Fated Crown by Eva Chase
Chapter Sixteen
Talia
I’m woken by a gentle rapping on my door. August stirs next to me on the bed, looping his brawny arm around my waist and nuzzling the back of my neck. I rest my arm over his as I rub my eyes with my other hand. “Yes?”
Zelpha’s voice carries through. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but we’ve got visitors. A woman struck by the curse… and rather a lot of her flock too.” Her tone turns a bit dry with that last bit.
I bite back a groan, which really wouldn’t be fair of me, and swipe the stray locks back from my face. “All right. I’ll be down as soon as I can.”
“You don’t have to rush too much. Corwin’s wrangling them for the moment, and they’re pretty pleased just being attended to by an arch-lord.”
Sensing our conversation through the bond, my soul-twined mate sends a tendril of confirmation, reassurance, and apology my way. I get the vague impression of him directing the carriages that’ve shown up over to the stretch of plain by the Heart where I offered my cure last time. I guess that’s going to become the standard healing spot.
August hugs me closer and presses a kiss to my shoulder. “Always so busy, Sweetness.”
“I’m the only one who can keep them alive.” But my busy-ness is only going to get worse as the curse victims who need their cure repeated multiply.
Pushing aside that thought and the sinking sensation in my gut, I roll over to give August a quick kiss on the lips and then push myself upright.
The border castle is going to be my primary home from here on, and all of my mates decided I shouldn’t be left alone there, especially when we can’t be totally certain of good intentions from every other fae around. At least one of my men will be staying with me every night, and Corwin plans to have a coterie member on hand as much as possible. Both he and Sylas have also assigned a rotation of staff from their packs to see to cleaning and other basic needs… and a couple of guards to monitor the entrances.
No one can pass through those doorways without taking the border oath of non-violence, but we all know that fae are adept at finding loopholes.
I limp over to my wardrobe and grab a dress that’ll look reasonably lady-like. Most of my clothes have been moved here already, but the bedroom still feels new, not quite home yet. I’ve only spent a few nights in it so far.
As I give my face a quick wash and dampen down flyaway hairs at the basin, August ducks out to return to his bedroom in the joint castle. By the time I’ve pulled on my boots, he’s back and dressed, his handsome face ruddy from its own washing. “I’ll walk you over,” he says.
“I’m sure Zelpha would, if you need to get back to anything in Hearth-by-the-Heart,” I say.
He shakes his head. “I’m supposed to run through some training exercises with a bunch of the pack later this morning, but at this time, I expected to still be sleeping.” He winks at me to show he isn’t at all bothered by the disruption, though. “And I owe you breakfast after you finish your curse-curing work.”
“Corwin’s kitchen staff have been sending meals over,” I remind him.
He claps his hands together with a grin. “I’m sure I can come up with something fitting to accompany their spread. And you should eat a little before you get to work too.”
His good cheer puts me in a better mood. He hustles ahead of me to grab some berries he brought from the summer realm, and I pop them into my mouth a few at a time as I make my way to the door, focusing on the tart sweetness and not the task ahead of me.
It isn’t as if we’re facing that much of an intrusion. I’ll go out, see to the curse victim in a matter of minutes, and then there’ll be the whole rest of the day ahead of us.
We step outside into the cool wind, and I’m grateful again that the weather is never too intense close to the Heart. A few sparkling flakes of snow tumble around us, the sky hazed with pale clouds overhead.
The crowd gathered around the Heart looks to be about the same size as the last one that arrived, a few dozen fae. Don’t they have anything better to do than come all this way just to watch me brush a few tears to someone’s cheek?
That thought sends a prick of guilt through my stomach when our guests turn to watch me approach, so many of their faces lit with eager hope. Maybe they’re not ready to see all humans as anywhere near their equals, but they’ve been willing to see me as someone special—someone worthy of gratitude and awe.
Corwin raises his hand in greeting where he’s standing right in front of the Heart. The pulsing glow makes the blue tone in his dark curls shift along their curves. He smiles at me with another tingle of apology through our connection.
It’s fine,I say. This is one of the reasons I stayed here.
