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“We can tell everyone what happened,” I told her. “We can...”
“No, we can’t,” Xira replied. She didn’t sound angry, just hopeless. “We can’t even talk about it amongst ourselves. And we are stuck here. They’ll kill us too. Even if we somehow survive this and remove the block, no one will believe us. They’ll torture us until we tell them what we know, and then...”
She paused.
“I won’t tell them where Jasmine and the others are,” I said determinedly.
“I don’t even know where they are,” she replied. “It’s better that I don’t know. I don’t trust myself anymore.”
My chest tightened as I realized it. If Lady Queill decided to use her mind magic on me, I could not be sure I could resist her either. Mind magic was tricky, and sometimes fae could hide the secrets they wanted to keep despite a mind magicker’s intrusion, but that required willpower, which was something I never really had.
The realization was horrible. Soon, Lady Queill would discover everything I knew to be the truth.
I thought about Jasmine, Brigid and the others... Lady Queill would likely catch my thoughts regarding Seren as well. She would die a mysterious death like Liltra or be blamed openly for something else they did and wanted to hide.
Even if I could resist Lady Queill’s mind intrusion and keep my secrets, there was always the option of torture. I’d heard once that torture made any man spill the truth. With some, it took longer, but eventually, everyone gave in.
There was no way out of it. I could see it now.
Casja?
It was almost a whisper in my mind. At first, I did not recognize who it was. Then, hope came.
Orla?
I thought as loudly as possible. Mind magic worked one way most of the time, but Orla was proficient in her magic. If this was indeed her, she could read my thoughts to find the answers.
It is me, she said. The king is dead, is he not?
I cannot talk about it,I said, hoping she would understand. I’m blocked.
Blocked by Lady Queill? She asked.
I could not say that either.
Orla did not wait for an answer. She reached deep within my mind and found the command Lady Queill had left behind. I did not feel anything as she removed the block, but I felt it disappearing as though it had never been there.
Tell me what happened, Orla said.
I did not try to respond with words. Instead, I opened myself to her and let her see all the things that had happened tonight. When I thought about King Duncan’s death, I felt her pain.
How do I know this is you? I thought. Where are you? Where were you? Lady Queill... Did you know she has mind magic too?
I did not, Orla replied. She must have been hiding it all this time. She used one of her powers to hide the other. We all thought she was only an earth elemental, but she must be a double.
A double? I asked. I remembered King Duncan mentioning Lady Queill’s double skill.
A descendant of multiples, Orla replied. That’s what the fae called them in the past. Fae with ancestry in both realms... They are different. They can have more than one power.
Like Jasmine? I asked.
Yes, Orla replied with no hesitation. She has healing and mind magic, a fact known by her friends only.
My thoughts confirmed her words. This was her. There was no way Lady Queill could have known about Jasmine’s healing powers. That knowledge was private between her friends and the late king.
Where are you?I asked Orla.
I’m hiding, she said. I have to hide to make sure the realm is protected. I couldn’t save the king; I did not see the signs. Lady Queill isn’t strong enough to subdue me with her mind magic, so she used poison instead. It was in the wine, but I did not drink enough to kill me. I only took a sip. It forced sleep on me, and I could no longer feel the king when I came to it. I quickly created an illusion to make them think they’d found my body. I have to stay here. The king had given me the order before he died. He knew this could happen. I have to stay to protect the realm from the thief king.
