And yet…
“I don’t understand,” she said. “If I don’t harness themora, then how will I have the ability to push it back?”
“Like I said, it’s written in the prophecy itself. By becoming Lela’s monarch, you becomeMorkai, King of Magic. You will have access to themora, and it will flow to you. Yet you aren’t going to keep it or harness it or do anything that will make you the Morkaius.”
Was he correct?
She fought to recall everything Emylia had channeled. Everything Teryn had learned from her.
To gain the power of the Morkaius, one must first become King of Magic, a crown given, not taken, and reign over El’Ara’s abandoned heart.
To become Morkaius of El’Ara’s heart, harness the magic that seeps from its center.
Mother Goddess, it really was hidden in the lines of the prophecy. One didn’t become Morkaius unless they tried to harness the magic. The prophecy didn’t say what one could do with themorasimply by being King of Magic—or Queen of Lela, in her case—but what he was saying might be possible.
“You see?” His voice quavered with fervor. “We’ll work together, and we’ll both get what we want. You’ll protect your people and keep the land that has become their home. I’ll rule El’Ara and make it a better place.”
A better place…by his standards.
Cora hated how prejudiced the Elvyn were toward humans, but did that give Darius the right to change them? Just because he decided their morals were wrong? Did anyone have the right to override another society’s values, just because they thought they knew better? To conquer them, change them, all for that people’s supposedown good? It was a question that had plagued humanity for centuries. Those who answered yes often used such convictions to justify the subjugation of people under the banner ofcivilization. She’d seen hints of it in her own kingdom when her former council members had wanted to hunt down the Forest People and force them to integrate with society.
She couldn’t condone that.
She couldnevercondone that.
Darius stepped closer. “What I’ve created in Syrus—a fair kingdom that values one’s merit, not their bloodline—can happen in El’Ara too.”
“And what of Syrus?” she asked. “Will you just abandon it for El’Ara?”
“Of course not. After I tear down the Veil, I will once again be able to walk between worlds. The human and fae realms will no longer be conjoined, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to benefit one another. Just think what the future could hold. What advancements we could see on both sides. Humans and fae have so much they can learn from one another.”
She breathed deeply, sensing his energy. It radiated with hope, with joy, with excitement, almost too potent for her to bear. He truly believed in what he was saying. Even she could see the potential he imagined. The possibilities of sharing resources with another realm.
Yet there remained that steady sinking in her gut. One that told her this wasn’t quite right. Just because someone believed in their own principles didn’t mean they weren’t flawed.
“You want an alliance with me,” Cora said, keeping her tone neutral so as not to reveal that she’d already made up her mind, “and you’ve shown me how we can help each other once you’ve conquered El’Ara. Yet what would you have me dobeforeyou’ve won? How do you expect me to aid you during your campaign?”
He sobered from his excitement, adopting as level a tone as hers. “I will ask only what is fair. Soldiers, access to your lands, and the location of the tear.”
Her pulse jumped, and from his nod, she knew he’d heard it.
“Yes, you know where it is, but I won’t try to get the information from you now. I will demonstrate my trustworthiness and allow you to consider your options. Alliance, surrender, or war. Either way, this can only end in my success. I will find the tear with or without you, and I will find my sister too. I won’t ask you to take any lives for me. Ailan, Mareleau, and Noah will die by my hand only.”
Cora couldn’t keep her reaction at bay, couldn’t hold in her gasp as she heard him speak Mareleau and Noah’s names.
“I know about them too,” he said, “though I regret that I learned about them too late. If I can claim one flaw, it’s that I didn’t value the prophecy Desmond was so invested in, aside from what it said about El’Ara. I used logic to test my son’s conclusion about you and found it flawed. Since I knew you weren’t the prophesied mother, I deduced she simply hadn’t been born yet, and so long as she didn’t exist, I didn’t care about her.
“Before my memories returned, I had no interest in the mother, only reaching the Veil and finding a way inside. Then it tore while I was imprisoned. My mind was befuddled for days as I struggled to process all these new memories, comparing them to the assumptions I’d made, some of which had been incorrect. By the time my mind cleared and I realized the full truth of what had happened—that Ailan’s heir had been bornunder the black mountain, in the very castle I’d been imprisoned in—it was too late. Queen Mareleau was gone. As were you.”
The pointed look he gave her chilled her to the bone. Did he suspect she and Mareleau had left Ridine together? Even more chilling was the realization of just how close Darius had been to getting his way. For three days, he’d been imprisoned at Ridine while Mareleau and Noah were just floors overhead.
Thank the Mother Goddess his mind hadn’t cleared a moment too soon.
“My promises aren’t empty,” Darius said, “but neither are my threats. My soldiers are in Vinias. Reinforcements from Norun are already on their way from the capital. Only I can stop them. If you’re ready to forge an alliance with me, I can end the conflict between Khero and Norun. All they want is Prince Helios’ body. I can convince them I’ve retrieved it. I can halt Norun’s progress and stop them from setting foot on your kingdom’s soil. Otherwise, they will come for blood and you will be outnumbered.”
Breathe in. Breathe out. Don’t react.
He didn’t know about the rebels. He had no clue that between now and the meeting at the border, his promised reinforcements would get caught in the rebellion. Without them, Darius only had five thousand men. With Khero’s forces allied with soldiers from Vera and El’Ara, they could face him with better odds.
