I grimaced. “All right, I could buy jam.”
“Maybe you could learn to make jam.”
“And you could grow vegetables.”
“A farmer?” He lifted an eyebrow.
“Only for us. Just a small garden.”
“I could do that,” he whispered, sharing a wistful look with me.
It was probably horrid of me to appreciate Tiernan's pain, but it helped to know that he felt as I did. That I wasn't the only one with daydreams of leaving my responsibilities behind. Butthey were only dreams. I couldn't run away. There was nowhere for me to hide.
Then, in Tiernan fashion, he spoke the truth hidden beneath my whining. “You'd be so bored, my love. Don't you remember those peaceful years after the children came? When Anu asked you to return to working on Earth, you jumped at the chance.”
I laughed again, with more humor this time, and shook my head. “Be careful what you wish for.”
“Especially when you're a fairy.”
“Yes. And maybe I would be bored. But this is excessive. I need a happy medium.”
“A happy middle of a few incidents on Earth to keep life exciting?” He smirked.
“No, I don't wish for tragedy to stop my boredom. Honestly, with all of you, my life is full without work.”
“Are you saying we're a full-time job?”
I snorted. “Yes, absolutely.”
Tiernan chuckled. “Fair enough. But a fulfilling job, yes?”
“Absolutely.” I turned out of his arms. “All right. Enough wallowing. Those fairies are being tortured while I whine.”
“I don't think they're feeling anything.” Tiernan shifted his stare to the village. “But yes, it's time to free them.”
I stepped forward, leaving him behind, and summoned the Light. I needed to go slower this time. This was where the blight was first reported, and it was in the region where theGarden of Regret was located. I needed the blight to lead me to its source. It had to be close.
Tiernan and our soldiers followed me at a distance. I made it fifteen feet across the border of clear land between the village and the forest. Then the ground began to shiver.
“Seren!” Tiernan shouted.
I held a hand back to him, motioning for everyone to stay put. But I didn't look back. The blight held my attention, and I don't mean the darkness that covered the Basty village.
A chill swept over me along with a metallic smell. Above me, the midday sky darkened, clouds gathering. Out of the ground seeped puddles of oily blight, moving upward to take the shape of thorny vines. I narrowed my eyes at this mimicry of my magic, but the blight didn't stop there. The vines wove together into columns, forming legs, torsos, arms, and then heads. People. No, soldiers. The darkness smoothed into armor, but the limbs peeking through remained a thick weave of thorn-covered vines. The vines writhed within glossy helmets, thinning until the weave looked like flesh. Faces appeared. Eyes staring blankly. Vine-hands lifted and extended into swords. Then shields. Like flowers sprouting in a bed, they formed two lines to block my way.
And at the front of this blight army, another shape manifested—the King of Crybabies.
“You again,” I growled. “Thanks for the flowers, but I'm not looking for a boyfriend. Sorry, I had to burn them.”
“I will still welcome you, Queen Seren.” The Blight King opened his arms. “Come to me and let me cleanse you of pain.I will withdraw my Bramble Legion and release the Basty. Just give me your royal emotions.”
Bramble Legion. Yes, I liked that better than calling them thorny vines. Brambles. That was perfect—annoying shrubs with vicious thorns that grew out of control if you let them. That being said, they usually produced berries. Maybe the soldiers were the fruit.
“Not happening.” I didn't wait for King of the Berries to continue his villain speech. I just summoned the Light and sent it forth in a tidal wave. As one, the King and his warriors set their shields before them. In the Middle Ages, the style of shield the Bramble Legion used was called a kite. Its elongated form protected the whole body, the tip going down to the ground, where it could be planted for leverage. These warriors planted their shields in a more literal way, the tips merging with blight tendrils that seeped up from the ground to hold them steady.
Light brightened to block the black for a moment. When it cleared, I expected the King and his legion to be gone. They were not.
I gasped, seeing their empty hands. As I watched, fresh shields formed before them. “Impossible,” I whispered. I had blasted an entire village clear without issue. How had their shields protected them? Light should have burned through and kept going. But somehow, darkness had survived.
