“When I was unpacking a fae lady’s belongings, she handed me a wooden box and told me to deliver it to the blue parlor. This wasn’t the first time I was asked to do something like that. They’re placing the wedding gifts there on long tables.”
She peered around again before lowering her voice. “The high advisor and the king were there, sitting on sofas near the fireplace on one end. They looked my way but ignored me. Since I heard the high advisor say something about Lieges, I paused. I didn’t want to leave right away, so I knocked a pile of gifts off the table. The high advisor snarled at me to be careful. I picked up the gifts, slowly placing them with the others and tried to listen in on what they were saying. They made me leave pretty fast, though.”
“One of them actually confirmed that the Lieges and dregs used to be Nullens?”
“The high advisor asked how the experiment was going, and the fae king said not well, that none of the dregs had shown the ability to wield magic after being given the gift. His advisor told him to feed more power into those they’re experimentingon, but the fae king got angry and told him he wasn’t going to keep wasting it, that he needed it.”
I shuddered, unable to believe what I was hearing. What about flight? Was he still working on that or was it already accomplished? “Can you imagine trying to fight off dregs who control magic?”
“Bad enough they’re huge and vicious.”
“So Kinart believed the king was changing some of us into dregs?” I said.
Ember’s Shadowmentioned powerless Nullens, and as far as I knew, they didn’t exist. But maybe they had. Maybe they’d beenchanged. We had power, though Vexxion said it was suppressed. Our spark of power could make it impossible to change us into dregs.
According to the book, powerless Nullens were supposed to maintain the balance. I couldn’t imagine how dregs stealing villagers and either eating them or draining their power would maintain anything.
Except . . .
“Dregs only randomly attacked the villagers in the past,” I said, speaking my thoughts out loud. “Riders have always patrolled the border, but it’s only in our recent past that we’ve had to spend so much time defending the villagers.”
“See?” Her sad smile bloomed, and I was so grateful to see a normal expression in my friends eyes that my eyes got weepy. “You really did pay much attention in history class, didn’t you?”
“I tried. Training’s tiring. So is killing dregs.”
“The attacks increased when Ivenrail’s father was still alive. I think whatever’s been happening with the dregs began a longtime ago. Maybe not long after Nullens left the fae kingdom and formed the treaty.”
Maybe changing them had been part of the treaty.
Ivenrail was determined to suck up whatever power he could from every single Nullen in my kingdom. He wanted to rule the world and he needed a vast amount of power to do it. The core power of each court wouldn’t be enough, but that, combined with the power he sucked from Nullens, might just do it.
“Did they say anything else?” I asked.
“No. I was standing there, staring at the wall but actually listening, when they told me to leave. The door slammed closed behind me, and I didn’t test it to see if it was locked. I was just glad to get out of there without one of them slamming his thumb against my forehead.”
“Stay away from them.”
“I intend to.” Her horrified gaze met mine. “I’m not sure what to do about this, but we have to dosomething. They killed Kinart. They don’t want anyone discovering what they’re doing.”
“Vexxion and I have a plan.”
“One I suspect you’re not going to share with me. You’re going to ask me to trust you, and I already said I do. But I want to be a part of this if it makes them pay for murdering Kinart.”
“I understand.”
“You’re not alone. I’m here to stand by your side.”
I gave her a long hug, grateful to have my friend back.
We leaned back and grinned at each other, though it held the taint of sadness.
She gave me a pert nod and glanced down the hill toward the castle perched between this peak and the next like a bird of prey. “Are we walking back?”
“I’ll flit us to the aerie. Now that the lords and ladies have gone inside, there’s something I have to do.”
“Does it relate to all this?”
“Maybe.”
