AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I could only gaze up at her, filled with pride. Here was the noble Titania of legend and lore, here was the Fae Queen who terrorized and seduced mortals by the score. Here was the Lady who our own queen should be emulating. Titania knew how to be a true queen. She had only forgotten herself for a time, steeped in unhappiness and liquor. But now she was back.
She lifted the short sword with the spirit seal fastened in its hilt and brought it down on my palm, slicing through the flesh. My blood spilled into my hand and overflowed, drizzling to the floor.
"Join us," Titania said, pointing to the chalice. I raised my hand over the goblet and tipped it palm down, watching as the blood trickled into the liquid. The mist rising from the brew hissed and popped and billowed up with a violet flame.
Morgaine reached for my hand, and I let her take it. She raised it to her lips and kissed the wound, and the flesh began to heal, mending together as if an invisible seamstress were stitching it taut.
Titania turned to the dais. "Only the union of the blood of the Fae and the magic of the Moon Mother, bound together in a free agent, can free Aeval from her crystalline grave and restore her to the world of the living. I cannot strike the blow to shatter the spike since I am Aeval's opposite. Nor can Morgaine, since she aspires to the Court."
She paused, staring down into my eyes. "But you, Camille, you have both Fae blood and you are a Daughter of the Moon. And you do not covet our crowns. You shall free Aeval. Drink the elixir and then strike the crystal with the sword. Break the spell cast upon the Queen of Unseelie by those who divided the worlds and disbanded the Courts so long ago."
Her words reverberated in the chamber. Break the spell cast upon the Queen of Unseelie by those who divided the worlds and disbanded the Courts so long ago. So Aeval had been trapped since the Great Divide, and I'd be undoing a spell of immense power cast by… by… who? I cast an anxious look at Titania.
"Whose spell is it?"
She reached out and cupped my chin in her hands. "Four of the Elemental Lords joined together to forge the spell, even as they cast the spell on me to drain away most of my powers. I've managed to break free of their trap, but I cannot undo what was done to Aeval."
"And you think I can…"
"Now that you possess the horn of the Black Unicorn, you have the strength to wake her. We know what powers the horn possesses… The Elementals within the horn can strengthen your magic enough to overcome the power of those who bewitched the Courts and brought them to their knees."
Brought the Courts to their knees? I hadn't heard this part of history. "Are you saying that the Great Divide was actually a battle?"
Titania gazed at me. "Child, don't you know? The Great Divide was the greatest battle the Fae have ever waged among themselves. Those who feared the demons fought to divide the worlds in a way that unbalanced the entire sphere of existence, and things have been getting more and more skewed since then. Oh, for awhile it worked to keep the Demonkin at bay, but the system is breaking down, more portals are opening on their own. The seals long to be reunited to set the world at balance again."
Morgaine spoke up. "The plan was flawed from the beginning. The victors turned their backs on their heritage as they left for Otherworld. After they decimated the Courts of Seelie and Unseelie. So much has been lost in obscurity, but those of us who led the Courts in battle remember all too well what destruction the war brought about."
"Then, by doing this, I'm betraying my family, my home world—" Frozen with indecision, I felt like a fulcrum, caught between two worlds who balanced on my shoulders. Tonight was the equinox. Grandmother Coyote was one of the Hags of Fate. She told me that it was my destiny to help rebuild the Courts of Fae, Earthside. But what ramifications would that have back in OW? And wouldn't that just lead to more warfare?
Morgaine impatiently grabbed me by the arm and yanked me around to face her. "Your family got its start right here on Earth. You are indeed a daughter of Fae, but do you know who your ancestors were? Do you know where your father's roots lie?"
I shook my head, scared now. Something big was coming—I could feel it. Morgaine looked up at Menolly and Delilah. They were alert, ready for action.
"This involves the two of you, as well. Listen carefully. I wasn't going to reveal this, because some things are best left in the past. But if you need to feel like you aren't betraying your family, then perhaps you'd best know. Just where do you think your family tree leads back to? Well?"
"I don't know. Father said a lot of the records were lost eons ago." My teeth were chattering now, and I could barely catch my breath. Her fingers dug into my flesh, bruising my shoulders as she shook me lightly.
"Camille, look at me. What do you see? Look at me."
And I looked. Deep into Morgaine's violet eyes, into her waiflike face, at her raven-blue hair. And I saw. I saw what she was trying to tell us.
"Great Mother… you… you…"
"I'm one of your ancestors, you foolish child. You are from the same line that spawned me. We're from the original family who formed the worship of the Moon Mother long before the Great Divide. All three of you carry the same blood that I do in your own veins. Your father and I are cousins, of a sort. I may be only half-Fae, but my work with the Merlin extended my life by far longer than any mortal can ever hope to see. I will live as long as any of the full-blooded Fae. Your father was born after the worlds divided, but his grandfather and my father shared a common bond. I dug into the past when I first saw you a few months ago. Your blood sang to mine."
I abruptly sank down on the floor. A glance told me Menolly and Delilah were struck speechless. "We're family?" My greatgrandfather had died long, long before I was born, in a battle against some nameless beast in the forest. Nor had my father met him.
The Great Divide had plowed forward, ripping the worlds apart, uprooting families, destroying records, tearing asunder clans and long-established communities. But we'd always believed it had been a necessary juggernaut, something that all Fae had agreed upon to prevent the demons from tearing through the world. Now a dark cloud settled over every stitch of history we'd ever been taught.
"You might as well call me cousin. Stand up and quit your cowardice. You know what you have to do—so do it!" Her eyes narrowing, Morgaine roughly hauled me to my feet and pushed me toward the dais.
"You have a lousy way of showing your love," I grumbled, but at least she'd managed to shake me out of my fear. Even if I forever ruined my reputation in Otherworld, I knew had to do this. Knowing what I did now—that the Great Divide had been forced on the Courts—at this point, I trusted Grandmother Coyote far more than I trusted anybody back home.
The crystals jutting from ceiling and floor began to hum as I accepted the glass that Morgaine handed me. The brew swirled within, dark and deep and rich with a dozen different herbs that I could smell. The mixture bubbled softly, and I could smell my blood in it, mingling with the lifeblood from Titania's and Morgaine's veins. A glance at Menolly told me she was holding up just fine, even though she had to be smelling the spilled blood.>We were almost to the cave when I heard the first call, deep within my heart. "Camille, we need you. Come to us, girl. You are as much a part of this as we are."
"What? Who?" I stopped short, looking around.
"Who are you talking to?" Delilah asked, staring at me, a worried expression on her face.
