Night Vision (18 page)

She flashed me a grateful look and hurried to her feet. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. I should never trouble you with my worries.”

“Nonsense. If something’s wrong, I want to know. You understand me?”

She nodded.

I smiled. “That’s better. Let’s get me dressed.”

As Druise scurried to gather my underwear and bra, I forced myself to wait for her. I wanted to pick up my brush and just run it through my hair, but I was learning. No more meltdowns.

She hooked my bra after I slid into my panties, and then I slid on my skirt. She laced me into the corset and I pulled my leather jacket over the top. As she brushed my hair, pulling it back into a sleek ponytail at my request, I dabbed on some mascara and lip gloss. Lastly, I pulled on my favorite boots and zipped them up.

The door opened and Grieve peeked around the corner. “If you hurry, you can talk to Rhiannon before heading into your meeting with Strict. She’ll be at breakfast with you.” He motioned for me to hurry and I gave Druise a thumbs-up, then followed him out the door.

Breakfast was held in our main gathering spot. We weren’t allowed out much to interact with the population yet. Rhiannon was there, standing with her back to me. She was dressed in forest green and gold, and when she turned, I gasped because her eyes had shifted color, too. They were gold, no longer hazel, and they glimmered with an unnatural light, just like mine.

She seemed different, taller and more regal. As she gazed at me, her face lighting up, I knew that she was seeing me in a different light, too. I grabbed her and hugged her, and she wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her forehead against mine.

“Was it terribly painful for you, too?” The look in her eyes told me that it had probably been harder on her than me.

“It wasn’t a walk in the park, that’s for sure. Are you okay?”

She gazed into my eyes, and it felt like we were testing each other, to see where we were. “Yes, but I feel so odd, and I miss talking to you. It feels like they’re keeping us apart as much as they can.”

“I think they might be.” I glanced around. Lainule wasn’t here yet, so I pulled Rhia aside. “You know they don’t want us mixing now that we’re moving to separate Courts. I know Wrath doesn’t mind so much, but we’re bucking tradition and it’s going to be a struggle to make certain we don’t just knuckle under because that’s the way it’s always been done.”

Rhia shook her head. “We won’t. Lainule and Wrath will be leaving soon, and we’ll be the ones in charge. And you know Chatter and Grieve will do whatever they can to make us happy.”

I studied her face. She meant what she said. I just hoped that we’d both have the courage to fly in the face of tradition and create something new out of the two Courts—because it was time, like it or not, for the world of the Fae to face the present and move forward.

“We’ll talk. I have to eat—I’m starved—and then my advisor, Strict, wants to meet with me. I have a feeling this morning’s going to be crammed with facts and figures and lists of things to remember.” I frowned. “He lives up to his name.”

“I’m meeting with my advisor, too. Edge. She’s very nice, but I have the feeling that she’ll live up to her name too, if I do something she doesn’t like.” Rhia laughed then, and I giggled with her.

“I’m glad you’ve had a chance to catch up, but we must
hurry. Cicely, Rhiannon, your advisors await. I will sit in with Rhiannon. Wrath, my husband, you tend to Cicely.” Lainule was standing in the door, a faint smile on her face. Her hair had turned entirely auburn, a blazing bush.

I stared at her. “Your Highness…” It was impossible to ignore the changes in her coloring, on her face.

“Don’t be surprised, Cicely. I warned you this would happen. And it’s all right, truly. When I return to the Golden Isle, I will stop aging until the end of my natural life span. Until then, I continue to change.” The Queen of Summer was now autumn’s matron, and she looked tired, but happy.

“Rhiannon, Cicely, tonight you will undergo your coronations. Then you may plan your weddings. I am afraid that Wrath and I shall not be able to stay until then. But our hearts will be with you.” And she turned, motioning to Rhia, and glided down the hallway.

Wrath nodded for me to follow him. I caught up to him, Grieve on my heels. For a moment, Wrath didn’t say anything. Then he glanced back at us.

