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“As to that, I do know that the Shining-Shadow will punish any it deems unworthy if they attempt to sit it and use its power,” Stableforth said thoughtfully. “Though I am not certain if the punishment is as cruel and deadly as that of the Shadow Throne. I would think that being merged with the Shining Throne would temper it with mercy.”
“What’s that you’re saying?” Asfaloth snapped, finally taking notice of us. He rose to his feet and sauntered over, rubbing his head and further knocking the Sun Crown askew. “What are you even doing here?” he asked, glaring rudely at Stableforth. “Who let an Unseelie half-breed like you into the Summer Court?”
“No one let him in,” I snapped. “And Master Stableforth is a centaur.”
“I know what the fuck he is, but he doesn’t belong here—not in my kingdom, you little whore,” Asfaloth snarled.
“Watch how you speak to my wife!” Liath stepped forward, his eyes blazing as he glowered down at my cousin.
Asfaloth glared back.
“What are you doing here?”
“We banished you to the dungeon!” Calista snapped, coming to stand beside her brother.
“I released my husband since you would not,” I said, lifting my chin. “I freed him from the iron.”
“You? You couldn’t free a frog from a pond,” Asfaloth sneered.
“I have magic now,” I told them. “Enough to tear down the Great Divide—which is why all the floors have changed colors and the throne is not the same.”
“You’re the one who broke the throne?” Asfaloth demanded.
“Broke it? What the fuck do you mean?” Liath said.
“He means that we were just sitting in it when it suddenly shoved us out and we wound up on the floor!” Calista complained. She narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you telling us you had something to do with that, you little freak?”
“I’ll only say it one more time—keep a civil tongue in your mouth when you speak to my wife!” Liath growled at her.
Calista turned pale and took a step behind her brother.
“I don’t have to listen to you! I am Queen of the Summer Court and my brother is the King!” she snapped, from the safety of Asfaloth’s shadow.
“Not anymore, I think,” Stableforth said, frowning. “Not now that the two Realms have merged. The Shining-Shadow Throne will choose its own ruler or rulers,” he added, glancing at me and Liath.
Asfaloth saw the look the centaur gave us and his face twisted into an ugly sneer.
“If the Realms have merged as you say, then my sister and I will be twice as powerful!” he exclaimed. Taking Calista’s hand, he pulled her towards the dais where the new throne sat. “Come—we must take our rightful places!”
“I would not do that if I were you,” Stableforth called to them. “While the Shining Throne had no mechanism for rejecting an unworthy candidate, the Shining-Shadow most certainly does.”
“What is he blathering about?” Calista demanded, as she and Asfaloth climbed the steps to the throne together.
“Nothing that needs to concern us, dear sister,” Asfaloth said smugly. “Come—sit with me and we shall rule over both the Seelie and the Unseelie Reams together!”
“I really don’t think—” Stableforth began, but it was too late—the two of them were sitting side by side on the new, silver throne with smug looks on their perfect faces.
But a moment later, their faces began to change.
“Brother—I am stuck!” Calista cried.
“So am I—why can’t I move?” Asfaloth exclaimed. He seemed to be twitching in his seat, though he could make no large movements, and so was Calista. I remembered how it had felt to be judged by the Shadow Throne—how it seemed as though invisible bonds held me in place. Was that what was happening now?
Suddenly, a brilliant beam of rainbow light shot from the diamond in the back of the new throne. It bifurcated into two beams which passed directly into the back of both Asfaloth and Calista’s heads.
I winced and squeezed my eyes nearly shut, waiting for the inevitable carnage. But to my surprise, it didn’t come. Instead, a voice began to speak. It sounded a little like the Shadow Throne, but it was higher and more melodious.
“Denied” it declared. “On the grounds of narcissism, selfishness, cruelty, pettiness, and the dreadful misuse of your magic.”
“What…what are you saying?” Asfaloth croaked. “My sister and I…never misused our magic.”
“Never—we never did!” Calista squealed, agreeing with her brother.
“You have both been weighed in the balance and found wanting,” the throne informed them. “Your punishment is the removal of your magic and a sentence of Mortality.”
“What? What are you saying?” Asfaloth gasped. But as he spoke, the beam of light that was coming from the fist-sized diamond at the back of the throne seemed to somehow reverse itself. Instead of pouring into him and Calista, it appeared to be sucking something out of them. Don’t ask me how I knew that, but it was very clear to me somehow.
