the fold by any means necessary as her mentor, Varrik, did. Countless spies like me were sent out into the Dark to thwart her over the years, many never returning.
‘Is it not?’
She makes a noise between a snort and a scoff. ‘The Underhill was Varrik’s endgame, not mine. I have much bigger plans.’
I sit down opposite her, wondering if she’ll speak freely. She’s arrogant enough, I decide, sure that she and her empire are infallible. She won’t see me as a threat despite her flattery regarding my magick.
‘Would you care for refreshment?’ she asks.
I chuckle. ‘Wasn’t your servant just blinded by Fate?’
She smiles. ‘I have many who would beg for a place at my feet, to cater to my every desire. Male and female alike.’
‘I don’t doubt it, my lady. Your court is impressive, much more so than the Underhill has ever been. Surely, it can’t get much bigger, or more powerful. It makes me wonder what your endgame is if it’s not to take the Underhill.’
She preens slightly under my praise, but I pretend I don’t notice.
‘Look out of the window,’ she says lightly. ‘Tell me what you see…Locke, isn’t it?’
‘It is.’
I give her an indulgent smile as I rise and go to the window. I gaze out over the land, trying not to look as shocked as I feel. There are humans everywhere. Thousands. They toil in fieldsas far as the eye can see. There are rows and rows of uniform buildings behind high walls where I see more of them laundering at great water-filled vats, or at outdoor looms, or spinning wheels. There’s barely a guard in sight.
‘Gods,’ I make myself chuckle. ‘I thought there was a slave scarcity in the Dark once the Breach to the Light was closed. How many do you have?’
‘Here? Three thousand. But I have farms all over the Dark, now. The humans will breed like rabbits. The key is to make the females feel safe.’
I glance back at her. ‘But they’re such timid beings. How do you ensure such a thing?’
‘Various conjures. What else? Each of those creatures down there is happy. They want to be here. They’re glad they can help their betters. I give their inane little lives meaning.’
‘Impressive. But how can you possibly work conjures that span so far, and in multiple Circles? It’s such a vast distance.’
‘True.’ I feel her come up behind me. ‘Varrik never reached such heights, not like I have.’