“Daughter, I am…there are no words to express how glad I am you came through the trial. I know what it entails, but we are never allowed to warn the prospective Queens what they will face.” He looked tired, and when I looked closer, I saw that he, too, was changing. His face was lined, like Lainule’s, and his jet-black hair was peppered with white.

“Will you truly be all right when you go back to the Golden Isle?” I didn’t want to lose him. I’d only just found my father, and I couldn’t imagine losing him again. “I wish you could stay here.”

“I wish we could, too, my dear. But we can’t. You, Cicely, and Grieve, you must take up the crowns without us to guide you. As well as your cousin Rhiannon, and Chatter. But you will have help where you least expect it. Do us proud. Defeat Myst and lead your people well.”

He turned in at one of the doors to the side of the passage, and we followed. Inside was what appeared to be as close to a conference room as I’d seen in the Barrow. Strict was there, along with a woman whom I hadn’t yet chanced to
meet. She reminded me vaguely of Regina with her shimmering black form-fitting dress and upswept golden hair.

“Cicely, meet the keeper of the Treasury, Silverweb. She keeps the accounts. Not that money is all that much of an issue among the Courts of Fae, but still…we must keep tabs of what we accrue.”

Silverweb gave me a quick curtsey, then immediately pulled out a thick ledger and hoisted it on the table. She was all business, and before I could sit down, she was flipping through the pages.

“Since the Court of Snow and Ice was overrun by Myst, we would think that the coffers were depleted, but the Indigo Court appears to have had no need of money. Most of the gold and silver was intact, as were a good share of the Eldburry Barrow’s nonephemeral treasures. The vast majority of art, along with a great deal of our glassware, was destroyed in the battle for the Barrow, which is a tragic loss, but most of the precious metals were left intact, although a few pieces were dented. Restoring the Barrow cost a pretty penny, even with our artisans’ volunteering. But the treasury is at sixty percent of its former reserves, we estimate.” She pointed to some figures, but I realized I had no clue what the words beside them said.

“I can’t read that. Just the numbers.”

Wrath rubbed his forehead. “A stumbling block we did not think of—and it will be the same for your cousin. You were not brought up here, so of course you cannot read our language. I see we shall have to arrange for a tutor to start working with you the day after tomorrow. You must learn the tongue as quickly as possible.”

I hadn’t even thought of that little matter. Everyone around me had spoken to me in English. But now that I thought of it, it made perfect sense—the Fae would have their own language, their own dialects, their own lexicon.

Sobering, I stared at Strict, Silverweb, and Wrath. “I’ll have to trust my advisors until I become proficient in the language.”

“You have me, my love.” Grieve took my hand. “I will translate for you when it is needed, and work with you when we are alone to help you master the language.”

Strict leaned back. “This will be a learning experience for all of us. Meanwhile, I can instruct you in the laws of the land—take notes in your own language so you don’t forget. You will be administering justice, Your Highness. You must know what boundaries are set and, if you so choose, change them.”

I jerked my head up. “Change them? You mean if I don’t like something, I can change it? Without questioning?”

He cocked his head to one side, smiling faintly. “If your changes are too disparate, the Greater Unseelie Court may call you to question, but for minor things? Yes.”

And so we got to work—me with a notebook, Strict teaching me the legal system of the Court of Snow and Ice. I immediately understood that it was darker than Lainule’s court. There was a greater leeway on suspect behavior, and harsher punishments for those things proscribed. The sorting out would take months, but as we progressed, I began to see that I was going to be Queen over a feral and wild populace.

Three hours later, I sat back, limp, with pages of notes I’d jotted down.

Strict leaned across the table. “It is much to take in, but that is what I and your other advisors are here for. We’re to help you make this transition, and it will take some time. We all expect that. It was bad enough when I helped Tabera take the throne, and she was born for it. But you…you may have been born with the destiny, but you were not born into Court, so you are still unfamiliar with all of the ways of our people.
Your
people, too, you know,” he added softly. “You are half Cambyra on your father’s side. You have our blood running through your veins.”

