‘I know what you wish,’ the faerie queen replied, giving no indication of what she felt. Her loyalty would be to Finn, surely. He had told Faye again and again how he and Levantiana were the same, brother and sister, king and queen, the two halves of the kingdom. TheywereMurias.
Faye warmed herself by a great fire in a silver brazier to her left. Around the walls were lamps and silver censers, the censers billowing out smoke fragranced with lavender, rose and jasmine.
‘Welcome to my quarters.’ Levantiana smiled and bowed slightly at the waist. She stood, looking closely at Faye’s eyes. ‘I can see Lyr’s features in yours. Lyr has taken many human lovers, as humans are most aware of his element over them all, even though you drink our waters and breathe the air and warm yourself in the fire of the sun. Without any of these things you would all die. But the mountains and the trees are the things you feel are the most real. Perhaps it is because you can cut them down and use their stones and logs to make your palaces of money.’
‘I’m one person. You can hardly blame me for generations of industrialisation,’ Faye argued back.
Levantiana remained impassive. ‘I didn’t bring you here to discuss such things.’ She regarded Faye critically. ‘This is whatyou wanted, wasn’t it? To come to my private chambers to learn our magic?’
‘Yes.’ The blinding pain in her head and her lungs as the water had taken her over was gone, as was the feeling of heaviness in the water, of the shadowy sense of despair. Faye felt a strong sense of trepidation at being back in Murias – what if Finn found her here? She had not asked Levantiana to keep her presence here a secret, nor had the faerie queen offered such a thing.
Still, Faye was determined not to be afraid. Learning the faerie magic was her only chance at being able to stand up to Finn, so she had to risk being here in the meantime, if that was what it took.
Levantiana circled Faye slowly, her blue eyes almost black in the dimly lit room. ‘You offered yourself as a weapon against Lyr. That is very serious, Faye. Before we begin, I must know that you are certain. Otherwise, our little arrangement will end.’
‘I am serious.’ Faye watched the faerie queen pace around her. ‘He is no part of my life. I hate him. He broke my mother’s heart.’
‘But you don’t know what that means. To be a weapon against him.’ Levantiana delivered it as a statement, not a question. ‘You would willingly make a bargain with me and not know the terms. That is rash, to say the least.’
‘When you say a weapon, do you mean that it would hurt me in some way? Physically?’ Faye cared nothing at all for a father she had never known, but it would be stupid of her to agree to anything that would bring harm to herself.
‘No. You are half fae and half human. That gives you certain qualities we do not have; qualities we can use to build power in Murias. Also, Lyr is famously fond of his children. When he knows of you, he will want you with him. We will use that.’
‘I don’t want him. I don’t want to know him at all,’ Faye muttered.
‘That is your concern. I wish to subjugate Falias and Gorias. If we can remove Lyr from his throne, that will go a long way to winning the war,’ Levantiana said. ‘Falias is corrupt, and the High Queen Moronoe spends all her days fucking her slaves. She will be no competition for the throne once Lyr is gone.’
‘You plan to take over Falias?’ Faye frowned.
‘No.’ Levantiana gave her an unreadable look. ‘I cannot. I am of Murias, and cannot be of anywhere else. But there can be an heir to the throne. A young heir that can be…mentored…before it comes of age.’ She smiled, narrowing her eyes.
‘What heir?’ Faye frowned.
‘That is my concern, not yours.’ Levantiana shook her head. ‘I had forgotten how wilful the Morgan women are. Your mother was the same.’
Moddie.Faye’s heart yearned for her mother. ‘Can I see my mother? While I’m in Murias?’ Faye asked.
‘No,’ Levantiana said harshly. ‘That is not allowed.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because it isn’t,’ the faerie queen retorted. ‘Do not test me, Faye Morgan, or I will send you back to the human world and you can fend off my brother with your pathetic charms for the rest of your life. Do not think I will not.’
‘Will you teach me what you taught her?’ Faye persisted. She thought about how different it was, being in Murias and feeling the lushness of the faerie world, and yet not going under and losing control as she did when she was with Finn. In Levantiana’s quarters, she was able to think. She could keep her head.
‘Yes. I will teach you the same magic as I taught her, because there is only one magic of Murias,’ Levantiana replied tersely. ‘But do not think that I will reunite you out of the goodness ofmy heart. I do not have goodness in my heart in the way that humans imagine. My heart is a faerie heart. We are different to you.’
I am closer to you now, Faye thought, ignoring Levantiana’s warnings.I am coming, Moddie. I will find you again. Somehow, I will find you.
‘You will return to live in Murias. That is your destiny, and I cannot argue with his decision. My brother has chosen you as his own,’ Levantiana said, as if Faye’s will was secondary, and as if Finn’s appetites were unquestionable. To Levantiana, she supposed that they were.I will not,Faye thought, but she said nothing.Learning faerie magic is what will protect me from him.
‘If Finn wills it, he may allow you to see your mother, one day. But I doubt that he will.’
‘Why? What would be so terrible about letting us see each other?’ Faye pressed the faerie queen. ‘Levantiana, Queen of Murias, Mistress of the Cup, I demand that you tell me,’ she said, using the faerie queen’s full name to compel her to tell the truth, as she had with Finn.
‘Because it poses too much of a risk to have two Morgan women who know the secret magic in Murias. The Morgan women have been our friends in the human world for the ages, but they have also been our bane. The balance must be kept. The Morgan women cannot have too much power, which is partly why my brother seeks to keep you as his whore,’ Levantiana said simply, and then looked shocked at the words she had spoken. ‘I…I did not intend to say so much.’
‘I want power. I need power to be able to come here as an equal to your brother. I will not be his concubine,’ Faye replied.
