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Palaria’s face pinched. “She was only sixteen when she returned home.”
“It would seem sixteen is old enough.”
She scoffed and raised her fist to her lips. “I can’t believe she’d jeopardize our situation like that. What if she’d gotten pregnant?”
She would have given birth to her only daughter, Palaria’s only other heiress, in human territory. I wonder if the humans would have known the child was magical from its birth. Most humans didn’t know the signs to look for and couldn’t feel the energy that thrummed around fae. I brushed my fingers over my zevar—the stone Palaria wouldn’t allow Lira to have or even know about. She didn’t want her magic bound yet, though I didn’t know why. I didn’t question Palaria unless I had no other choice. Anyway, Lira wouldn’t have gotten pregnant with a human. She was much too cautious for that, and she knew the repercussions of revealing her magic in front of humans. Exile at best, possibly death.
Lira may not have loved her situation in life, but she wasn’t eager to end up in trouble, either.
“I’m sure she was careful.” I finished the last ribbon and turned towards the mirror. My hair was gloriously sex tangled. God damn it I was mad I didn’t get to finish that destruction. I pulled pins out but would have to remember to thank Lira later. No, that wasn’t fair. Her mother was the interruption, after all. But I wouldn’t speak back to Palaria. She didn’t allow it. If a girl crossed a line with her, she put a swift—and sometimes brutal—end to it. She was good to our group but held our powers in a choking clenched fist. One time she’d taken all the magic from a girl—Mary. We couldn’t survive without it. Magic was like blood in our veins. Mary died a few days later. It left the group somber… and obedient. I shook my head as I checked for any remaining pins. “Lira is always careful; she thinks through things.”
Palaria paced across the floor, the heel of her boots clicking. “That’s what I’m worried about.”
“She’s probably just taking time to herself.” She hadn’t wanted to go through with getting pregnant and handing a child off to Palaria. Which was reasonable. I could see Lira’s perspective even if our magic intertwined with her choices.
“I thought so too.” Palaria turned and started another rhythmic stride across the floor. “I’ve looked everywhere and there wasn’t a scrap of evidence that she finished the job in the room.”
I swept my hair into a chignon and tucked the loose strands around it before sliding pins through them. It wouldn’t surprise me if she hadn’t killed the man, even if it pissed her mother off. She probably helped him escape. Hopefully she used her song to make sure he forgot her, but I wasn’t sure she’d do that even. “Then we can wait here another day. She’ll turn up. And if she didn’t finish, we can find him and do it later.”
Palaria stopped her pacing. “If she doesn’t turn up?”
I shrugged. “Then you can pass the magic to someone else.”
“I can’t.” A streak of terror rippled through her voice, and I turned towards her. Palaria was many things: firm, cruel, kind, beautiful, protective, fierce. She was never unsure or trembling.
“What do you mean you can’t?”
“I’ve already imprinted the magic on her.”
“What?” The word comes out of me in a gasp of air. “Why?”
Her expression hardened at me questioning her, but God damn it she just broke the news that she’d already ensured she could pass the magic to no one but Lira. I didn’t understand why she would mark her before Lira had consented to take the magic and leadership of our group. Without her consent, the powers wouldn’t pass and that put us in a damn precarious situation. Palaria’s brow furrowed which made her look older. “The imprint was to help her prepare for taking the magic and to give her a sense of urgency."
If she’d run as Palaria assumed, that plan had backfired.
She sighed. “Plus, I vowed our magic to King Carrington and swore the powers would only go to my daughter. That’s part of our pact for living on the continent.”
I raised my chin. A magical vow was no small thing, and one locking our powers to the Seelie King had repercussions I couldn’t even consider. Our magic would always belong under his authority unless he revoked the vow at some point. I’d always wondered how we lived outside the fae realms. “Why would the king care who inherited your magic?”
She scraped a pale finger along the back of a chair, dust unfurling with her touch. “The King has several groups of fae living among the humans currently. He’s made pacts with all of us. We’re free to live here and do as we wish with the humans as long as we don’t cause too great a stir and our magic remains potent. That’s why Lira must take my powers and do so by the blood moon. I’ve assured King Carrington it would be done by then since my powers have begun to wane. He may desire us to use our magic for his benefit in the future.”
I stepped back. “Do you mean in a war?”
“Don’t be dramatic, Margo,” she said, but didn’t deny it. “We must find Lira. If I don’t pass the magic to her by the blood moon—”
“The King could execute us for breaking the vow.” He’d probably claim we lived among the humans unauthorized. No fae would stop him from enforcing that rule. We apparently lived here at his mercy, and if Palaria had vowed her daughter would hold our group’s magic, building up the powers in fresh blood, then he could do as he wished with us. Without Lira taking the magic, we were useless to him and a liability at that. If the Prasanna court discovered that Carrington had authorized fae to live among humans, it could incite trouble for him. No, we’d either be his tools, or he’d dispose of us quickly.
The cold reality of the situation sat between us for a minute.
“So, do you know where she is?” Palaria asked.
“Me?”
She glared at me, the insecurity and fear tucked back under her formidable shield. “Yes, you. I’m aware she confides in you.”
“She hasn’t told me anything except that she was unhappy about doing this.” She’d been more reserved than usual in the last few weeks. I thought that was disquiet about the situation. Could she have harbored some plan to escape? She didn’t know that abandoning us could be a death sentence. She hadn’t lived among us when Mary died. Palaria didn’t want her to know much about our magic, and Lira fought the little she tried to teach her. Lira had once whispered to me, late, when I’d already closed my eyes and perhaps she thought I was asleep, that Palaria would be the villain in any of the books she read. I’d not responded and brushed the idea aside. Lira took issue with our magic, but perhaps she’d been right if Palaria had made such a deal with the Seelie King.
Palaria’s eyes hardened so that they appeared navy, and she bobbed her head. “Then we’ll have to involve magic.”
