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The answer is clear from the look on the queen’s face, confirming my earlier thought. She doesn’t feel any guilt for this unknown sin, and she truly believes this is what she needs to do. Clearing her throat, she speaks to my mother again, but this time there’s no sign of friendship, just a queen addressing one of her subjects. “If you leave now, you will be going against my direct order.”
“Mae…” She says the name again, and I realise she said it earlier and this must have been a nickname she had for the queen, showing how deep their friendship went. That one word is full of pain and regret, but she shows no sign of backing down.
All of the queen’s frantic energy she was showing before is gone, replaced by this cool, detached person that I know her as today. “Do you support me or not? Will you stay?”
Releasing a long, remorseful breath, my mother shakes her head slowly, knowing that she’s not going to be able to change her friend’s mind, not now. She knows this is the end of their friendship, and now that I think about it, this is probably just before she left Haven and became pregnant with me. That hits me hard, but I don’t have time to mull it over as she moves towards the queen, one slow step at a time.
“You know I can’t, not unless you stop this,” she urges, reaching out and placing a hand on her friend’s arm. “Please, I can help you.”
Glancing down at the touch, the queen narrows her eyes before looking back up at her former friend. “I see you’ve made your decision.” Callously shaking her arms to rid herself of my mother’s touch, she lifts her head and shouts, not once taking her eyes off the woman in front of her. “Guards! Take Lady Fairing into custody.”
My vision starts to waver as the doors burst open and guards flood into the room. If they are surprised by the order, they don’t show it, immediately rushing to follow their queen’s bidding. My mother doesn’t so much as move, her mouth opening to speak to the queen before being dragged from the room when the whole world begins to spin again.
No, I need to know what happens next, I shout out, but no sound leaves my mouth as the colours slowly bleed away and my vision turns dark.Mother!
* * *
I’m suddenly thrown back into reality, the brightness from the fireplace and the myriad of colours flooding my vision making me squeeze my eyes closed. It feels like I’ve been gone for a long time, but as I slowly open my eyes and glance around, I see concern on my mates’ faces, but not the type of worry I’d expect if I disappeared for a period of time. Joel rubs my back reassuringly, grumbling at the proximity of the queen, and Scott takes a step closer in support. When I look over at Kano, he’s just frowning in confusion, glancing between me and the queen. He knows something happened, just not what.
As my eyes catch on Ivar’s black voids, he smiles and tips his head towards me. Somehow, he knows what just happened, but that little gesture tells me that he’s going to keep this a secret between the two of us.
It seems like no time has really passed at all and confirms my suspicion that I just saw a memory, and not one of my own, but the queen’s. I was in her head. The implications of that spin in my mind, and I struggle to process it. The woman in the memory was my mother, that much I’m sure of. My instincts are telling me that I’m right, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
I look up at the queen in horror, but she stares down at me in confusion. She doesn’t seem to realise what just happened, or at least that I was in her mind, seeing the memory. We must look strange, the two of us locked in a staring battle, our bodies frozen. Taking a deep breath, I smile up at the queen, allowing the tension to leave my body. She wants a reason why she should let me be with my mates, and I now have the perfect one.
“You’ll allow it because you need me,” I reply to her earlier question, crossing my arms over my chest. “We both know that I could blast my way out of here, even with the block you have over my powers. Not that I would need to. I know secrets that would destabilise your rule quicker than I can blink.”
I’m bluffing, I have no idea if my powers are strong enough, but I’m taking the breadcrumbs of information I’ve learned from this conversation and putting them together to form a conclusion. Faking a confidence I don’t really feel, I force my smile to stay steady and go with the gut feeling I’ve had since the vision with my mother. She’s been up to no good and has been hiding it for years. As her silver eyes widen ever so slightly and the scent of fear reaches me, I realise that I’m right. Whatever she’s hiding, it’s big, and it’s bad.
Shock and confusion reach me through my bond with Atlas and Joel, but neither of them say anything to contradict me, and I’m glad. I know I’ll have to explain everything to them later, which is fine as long as they continue to stand by me in moments like this.
Clucking her tongue and rolling her eyes like I’m being dramatic, the queen turns from me and walks back to her couch, perching on the edge and draping her arm over the rest. She’s attempting to look casual, but it just looks forced as she gives me a tight smile. “Fine. You can have full access to your mates, but you’ll support me at every turn.” She waves her hand at me lazily in dismissal, sounding like this whole conversation has been boring. “Leave before I change my mind.”
I know that she’s terrified and is desperately trying to hide it and pull back any form of control that she can. Unfortunately, I’ve learned the hard way that she’s most dangerous when she’s afraid, and I’m going to suffer for this. Not wanting to hang around in her presence for a moment longer, we turn and begin to file from the room, Atlas heading out first and checking the coast is clear.
At his nod, we start to leave. I’m just passing through the door when I hear her call my name. It’s deceptively quiet, and it instantly puts me on guard. Glancing over my shoulder, I find her staring at me, her silver eyes gleaming with an emotion I can’t quite place.
“If you take me down, I’ll be taking you with me,” she promises, not blinking or taking her eyes off me the whole time.
Needing to get away, and with her words weighing heavily on my shoulders, I leave her rooms in silence.
ChapterFourteen
As soon as we are away from the guards and deep into the labyrinth of corridors, a hand reaches out and pulls me to a stop. A small noise of surprise escapes me, my magic flaring for a moment, followed by a low growl from Joel, but I quickly recover as I realise it’s my witch mate.
Glancing around to make sure we are truly alone, he pulls me into an alcove, Joel and Scott following with frowns of various severity. I understand their trepidation. We’re not exactly inconspicuous, and if someone were to stumble across us huddled together in privacy, it would raise suspicions. Looking up at Atlas, I let my eyes roam across his face as I try to find a clue as to what can’t wait until we get back to my rooms or somewhere safe.
“What happened back there?” Atlas practically barks, cutting me off before I can even open my mouth to ask what’s bothering him.
“What do you mean?” I ask. My voice is quiet because I want to be sure I know what he’s asking.
I shouldn’t be surprised that out of the three of them, Atlas immediately knew something happened. I suppose he knows the queen, plus he can feel my emotions. My ability to feel magic seems to be fairly unique, so he couldn’t have sensed it that way. I’m not even sure that what happenedwasmagic. My power reacted when she touched me, but for all I know, this isn’t unique to the queen. Who am I kidding? I know that whatever happened was all down to me. The queen had no idea I was in her head, seeing her memories of my mother.
“I think he means when the bond went haywire in our chests,” Joel grumbles, arms crossing over his chest. It makes him look tough and unaffected by anything, but I notice the flash of fear in his eyes as he relives the moment.
“You blacked out, Laelia,” Scott clarifies, his expression concerned. “You arched back and gasped like something out of a horror movie. That’s when we saw that the queen was staring into space, and neither of you were moving. Something happened, and you didn’t need a mate bond to know that.”
Huh. So everyone witnessed what happened, just not the actual vision itself. This makes me hum quietly as I go over it in my mind. “How long did it last?” I ask, intrigued. It felt like a while, but I have no idea how long it was in real time.
