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"They want us to go to war against each other, so they can step in at the end and defeat all of us?" I said slowly.
"Exactly." She nodded. The movement made her candle flicker.
"And you think the Court of Dreams can help stop that from happening?"
"They already are. Every time the Court of Shadows opens a portal, they piggyback their magic on to whatever is being sent through. There are Fae in the seasonal courts with the blood of the Court of Dreams. And the Court of Shadows," she added.
"When the portal opens, they can use that magic," I said.
"I think you know people who can," she said. “Who are.”
I certainly did. Tavian's visions, for one. If he had the blood of the lost courts inside him, he might be a seer. Hycanthe, whose magic increased in strength whenever a portal opened, for another.
"Shouldn't that blood be diluted by now?"
Illaria laughed softly. "Fae can bear children at hundreds of years old. Those with the blood of those courts may be children of the lost Fae. Grandchildren at most."
"Is it possible those attacks are aimed at someone in particular?" I asked carefully.
"Not only possible, it's likely," she said. "The lost courts can only be returned by a coming together of a Fae with the blood of the Court of Shadows, one with the blood of the Court of Dreams, and one whose blood transcends courts. There are some who believe it's possible to return one court and not the other. Both of those courts are trying to stop the other from being awakened. As far as we can determine, the Court of Dreams has only been defending itself."
"You sound like you know a lot about all of this," I said.
"The people I work with have been looking into this since before Cavan," she said. "We've been working in the shadows, trying to help him be heard. That's why I got exiled. My father doesn't believe any of it. A lot of people don't. Some of us wanted to approach Cavan directly, but we didn't dare reveal ourselves. If my father knew I was talking to you right now, I'd be executed in the morning. In public, as a warning to the others."
"Sounds like a loving parent," I said sarcastically.
"There's nothing my father won't do to get his way," she said. "To save face. Having a daughter who openly disagreed with him caused him humiliation. It would have been bad enough if I stood outside and told him the sky was pink. When it comes to the other courts, he has no room for leniency. Or forgiveness, which is why I'm leaving before the sun rises. I needed you to find what you came here to find. I would have taken it, but he would have known. He has eyes on me; he thinks I haven't noticed. I don't know how long it'll be before they realise I'm out of their sight."
"You should talk to Cavan," I said. "It sounds like you have the answers to a lot of his questions."
"I only know what I've told you," she said. "And that my people suspect Tavian has Court of Dreams blood on his father's side. The High Lord had a brief relationship with a priestess. Thirteen months later, he was born. That's the gestation period for Fae."
I winced. Nine months sounded like long enough to me.
"And you have suspicions about Hycanthe too," I said.
"I wasn't sure if it was her, you or Jezalyn," Illaria said. "We figured it was one of you, because things escalated after the removal of your chokers. They were dampening more than the mating urge, or your ability to speak."
"One of us has lost court blood?" I presumed it wasn't me, unless my mother carried the blood and Cavan didn't know.
"Wait, Tavian's father might be a High Lord? Does that make him the heir?"
"We can only guess at that," she replied. "We don't know who amongst those Fae still live. For all we know, one of you former maidens might be the heir to the Court of Shadows."
“My money is on Hycanthe," I said dryly. If they were as nasty as they sounded, that fit. Her money would probably be on me, so I supposed that made us even.
"You might be right, you might not. Either way, you need to find the key and, from what I gather from the map in Havenmoor, that will lead you to the place that has the answers. What might happen there, I have no idea."
"How do you know about the keys?" I asked.
She smiled humourlessly. "I'm my father's heir. He'd dearly like a better one. Preferably a male who does what he says. In the meantime, I had to know where it is, in case something happened to him."
"Where is it?" I asked.
She explained where, and how to get it.
"The trick will be getting in and out without being seen."