The folk must have hurried the cursed woman to us as soon as she showed the first signs of the curse. Her skin is eerily pale but not yet tinged with blue, and she’s managing to keep her back fairly straight in the chair someone brought for her, though her shoulders are hunched. She takes in my approach with a weird mix of excitement and fear playing across her features.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to be on the other end of the curse. To have to wonder whether the cure might not work this time, or whether the supernatural chill will really ever leave once it’s taken hold.
Here I am worrying about how healing them affects me when they’re the ones with their lives on the line.
Just like that, I’m a little choked up. I walk up to the woman and dip my head in acknowledgment. “I hope your journey here wasn’t too long or uncomfortable. I’ll do my best to see you back to your normal self as quickly as possible.”
She manages a smile that seems to take some effort. “Thank you, my lady. The stories about your generosity are obviously true.”
Ignoring the niggling of discomfort that comes with the idea of the fae spreading stories about me, even good ones, I focus on the ache of grief inside me. How must it feel to find yourself suddenly on the brink of death? Imagine all the things I’d be horrified at losing if some horrible illness struck me out of nowhere. There’s so much more I want to do with the life I’ve only just gotten back…
She must have so many people she’ll leave behind, so many dreams unfulfilled. And all her hopes of survival rest on me. Even a couple of months ago, she’d have had no hope at all. No choice but to slowly seize up until she was locked inside her own body even more thoroughly than Aerik locked me in that cage…
At the first burn of tears behind my eyes, I turn away. August stands at a careful distance without a word, Corwin silent too as he gives me the space to follow my instincts.
One tear and another slips down my cheeks, the cold air nipping at the wetness. I brush my fingers across my face, suck in a breath, and face the woman again.
Her posture stiffens as I step toward her, as if she’s afraid to find out whether it’ll actually work. Afraid that if it doesn’t, that’ll be her death sentence right there. But she holds still as my fingertips graze her cheek and inhales sharply when warmth spreads from the spot where I touched. When her gaze meets mine again, a glint that’s almost watery is dancing in her eyes.
“Thank you,” she murmurs, her voice gone rough. “You truly are a lady for us all.”
“The Heart’s lady!” someone calls out amid the crowd. Other voices rise in agreement. The folk of the woman’s flock close in around us, checking her over to make sure she’s recovering, peering at me with open amazement. I manage to smile back at them, not sure how to respond. What would they expect from me?
Most of them bow, some lower than I’ve ever seen anyone bow to Corwin or Sylas. Then a strident voice carries from the fringes of the crowd. “All right. The cure is done. You’d best get back to your homes and allow for a full healing.”
I glance up to see Laoni has come over with several other fae. The visiting flock gives a few reluctant mutters, but they drift toward their carriages after offering me more praises.
They only make it halfway to the vehicles before someone near the front of the group points into the distance. “There are more coming!”
He’s right. A few more large carriages are soaring into view, heading for our plateau around the Heart. Everyone stops to watch their arrival. Laoni frowns, her brow creasing, but she doesn’t seem to want to be too forceful in shooing the first set of visitors away. She does still need to keep some good will as arch-lord.
What do you think this is about?I ask Corwin. Were you expecting them?
He gives an inward shake of his head. It can’t be another curse victim. There’s never been two anywhere near this close together.
The curse has been steadily intensifying in both severity and its pace, though. But when the carriages come to a stop and another crowd pours out, I recognize the man being carried over the side by his mate.
It isn’t a new curse victim but an old one—the second fae I healed successfully, on the day of my confirmation ceremony. He’s been hit a second time just like Fina was.
I suppose it works out that you’re already here, Corwin says, but some concern carries through in his voice.
My chest has constricted. It is better that I help both victims one after the other rather than being called back hours later. But this is just a preview of what my life will become more and more like as the curse takes greater hold, isn’t it? How will I be able to accomplish anything else I want to when they need me so much, so often?
How can I possibly complain when they’re the ones freezing to death?
I swallow down my frustrations, not wanting to show my discomfort when both the new arrivals and the original visitors are gazing at me so adoringly… worshipfully. Without even looking at Laoni, I can feel her critical eyes fixed on me too. She doesn’t like the standing I’ve gained among her people at all. Too bad for her she can’t do anything about it.
I focus on the man who needs my help, my mouth slanting into a bittersweet smile. “I’m glad you could make it to me before you’re too ill, but I’m sorry you needed to come back to me at all.”
