“You mean they can’t stay…in the dining room?”
She pinches the bridge of her nose. “Things were different when I created the curse. A castle full of lifeless bodies sleeping under dust and cobwebs was charming then. Now property like this is a valuable commodity that can’t go to waste. And I’m sure the next seelie monarch will want to take over Nocturnus Palace at once.”
“Take over?” I echo. “This is my parents’ palace.”
She huffs a laugh. “Your father can’t remain king if he’s asleep. As soon as word gets out, the proverbial vultures will swarm and fight for who gets to take his place. So I must have everyone properly entombed in the catacombs before then. We have a facility for these sorts of issues nowadays. Oh, don’t worry. The coffins are quite comfortable and were designed to accommodate still-breathing bodies.”
Coffins.
Entombed.
Catacombs.
Facility.
None of those words do anything to encourage the sparse hope I first felt at Nyxia’s arrival. I don’t know what I was imagining when I pictured a hundred-year sleeping spell, but it certainly wasn’t what the former queen has explained. Not that I had much time to picture such a horrendous fate in the first place because that winged bastard stole my memories, and my parents chose not to inform me of important matters—
I halt my thoughts, and my chest sinks with guilt. No, I will not blame my parents. I did this. I subjected my family to this horrible condition.
The frightened looks on my parents’ faces when I held the blade to Father’s throat flash before my eyes. I squeeze my eyelids shut, willing the images to fade. Breathing deep, I force their appalled visages away. In their place, I see my mother running down the palace stairs to greet me. Her happy tears. Her pride in me. Her hope. I see Father patting the top of my head. His bashful smile.
Stars, I can’t fail them.
I open my eyes and find Nyxia strolling down the length of the table, head cocked as she eyes each body with a calculated look. Is she mentally measuring their coffins? The repulsive thought bolsters my nerves. “Can you reverse the curse?”
“Why would I do that?” she says absently, moving on to study the next sleeping body. “A curse is a curse. I’m simply here because the magic called me. As the original cursemaker, I maintain responsibility over the case. And all my prior cases. For the love of the night, I’m supposed to be done with politics.”
“But I was tricked into initiating the curse.”
She meets my eyes with a feigned look of surprise. “You mean you didn’t intend to curse your entire family and throw Lunar’s seelie rule into complete chaos? What a revelation.”
I bristle at her sarcasm but refuse to be cowed. She may be one of the most infamous fae on the isle, but she’s no longer a queen. If I don’t speak my mind, there’s no hope for my family. “I didn’t know about the curse. I wouldn’t have…acted rashly if I had. More importantly, the Lemurias have been scheming for this moment ever since you punished both my family and theirs.”
“Is that so?” Her tone is absent again, and she’s back to assessing the sleeping bodies.
I march over to Nyxia, keeping my eyes on her and not the slumped figures around the table. “It is. When you allowed each family to curse the other’s nextborn, the banshee clan had an underlying motive. They cursed me to be bound by iron, and then named their nextborn Vintarys. I’m bound to him. He can order me to speak or act and I obey against my will.”
She chuckles. “Ah, that’s clever.”
Heat climbs up my neck. “You sound a little too impressed for someone who sought to end the violence between the Briars and the Lemurias.”
She glances at me with a look of feigned innocence. “Who says I sought to end the violence? Had I wanted to do that I could have killed everyone in both families with very little effort.”
“Then why—”
“Look, little Briar,” she says, facing me with her arms folded across her chest. “You were born in a different era. A privileged one. This petty rivalry between the two clans stems from a different time. We weren’t bound by propriety then. We didn’t follow the same rules of justice we’re expected to nowadays. We respected cunning. I punished your families to keep them from acting like animals in the seelie society they were so desperate to be part of. If they wanted to keep fighting, they could do so discreetly and cease bringing bloodshed to every public event.”
My heart falls. I should have known better. My studies painted Nyxia as a ruthless ruler, clever, cruel, and respected in equal measure. She thrived during the age of the dangerous fae, back when humans lived in fear of fae compulsion, seductive glamours, and having the power of their true names stolen. Why did I think she came here to help?
“Oh, don’t look at me like that.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m not a monster. I have adapted to modern ways, and I do feel bad for you. A little.”
“Then please tell me. Is there a way to break the curse? To bring my family out of slumber without having to wait one hundred years?”
“Of course there is. There’s always a way to break a curse. That’s the nature of curses.”
The faint hope I felt earlier returns. My voice trembles with it as I ask, “Will you please tell me how?”
Her lips pull into a smile that is both cruel and amused, revealing the elongated tips of her canines. “Why should I do that? I don’t simply hand out solutions to those I curse. And don’t try to elicit any sort of sympathy over having been tricked. I know for certain your rival has been tricked by your family in equal measure.”
