Lord Riis clasped his hands in front of him. “Thank you for accepting my banner.”
Thyra cleared her throat pointedly. “As pleased as I am to call your house loyal to mine, I do still have questions. One of which I’d like answered in front of everyone present today.”
“Anything.”
“What’s your magic?”
“I can negate the magic of other fae.”
“So if Neve or I tried to freeze you, would you warm?”
“Not exactly. I simply wouldn’t freeze. That’s why I took the ice spider as my sigil.”
I shuddered. My father had no way of knowing that we’d recently fought more ice spiders than one usually saw in a lifetime. Many lifetimes, in fact.
“How would that power work on others?” Thyra prodded.
“I can protect others—if I’m close enough to focus my magic on them.”
“Many opponents?”
“No more than three, and that’s dependent on their strength.”
“Hmm, that’s useful.”
“Indeed.”
Thyra considered for a moment longer. “Are there types of magic that yours doesn’t work on?”
“None that I’ve come across. That being said, I’ve tested my power on many types of magic, but not all.”
Hence why my mother had practiced her whispering on him when they were young. Most would be defenseless in the face of Inga Vagle, but Leyv Riis let her manipulate his mind because he could, if needed, get out from under that magic. That and he had simply loved her that much.
Thyra turned her attention to Saga. Their eyes met, both the same shade of ice blue. “You command no armies and have no actual power other than a title. Is that right?”
My sister’s chin lifted. Thyra was at least a head taller than Saga, but my sister had a way of holding herself that made her seem much larger. Pride welled in me at the sight of her standing proud and strong.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Thyra said smugly. “And despite knowing you have no real power, I still wish for you to swear to us.”
“I never claimed to have no power. And I will do no such thing,” Saga announced.
Whispers began washing through the crowd.
I longed to insert myself. To be the big brother and protector my sister needed in the face of so many who did not trust her. But my insertion wouldn’t help her. The rebels may trustme, but they’d assume love clouded my judgment. In this, Saga needed to stand her ground and show her own power to earn the rebels trust and respect.
“I will not,right now,” Saga corrected. “Not until we’ve had a good and long conversation about what you plan to do with my mother.”
Just our mother. Not Rhistel, or her father—a fae who was once my father in heart and, I’d thought, blood.
“Not worried about your brother or the king?” Thyra asked, clearly thinking along the same lines.
“What would be the use in worrying?” Saga’s tone was firm, though her gaze flitted to the ground for a second as she spoke. “I mean, I’d prefer that my father not die, but considering the things he’s done and the present company, that is a lot to ask.” She inclined her head to Thyra, a daughter of the former King of Winter’s Realm.
Saga was admitting the king wasn’t fit to rule in front of his enemies, but it was what my sister was not saying that caught my attention the most. Saga didn’t care about Rhistel?
“However, I will promise I won’t harm anyone fighting in the rebellion. And I will offer you information freely.” My sister twirled a hand in the air and frost covered her fingers. “I have winter magic, and I’m a seer. The former is far stronger than the latter, which I have little control over.”
“The entire realm knows that.” Thyra twisted to Neve. “You trust her?”