He manages to shrug with a bit of a hitch to the movement. “It is what it is. I’m grateful I have you to turn to, my lady.”
His mate lowers him to the ground and sits next to him, even though she shivers being so close to his chilly body. The members of his flock who joined him gather around, and the other flock drifts back over to observe this new spectacle.
I think of all the fae who died before I came—of Corwin’s father, of his former best friend and the lover who betrayed him, of the hundreds of others who succumbed to the cursed ice with no one to push it back. So many lives lost in such a horrible way.
And what will happen when I’m gone? To the fae, to the humans living here that I haven’t even started to properly defend…
The tears return, hotter than before. I go through the same show of hiding them, wiping them away, and then reaching out to the cursed man. As my fingers slide over his cheek, he sighs in relief before the warmth even sparks beneath his skin. As if my touch on its own is enough to tell him everything will be all right.
Except it won’t. The curse will come back for him again and again, until my days are full of crying these tears of temporary healing.
An unexpected sense of panic twists around my stomach, as if time is slipping through my fingers with every breath.
The man bows his head and his mate quickly squeezes my forearm in thanks. The two flocks exclaim to each other about what a marvel I am and how wonderful it is that the Heart has blessed me with this power… And my gaze settles on Laoni again.
Her face is stern and what I can hear of her voice is terse as she orders her staff to get the visitors moving toward their carriages. A muscle in her jaw flexes. She hates that I’m getting so much recognition, doesn’t she?
But I have it all the same. And maybe—maybe I can use this new power in my favor like I have the others I’ve discovered. I tried to wield my possible influence once, just encouraging that other flock to consider their treatment of humans. What if I could turn the social pressure of their devotion to me into some kind of leverage here?
A flicker of uneasy excitement darts through my chest. The pieces of the idea click together in my head, and I step forward before the visiting flocks move any farther away. Corwin gives me an encouraging nod. I push the words out, not letting myself second-guess my impromptu plan.
“Thank you all for the honor you’re offering me even though I’m not fae,” I say, pitching my voice to carry. “It means so much to me to have your respect and admiration. I hope to discover how many of the other humans in your realm have talents and skills to offer that you might not have realized. If Arch-Lord Laoni will agree, I’d love to start by speaking with the humans she has seen fit with her keen judgment to bring into her domain.”
Laoni’s gaze jerks to me, sharpening into a glare for just an instant before a chorus of approval swells through the crowd. “Yes, of course, the blessed human lady should see to the others of her kind,” someone near me says.
Another nods, beaming. “Who knows what other good Lady Talia may be able to do for us?”
I don’t exactly like that I’ve had to frame it more about what the humans might be able to do for them than my fellow mortals deserving lives in their own right, but if it gets me to my goal, I’ll take it.
I keep my eyes fixed on Laoni, waiting for her response. Corwin steps up beside me and sets his hand on my shoulder, signaling his support for my request. She’s going to be angry, but I have to say I think it’ll be worth it.
Everyoneis watching Laoni expectantly now. She glances around, her lips pressing flat, and then forces her mouth into a smile. How can she say no to my request when it’s phrased like that? And once she’s given her word here before the Heart and so many of her own flock-folk and others, she won’t want to shame herself by going back on it.
“An excellent idea,” she says with just a slight edge to her tone. “We can certainly make arrangements for that.”
Arrangements that might take the rest of my lifetime, she’s probably thinking. I put on the sweetest smile I can manage myself. “Perfect. I could come by tomorrow. I wouldn’t trouble you at all. You could simply leave instructions with your staff that they should show me to your human servants. I’ll have someone from my mate’s coterie attend to me.”
Laoni manages to keep her expression impassive, but I have the feeling she’d be killing me with her stare right now if she could. “I suppose that would be acceptable,” she replies grudgingly.
The gathered flock-folk let out a little cheer. Corwin dips his head graciously to his colleague. “We appreciate your openness, Arch-Lord Laoni.”
I turn back toward my castle with lighter spirits. Even with my duties for the curse, I can still take a stand for the other humans here.
Now I just need to figure out what I’m going to do once I see just how horrible their situation is in Laoni’s domain.
