She set her tea on a small table next to her chair and gripped her armrests instead. He’d let her keep her bow and quiver. Another gesture to show how little he feared her. Her weapons lay next to her chair, tempting her to reach for them. Each time she considered the action, she remembered that ball of blood Morkai had. He’d summoned it so quickly. So easily. Where was he even keeping it?
“You said you wanted to talk,” she said, her voice coming out far shakier than she liked. “So let’s talk.”
“You have questions. Ask them.”
“You’re truly going to answer?”
“I have nothing to hide from you. It is my deepest wish to make you my strongest ally. I already know it is folly to lie to you, what with your Art. I can only imagine you’ve honed your talents these last six years.” His eyes dropped briefly to the ink on her forearms, once again eying them without even a hint of reverence. “So ask. I’ll answer.”
Cora pored over everything she’d yet to make sense of. A vision of the dead guard’s glassy eyes flashed through her mind. She closed her eyes against the guilt, banishing the sight of her hands on the arrow that killed the girl?—
“How are you controlling people?” she managed to say. Forcing her eyes open, she focused on her breath to steady her. “How are you able to get people to follow you and blindly obey?”
“Not everyone who works for me follows me blindly, Aveline.”
Cora thought of his hunters. No, she supposed some wouldn’t take much convincing to do his bidding. “But I know you utilize magical influence for control. You’ve changed my brother’s memories. You’ve convinced him Selay and Menah are his enemies.” She didn’t mention the guard. Couldn’t mention her.
“It’s called a glamour. Do you know what that is?”
She nodded. She’d learned about glamours from the Forest People. Similar to her feat with Teryn and the baby unicorn, a glamour was a way to shift another’s perception to make them see what one wished for them to see. Cora had never witnessed it in action. Or, if she had, she hadn’t known. Still, it seemed to have very little in common with what Morkai was doing.
He seemed to pick up on her train of thought. “What I do goes beyond the realm of a common glamour. My specialties lie less in changing what people see and more in changing what they believe. I weave thoughts into one’s mind, give them images, impressions, and beliefs. It only works on the minds of the weak or willing.”
“Are you saying my brother is weak?”
“I’m saying your brother has always been quick to accept exactly what I’ve offered him. He’s always wanted an explanation for his wife’s death. An enemy to blame other than himself. My explanations suit his sphere of plausibility. He’s never wanted the enemy to be me, which is why your efforts to convince him otherwise fall on deaf ears.”
“And what of others who work for you? Others you control?”
His lips curled into a smirk. “Like the guard I watched you kill? She had ambitions. People she wanted to prove her worth to. I merely helped her along. Impressed upon her a vision of what could be accomplished in my service.”
“How do you do it? How do you keep your illusions constantly in place?” As far as Cora knew, a glamour lasted only so long as one was focused on it. Expending that kind of magic on multiple people at once for any extended length of time…it shouldn’t be possible.
Morkai glanced at his sleeping Beast. “That’s where my Roizan comes in.”
“Roizan.” Cora echoed the unfamiliar word. “What is a Roizan?”
“A creature made with the forbidden Arts—the magic of the sanguina and ethera. A Roizan is forged from death and given new life. It is no longer a natural being. No longer susceptible to mortality. Its life is bound to mine and my powers to it. A Roizan is a living vessel. It can hold unimaginable power that I am able to channel from without expending any of my own vitale.”
She was unfamiliar with some of the terms.Sanguina. Ethera. Vitale.
Morkai continued. “Because of my relationship with my Roizan, I can maintain hundreds of glamours at once. All I have to do is weave them.”
“What does the Beast—theRoizan—have to do with the unicorns you’re hunting?”
He set down his teacup and placed his cane in his lap, caressing the crystal like she’d seen him do many times now. Was it simply an idle habit or did the crystal hold some significance? “The unicorns are a complicated subject,” he said slowly.
“You said you’d answer my questions.”
“I mean to. But where to start?” He gazed at the fire, but his expression was not one of deep thought. His face was smug. “There’s an ancient prophecy I’ve spent most of my life fighting against. One that mentions unicorns, a mother, and a child. Three things I should have no reason to fear. And I don’t, for there is but one element of the three that all the others hinge upon, and I’ve already taken an action against it that has nullified the prophecy in its entirety.”
She felt cold despite the warmth of the fire. “What action have you taken?”
“You asked about the unicorns, so let us remain on topic. The unicorns are part of the prophecy, which as I’ve said, is null. And yet, the prophecy itself doesn’t seem to know that. The appearance of the unicorns is a personal affront to my efforts, so I’ve made it my mission to be rid of them.”
“That sounds rather petty.”
Morkai shrugged. “Petty, perhaps, but quite beneficial to me. Unicorns hold some of the strongest fae magic that exists. Harnessing that magic creates a well of power. I need sources of power to work my magic, for every feat expends it.”