I’d been suspecting something for some time, and now I looked directly at Wrath. “You were born to the Court of Snow and Ice, weren’t you?”

He paused a beat, then nodded. “Yes. I moved to the
Court of Rushes and Rivers when I met your mother. I fell in love with her, before she was Queen. I switched sides for her. But yes, the Winter…it is my true home.”

I met his gaze. “You and Lainule, you crossed courts like Grieve and I did in our life long ago. Perhaps not quite the same—Summer and Winter do not battle, generally. But you defied tradition.”

He winked at me then, his smile broadening. “That we did.”

And then Strict dismissed me for the day. “You must prepare for your coronation tonight.”

“Will Rhiannon and I take the thrones together?” I was hoping for a yes, but I already knew the answer.

“No. You will ascend to the throne in the Court of Snow and Ice at one hour before midnight. She will take the throne in the Court of Rivers and Rushes at one hour after midnight—when the year has begun to wax again. You will be moving to the Eldburry Barrow today.”

“Today…” And then it hit me—this was it. Today was my last day as just Cicely Waters. Tonight, by midnight, I would be Queen of a strange land. And a strange people. I sucked in a deep breath, feeling overwhelmed. “I can’t do this…”

“You can, and you will. You’ve passed through the hardest part. If you were not meant to take the throne, you and Rhiannon, you would have died when your heartstones were being extracted from you. There is no turning back, my daughter. You’re just afraid. Go now…spend some time outside the Barrow, but do not stray far. Get a breath of fresh air and take your cousin with you.” Wrath motioned to Grieve. “Attend them, and keep them safe.”

Grieve bowed to my father, then took my arm, and we headed back toward the common room. Rhia was just sitting down to lunch with Chatter. Peyton, Luna, and Kaylin were nowhere in sight.

“Cicely!” Rhia jumped up and grabbed me. She had a look of panic on her face, one I recognized only too well. “I’m…”

“I know. Me, too. Let’s eat lunch and then go for a walk. Grieve and Chatter can come with us, but we need to talk.” I glanced around. “Where are the others?”

“Today’s moving day. They’re up at the house, putting things to rights.”

“I want to go there. To help them. It will take our minds off tonight.” I turned to Grieve. “You will go with us?”

He shrugged, and—with a sideways smile at Chatter—said, “Do we have a choice?”

“No.” Feeling a little better, I sat down and dug into my beef and mashed potatoes.

As we emerged from the portal, with Check and Fearless behind the four of us, I shaded my eyes. The winter was still raging, and it felt like it had when Myst had controlled the Golden Wood. She must be near.

As we started along the path, I gasped. “Rhia—look at you. And me!”

Instead of sinking deep, we were walking on top of the snow, like Grieve and the others. Marveling at the ease with which we were able to travel, I danced around, jumping up and down. My leaps made little mark on the surface, and—to my delight—barely scuffed the top layer of snow and ice.

“I can’t believe this!” Rhia laughed. “But…can we run as fast as you guys?”

“I don’t know, my love. Why don’t you find out?” Chatter’s eyes were glimmering as he teased her.

She took off, with me on her heels. Our speeds had increased, though we still weren’t nearly as quick as the full-blooded Fae, but we’d definitely picked up steam. Grieve and Chatter were laughing at us, but we didn’t care. We were like kids in a candy shop. We jogged through the woods, eager to try out our changing abilities. We reached the house in less than a quarter of the time that it would have taken before the change and ran laughing up the steps.

As we burst through the doors, giddy, an odd smell
caught my attention—one I was all too familiar with. I looked around, nervous now, motioning for Rhia to wait behind me. Grieve and Chatter came through the door, and I turned to them.

“Get the guards in here, now. Something’s wrong. I can smell it.” What I smelled was blood. And I’d smelled too much blood lately to be wrong.