“I know, but you’ve made little progress in changing the laws, in pushing for equality.”
“I can’t change the entire realm with the snap of my fingers, Lunarie.” Irritation leaks into my tone. I take a deep, calming breath. “You have to give me time. So instead of coming to me and addressing your concerns, you cursed me by obscuring my mate?” I rub my eyes and almost laugh at the perfection of her plan. It worked. But on the wrong female. I couldn’t see Emma for what she was. And when I finally did, she was taken from me.
“I’m non-confrontational.” She drops her gaze again.
Gwenarie lets out a sleepy cackle. “You have to watch the quiet ones.”
Lunarie turns and whispersshhto her again, and she falls silent.
My thoughts roll and tumble, everything beginning to fit together in my mind. It was Lunarie all along—the curse, the machinations in the background. She had good intentions, but do her ends justify her means? No, they never do.
“When Brock learns of all this …” I sigh again.
“He’ll want my life. I know.” She sits again. “It was a risk worth taking. I had to do it, to save the realm, to save my love.” She looks up, tears overflowing. “Brunilla, you see? She’s my mate. I know it so deeply that it hurts. But I can never be with her. Not under the law,yourlaw.”
“Emma … It was the same with her. A changeling. One I was never supposed to love. But I do, and I’ll never stop. I know that deep hurt of which you speak, Lunarie. I feel it now. Emma is no longer a changeling, but she’s not high fae. She’s a mixture of night and day, sun and moon. Black wings and claws, a thirst for blood and power brimming underneath. Many already fear her. Whispers are spreading throughout my realm. But she is my queen, and I willneverforsake her.”
“I will never forsake Brunilla, no matter what comes.”
I sit again and just think. The fractures are coming from within and without—but I have to find a way to lead, to be the king my realm needs.
Lunarie remains silent, as if politely leaving me with my thoughts.
“A war is coming, Lunarie. One that will make all of this moot, I’m afraid. Eraldon’s forces are gathering at the border. I can feel it like a shadow slowly blocking out the sun. They’re warded, and they’ll march on us soon. I need a united realm. One where we all work together to defeat this enemy. If we aren’t, we will fall, and the land will be overrun by seekers and darkness.”
“I don’t want that. I never did.” She shakes her head sadly.
“Are you the leader of the uprising? Tell me the truth.”
She takes a deep breath and holds my gaze, giving me my answer. A plotting dissident, hidden in plain sight. Powerful, with the abilities of witchcraft and alchemy—Lunarie could be the key to destroying Selene’s curse.
Realization hits me, even more threads unravelling. The obsidian witch saw Lunarie and wanted her. Now I know why. Lunarie possesses magic and alchemy, both of them hidden from everyone. Including me. “No wonder Selene wanted you.”
“What?” She cocks her head to the side.
“Nothing. If I swear by the magic that I will see the laws changed and equality across the board for all peoples of my realm, will you join my cause against Eraldon?”
She shakes her head in confusion. “You’d make a deal with a traitor?”
“Do you consider yourself a traitor?”
“Not to the realm,” she says vehemently. “Never. I want to save it.”
“Then we’ve been at cross-purposes when we should’ve been working together, no?”
She considers me, that deep, hidden intellect like a reflecting pool in her eyes. “If you swear by the magic that all day realm peoples will be free and equal, then yes, I will join your cause.”
I offer my hand through the bars.
She thinks a little longer, then decides and grips my hand. “Agreed.”
The magic whips around us, the purple tint unmistakable. She shrugs. “Some of the magic I used on your curse seemed to have stuck. That violet is hard to get out.”
“Sit.” I point to her chair. “We need to talk. Now, this is what we’re going to do.” I spend the next hour in the dungeon.
When I’m done, I motion to the guard, and he releases Lunarie from her cell. “Escort her to the infirmary. Tell Caltinius that she is an alchemist and a witch, and she could be of use in freeing Emma from her sleep or Grimelda from the magic.”
“My lord.” The guard nods and gives Lunarie a wary look. “Come along then.”
